We spent the day walking around Vienna. First stop was the Vienna Boys Choir. The singing was good, but the whole experience was weird, from being put in a weird side room where we couldn't actually see what was going on, to an offhanded anti-Jewish line in the homily. After that, we spent a few hours at Stephansdom, which i remember fondly from a childhood trip to Vienna, and where we went up the tower and down the crypt with its bones from 12th century mass graves. After that we got a lunch of smørrebrød, and walked to Hundertwasserhaus, a conceptual apartment building with lots of interesting exterior art. Then several of us walked up to get our first views of the Danube itself, which we expect to be following for the rest of the trip. We walked around some after that, and had a late dinner at a vegetarian-adjacent place with lots of fun dishes and an interesting liqueur menu.
Walking to the Wiener Hofmusikkapelle |
David shows off our concert seats, which are dark, crowded, and off-in-a-corner, but nonetheless exist! |
Patterned wood floor at Wiener Hofmusikkappelle |
Ceiling decoration at Wiener Hofmusikkappelle |
The good seats |
Ceiling of the chapel |
Interior staircase at Wiener Hofmusikkappelle |
Hanging out in the courtyard after the concert |
Statue, and clock, and sundial, in the courtyard |
Sculpture in an arch |
Better-lit sculpture in opposing arch |
domed ceiling of arch |
pedestrian intersection in Vienna |
clock tower in Vienna |
building facade with sculptures |
These people are not having a good day. It's not even clear that the lizard creature is having a good day. |
Hanging out holding up this doorway with our heads. Just friends, though. |
Corner in Vienna |
Discotheque Fledermaus |
Classical facade (window air conditioners original) |
Coco Chanel welcomes you to Stephansdom |
Okay, but, seriously, y'all are about to look at a lot of pictures of Stephansdom. And i'm sorry, but only a little, because i really like Stephansdom. |
the corner detail! |
the tower! |
the arch top things! |
exterior wall memorials |
Arch detail at the entrance |
the ceiling! |
interior wall |
iron gate detail |
window at the front of the church |
exterior window detail |
exterior statue detail (note friendly pet lizard creature at feet) |
looking up at a tower (note gargoyle) |
exterior art |
exterior window detail |
exterior corner detail: note several gargoyles |
wall mosaic on opposite building |
i legitimately really like Stephansdom, but at least part of why all these photos are happening to you, is that we had to wait in line for quite a long time to climb the tower |
corner of tower |
a carriage hanging out in St. Stephen's Plaza |
J.F. Kennedy Haus |
outdoor wall relief at Stephansdom |
previous wall decorations at Stephansdom |
exterior wall decorations at Stephansdom |
exterior wall decorations with pigeon |
exterior wall relief |
top of exterior wall relief |
exterior wall relief with feathers |
gargoyle |
storm cellar stairs |
exterior arch at Stephansdom |
exterior column decorations |
exterior window |
gargoyle! |
gargoyle with roof |
exterior mural and sculpture |
roof with drainspout |
manhole cover |
exterior art |
exterior art |
round glass windows |
exterior relief |
more window glass |
this is a plaque about Gerhard Klinkicht, whose claim to fame was not destroying Stephansdom during World War II |
view up the tower |
End of Stephansdom, with hexagonal towers |
Sky above a cafe where we had a snack while waiting for our tower time |
exterior of snack food |
interior of snack food |
coffee! |
mini-Stephansdom! |
informational sign about the tower |
this is not a good photo of the central column of this stairwell, but i don't have a better one, and we've all been waiting awhile for us to start climbing this tower |
Vienna out of the window from the tower |
more Vienna and roofs from the tower |
Bill in a stairwell |
Scott in a stairwell |
roofs visible from the tower |
gargoyle visible from the tower |
interior roof of the tower |
door in tower |
tower window cover |
Stephansdom tower graffiti |
tower sculpture |
tower sculpture: girl vs critter |
more blurry tower stairs |
a bin of Stephansdom snow globes, included for nostalgia because i used to own a Stephansdom snow globe |
information about Stephansdom roof tiles |
Information explaining how the tower we are in was involved in firefighting. Look, it's the Siege of Vienna again! |
Belvedere Palace, where we were walking yesterday, seen from the tower |
more of Vienna from the tower |
roofs, from the tower |
is this roof not the best? |
explanation of how the tower was used for fire watch (i think) |
Brian, waiting to climb the tower |
plaque commemorating the 13th century school by Stephansdom |
I like what i like, and at the end of the day what i like is wooden doors set into geometric ceilings. Judge me if you must. |
art inside Stephansdom |
a display of suspended stones inside Stephansdom |
memorial wall inside Stephansdom |
a guy in a wall |
stained glass window in Stephansdom |
a less backlit view of the same window; you can see the colored glass tiles in the side window |
interior of Stephansdom |
ceiling of Stephansdom |
