Wien Went Well

Much like Rome and Budapest we opted to give Vienna more than a day to visit and slowed down our trip somewhat. This ended up as a three day marathon across the city but it was completely worth it.

Day One: starting in the evening of Monday we only had a few hours to explore the city before dark and one of the first ports of call was on the border of the old town: the Hofburg. This was the seat of the Habsburgs power on and off again for hundreds of years and the influence that this building held over massive parts of Europe is really felt standing in it's embrace. 

We wandered around plenty of the grander buildings that we couldn't afford to go inside while the day turned into dusk but eventually needed a place to sit down after a busy day. Seeing a cute looking burger place we headed in only to realise that it was a vegan-only swing bar. Good burgers, games, and music later, we headed back to Moira, and our friends to their hotel, ready to attack the city bright and early tomorrow.

Day Two: On our second day in the city we split up into pairs with Danni and Nadia going to the easter market. These markets, very similar to English Christmas markets, were full of crafts and chocolate. Seen here in front of an imposing Schloss and just around the corner from where Stalin stayed in Vienna in 1913. Famously there was a one month period when Stalin, Trotsky, Freud, Tito, and Franz Josef were all in the city at the same time, talk about all your eggs in one basket.

With Nadia and Danni at the easter markets me and Joe decided to go to the military museum. Focusing mainly on the first world war, this museum was full of incredible artefacts including the car that Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were killed in in June 1914. Looking at the bullet hole that was the first of billions over the subsequent 4 years I feel justified in saying this is the most significant bullet hole I've ever seen.

Back into the city proper we all met up and did a bit of shopping including some classic board game shops, a beer shop, and some dress shopping. In the process we happened across this strange looking building and on further inspection this is one of 6 anti-aircraft towers built by the Nazi's during the second world war to defend against the Soviet air force. The decision was made to avoid tearing this down and turn it into a modern aquarium with a viewing platform from the old gun emplacements. 

Rushing our way to the Stadt museum we were able to go around a few rooms of this impressive museum, which we would have to finish in the morning. The main exhibit that stood out was about the siege of Vienna in 1526 by the Turks. Seeing the expansion of the Turks since our drive north from Trieste, finally getting to the limit of their expansion was an eye opening experience. This painting, painted in the style of a modern glass sphere photograph, shows a top down view of the siege with a wealth of detail and interesting little stories.

Day Three: Our first stop back in the city in the morning was the Stadt museum to finish the more modern exhibits, including an excellent one on Maria Theresa and her 16 children including Marie Antoinette. Pictured above is the view from the veranda, of the Karlskirche and its two impressive columns covered in friezes reminiscent of Trajan's column in Rome.

Saying goodbye to Joe and Nadia we headed over to the outskirts of the city and the most recognisable landmarks of the period of Red Vienna: Karl Marx-hof. Before being forcibly taken over by the national socialists in 1934, Vienna was run by a famously socialist city council. This council was at the head of a city that was built for an empire and now, post WW1, was the head of a relatively small European republic. The Karl Marx-hof was an example of the thousands of apartments that the council built for the population of the city in the late 1920s.

Before heading on out of the city we made a quick stop by a park to see two more of the imposing anti-aircraft towers, this time not converted but fenced off and left to rot, a nice metaphor.

One the way back to the train station we made a final stop off at the impressive St. Stephens Cathedral which for centuries was the largest building in the city and an imposing reminder of its Catholic commitment.

Utterly shattered after out visit to Vienna we finally headed out of the city and drove to a quiet nature park up by St Polten all ready for a well earnt chill day on Thursday.

Danni's top Vienna fact: Since only the wealthy had clocks, the poor had to use the Church bells to tell the time. The connection between time and bells can be gleaned from the English word clock having the same linguistic roots as Glocke, German for bell.

Rob's top Vienna fact: Despite also being partitioned after the second world war into the four victors, Vienna and Austria were reconstituted into a single state in 1955