The summer cabin

Yeah, right. Well, it's the little summer place if you're a Hapsburg at the height of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

But if you're a happy American tourist in 2017, it's just a delightfully over-the-top Vienna sight-seeing opportunity. We took Viking up on the optional tour offer and thoroughly enjoyed our Wednesday afternoon at Schönbrunn Palace.

Unfortunately, in 2017 they don't allow photos inside the Palace. (Actually, it's kind of fortunate, since I probably would have used up my camera card!)

But in 1969, they did. That's when Henry was last at the Hapsburg hideaway. He was there with two of his sisters, Vienna being just one stop on a big swing through Europe that summer.

Since not much changes in such an icon, I thought I'd appropriate a few pictures that he took during that visit, to show you a bit of what the interior of the palace is like.

I think this might be the "small" gallery

an example of elaborate Schönbrunn wall decor

No restrictions on outdoor photography, though, in either era, and we had great fun strolling about and snapping pix like crazy in the palace's vast gardens.

One of us went a little crazier than the other; this was the one tour where I was really worried Henry wouldn't make it back to the bus in time. Our tour guide had carefully shown us where the subway station was, so I'm thinking he wouldn't have been the first person to miss the bus back to the boat, seduced by the beauty of this magical place.

What kept Henry so late was his climb to the top of the hill where the Gloriette is perched...

I was happy just going up a little ways and then heading back to the bus at the appointed time. But Henry's never seen a hill he can resist climbing to the top of. And, I must admit, the pictures he took from up there perhaps made the anxiety of waiting for him at least almost worth it...

looking down the hill

Gloriette close-up

Schönbrunn means "beautiful fountain" and certainly one of the highlights of the garden scenery is this massive fountain, depicting, naturally enough, Neptune and minions...

Here's a view from the side of the fountain's main sculpture...

...and then another look, through the water curtain the fountain provides, back at the palace...

Yes, not bad for a backyard garden, wouldn't you say?

Next up: our brief visit to the Vienna's Imperial sister-city, in a brand new country for both of us!

Waltzing through Vienna

Wednesday found us in one of the highlight cities of our trip: Wien/Vienna. Unfortunately, since it is such a big city, with innumerable worthy sights, it was impossible to see more than just a few highlights on our morning tour. But what we did see was interesting and fun, and gave us a good overview of this city that's so full of both history and 21st century life.

We were docked very close to the handsome church—Kirche zum heiligen Franz von Assisi—you see above, on the curiously-named Mexikoplatz. I was satisfied just to admire its impressive exterior, but Henry indulged his church-obsession between our tour and lunch and explored the inside as well.

The church—St. Francis of Assisi in English—is also known as the Mexikokirche/Mexico Church, because of its location. The unexpected reference to our southern neighbor has a very logical basis, which we learned from our tour guide and Henry confirmed with a shot of the memorial you see above on the right.

Mexico, apparently, was the only member of the League of Nations to protest the Anschluss, when Hitler annexed Austria. The plaza was re-named in honor of this action in 1956.

gorgeous window in the Mexikokirche

What a great place to be anchored for our brief stay in Vienna! History and wonderful architecture are just two of the attractions that make this such an attractive tourist city.

The tour we opted to take was labeled "up close"; it involved a subway ride and walks past the sights of interest. Which meant, of course, that we didn't see as much as our compadres who opted to take the buses. But we got to feel a bit more like locals, and to experience Vienna's bustling streets firsthand.

Plus, I'm willing to bet that the bus-riders didn't get views like this, of one of Vienna's most famous citizens...

Yes, that's one of the Lippizaner horses of the Spanish Riding School, being led out for exercise and/or practice. As we approached the stables, our guide said that we should be able to see one of these beauties in their stalls (which you can see in the background of the first picture); so getting to see one in [sort of] action was a rare treat!

In the manner of more traditional sights, the buildings of Vienna did not disappoint. Here are some samples:

Hofburg dome

random gorgeous building between the Hofburg and St. Stephens

Ankeruhr/Anker Clock

decorative details

The monument commemorating Mexico's support of Austria independence during the nazi era isn't the only reminder of those dark days in Vienna. We saw two other moving  memorials to past suffering.