another ceiling with a trapdoor |
floor of Stephansdom |
another memorial wall |
we took a tour of the crypt, which was no photography allowed (and the photos wouldn't have come out much better than this one anyway), but which is definitely also something i remember touring when i went to Vienna as a kid |
tour group leaving the crypt to the outdoors |
One last exterior shot? The renovation of Stephansdom thinks you should consider a new phone |
sidewalk outline of the chapel that used to be next to Stephansdom |
With help from google translate, i now think these people were protesting the meat industry, though i'm not sure we got that at the time |
Smørrebrød at Buffet Trzesniewski |
a street in Vienna |
not as good as yesterday's jacket |
a small church |
list of cats |
another Vienna street |
A very small car |
Joe is also photographing this car |
apparently this is the Museum of Applied Arts, which sounds neat, but we didn't go in |
close-up of the facade |
a street in Vienna |
near the museum, i doubled back to take a picture of this 19th century mosaic of Athena |
look a trolley |
a street in Vienna |
fish in a canal |
the canal with the fish |
okay, i think this is the window of a model train store with an unreasonable amount of reflection from the building opposite, but honestly i can't tell you |
column-people on the building opposite |
here's our approach to our final major tourist destination of the day, Hundertwasserhaus! |
so basically it's an expressionist apartment building built in the early 1980s |
here's the side facade: plants! vines! arches! little stone animals! |
more trees and a small cobblestone hill thing |
close-up of column |
more cobblestones |
more columns |
...what even is this columntop art? |
an archway decorated with lots of sparkly glass |
Scott admires a tree in the shadow of a phone booth |
every good column is topped by a child wrestling a gator thing |
the rest of the fountain is okay too |
looking up the apartment building wall |
a courtyard of trees between apartment buildings |
this elevator looks cool, but maybe also a little claustrophobic |
more wall glass |
information about Hundertwasserhaus |
We went to the second-floor cafe for a drink, and spent some time puzzling over this overhead contraption |
i assume i was so keen to photograph this tree because it's a sweet gum ball tree, but i admit you can't tell to look at it in this photo |
Off-brand Spezi! I was so excited. It so did not live up to its potential. |
bathroom graffiti wall at cafe |
just a random wall lion |
okay, here you can see the sweet gum balls, anyway |
This is a plaque about the destruction of the Jewish community of Vienna in the early 15th century. |
We crossed the Donaukanal, a channel off the Danube that flows through Vienna. Also, some birds. |
A view down the canal |
BDan, Joe, Lisa, Tim, and Scott, on the path along the canal |
The path along the canal, apparently the Treppelweg |
I do not have an explanation at this time |
buildings in Vienna |
Ah, i guess there's a Hundertwasser Museum near the house, which we passed, and whose back entrance this presumably is |
some slightly ill-advised stairs down to the canal |
graffiti under a bridge |
graffiti art along the Donaukanal |
bridge repair ladder |
graffiti art along the Donaukanal |
graffiti art along the Donaukanal |
that's not how i spell my name, though |
close-up on some political posters |
graffiti-filled tunnel |
some graffiti cat-creatures |
floor tile art |
building next to the Donaukanal |
we did not attend this concert |
a monument to Wilhelm von Tegetthoff by a train station in Vienna |
detail of sea critters at base of monument |
a person, a pike, a sea monster |
look, bicycles! |
ferris wheel in Vienna |
the group considers this ad for Europe's most popular horse show |
an oud, maybe? I don't know my lutes |
large birch near the Danube |
a weird seed pod situation |
St. Francis of Assisi church, through the trees |
tower of the church, with anonymous bird perched near the top |
Toblerone-themed tagging |
hi Bino! |
the whole church again, seen from the bridge with the start of a sunset behind it |
BDan looking off the Danube bridge |
BDan taking a picture of the Danube |
first full view of the Danube! |
taggers remind us that we are on the Danube bridge |
a bridge and windmills southeast along the Danube |
I'm mad too! |
the far side of the river... or is it? (Spoiler: it is not. That's Donauinsel) |
looking back along the bridge at the rest of the group |
clouds! |
the church is on the other side of some water now |
heading back, outpaced by skateboarders |
next stop, Budapest! |
on the escalator after taking the subway back |
don't carry heavy boxes on the escalator |
a roof with some ornamentation |
outside of a Kosher restaurant in Vienna |
how great is Taborstraße |
Kosher beer wall menu at Brendl, where we stopped for a beer |
a beer |
a street in Vienna |
a building with a cool painted facade |
the first floor of the painted building |
bonus Calvin and Hobbes |
a better beer at Schone-Perle, where we finally got dinner |
dinner at Schone-Perle |
drinks menu at Schone-Perle. My notes say i liked the grappa and the Vogelbeere |