Vienna / Wien

Welcome to Vienna! City of the Arts & Music, and what Matt and I swear must be the museum capital of Europe!
They have museums such as a Silverware/China Museum, Schnapps Museum, and even the Funeral Museum… weird...




As a result, we were difficult and didn't go to ANY museum (although, we only spent two days there, and are heading back there to fly out to Dubai so we figured we'd narrow down the list or see a concert during our return visit)

Matthew and I toured the Old Town with the historical Vienna Cathedral with it's imposing Gothic (?) architecture and “towering” bell tower. They were currently cleaning the exterior and the before and after was, literally, the difference between black and white. The church was interesting in that for a place so old, it was relatively unadorned – with gold, statuary, or even crypts/memorial plaques.

Outside at Night
This is the bell tower - which has not been cleaned and therefore is very nearly black!

Front of the Cathedral (Night)
This part has been cleaned.

Inside, showing the floor

Inside, back of the Nave - but showing the really awesome structural designs of the ceiling

We also visited the Royal Palace and toured the old State Apartments – back from when Austria had a ruling monarch family before World War I. They were much more restrained than those we saw at Windsor – although I don't think they were nearly as wealthy.

In the Royal Palace - the grey sky was a snow storm which held off until
we left on our train back to Italy!

Front Facade of the Royal Palace and some random people who wouldn't move out of the photo
(Silly tourists!)

They are surprisingly committed to Queen Sisi (Elizabeth) who was very beautiful, an accomplished socialite and politician for her time, and who met an untimely death by being stabbed while on holiday in Switzerland… this sounds great, but apparently she was almost never in Austria (even when her children were young) and that she skipped family meals so to as to keep her slim figure… Matt and I couldn't figure out why she was so great???

Cheers for now!
M&M

Trivia: Marie Antoinette was an Austrian Princess, wedded to King Louis to help ease the growing tensions between France and Austria.