This one, details of which you see below, is more general, a Mahnmal gegen Krieg und Fascismus/Memorial against war and fascism, erected in 1988...

...whereas as this one, in the Judenplatz/Jewish square of the old city—where there are all kinds of sites and artworks connected to Viennese Jewish history—is specifically commemorating the dead of the Holocaust...

Interestingly, it was erected (in 2000) partly in response to controversy surrounding the war/fascism art above. Memorials and the controversies, politics, and emotions surrounding them aren't unique to the US!

We finished our walking tour at the Stephensdom/St. Stephen's Cathedral. 

Ho, hum, just another super-impressive, super old (14th century) Gothic cathedral.  . We had some time before getting on the subway back to Tor and lunch to peek inside...

As steeped in history as Vienna is, it's also a vibrant modern city. The contrast makes for some astonishing views...

Albertina art museum

Then there are blocks that are nothing but new, like this one near the Cathedral as well as prime shopping venues...

...and this geometrically-challenged landmark was just across the river from our dock. It's a hotel! The Meliá Vienna...

After lunch, we took one of Viking's optional tours to Schöbrunn, where Vienna's opulent history is on its most extravagant display. Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday: the master in action

End-of-the-Wachau Abbey

The Danube's Wachau Valley in Austria is bounded by two abbeys: at the upstream end it's Melk, and overlooking the downstream boundary is Göttweig. The latter has a relationship with Viking that allows passengers not only a tour of it as part of our day in the Wachau, but also a wine tasting of some of its heavenly products.

It's on a high hill overlooking the lower valley. We'd sailed through the valley Tuesday morning, and after lunch, with the boat docked at Krems, we boarded buses for the climb to the abbey. As you can see from the photo above, we had great weather in the afternoon. Which made views like this, from the patio where we did our wine tasting, especially photogenic...

The view from the other side of the abbey grounds looks down on this lovely cemetery, which I wished was part of the tour. Most, if not all, of the surrounding woodlands are part of the abbey property, and of course we didn't have time to tour it all.

The abbey has two large structures on the tour, the museum and the chapel. The huge building you see at the top of this post is the museum, built in the early 1700's (although there's been a Benedictine abbey on this site since the late 11th century!). It's gloriously baroque...

looking up at the museum's facade

...and was a treat to tour, especially when guided by another of Viking's standout local guides. Here's Adrian, showing us the magnificent staircase...

...as well as the gorgeously overwrought ceiling fresco, depicting Emperor Charles VI as Apollo...

The whole building was used as an imperial guesthouse, so I guess you want to make sure your guests feel at home!

The museum, which we had time to wander around in on our own, had all kinds of neat artifacts and decorative touches; here's a sample:

wall decor extraordinaire

one of Luther's Bibles

a whimsical crabclaw flask

obligatory neo-classical statuary in niches
(these are along that humongous stairway)

this magnificent structure is a room heater!

and there's even floor art! although wood parquet, not tiles

There are other buildings on the abbey grounds, like this handsome gatehouse (at least, I suppose that's what it is, since it's near the main gate)...

...and the monks' quarters, which were getting a new roof while we were there:

The other building on our tour, though, was the chapel and it was fine example of baroque church architecture and decor, with not a square inch left unadorned...

Not that I'm complaining! It was gorgeous. I particularly liked these turquoise-and-gold pillars on either side of the altar:

And there was a beautiful organ, not nearly as big as the one in Passau, and we didn't get to hear it played, but I thought it was worth a snap...

that's another tour group in the foreground

After our wine tasting, souvenir shopping, and view enjoying, buses took us back down to the river, but not to Krems. Our lovely Tor had been sailing while we were touring, and we joined it about 40 km downstream in Tulln. We had a few minutes there before boarding to look around its waterfront, which is dominated (at least where our boat was docked) by the Nibelungen statue and fountain that you can read about in the Wikipedia article linked above.

It's attractive and interesting public art, and I enjoyed the whimsy of including this little observer to its mytho-historical scene...

After re-boarding, we were off to our first big city since Nürnberg, and one of the highlights of the trip: Wien/Vienna!