It was spring break time at the University de Lausanne and Maddie and I decided to go East. With Rick Steves as our guide (okay, his book) we set off on a tour of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, starting with Vienna.
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We rolled into the Westbahnhof Station on Friday afternoon
after a morning of watching lovely Austrian countryside. It looked vaguely familiar...
Our first order of business was finding our hostel, the highly recommended and well situated Hostel Ruthensteiner.
It may have seemed a bit drab from the outside, but the interior was bright and cheerful with a lot of great gathering areas, like this outdoor patio (below).
Not wanting to waste the day, we set out on a walking tour of the city.
For dinner, we wanted to try an Austrian delicacy...
Frankfurters with mustard - delicious!
Our first night we went to the English Cinema to watch Alice & Wonderland in 3D. It was dark by then - this photo is from the next day. The theater was in the basement and decorated with a 1950's-vintage-Hollywood-glamor feel.
On Saturday morning, we took a sightseeing-tour around "The Ring" - the historical center of the city. It was a self-guided tour based on one provided by Rick Steves.
The sightseeing tour brought us to all the major sites of the city - like the Danube River.
And here's the statue of Marie Therese, beloved ruler of the Hapsburg Empire. Note how you can't throw a stone without hitting a tourist here which has resulted in a lot of creative cropping...
We went to an outdoor market for lunch and one of the things we bought was this amazing loaf of bread. It was super moist with the vague taste of English Breakfast tea.
Then a hike to the Upper Belvedere to see David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps and some Klimt masterpieces, including The Kiss.
Walking back we cut through the Stadtpark.
By this time on Saturday, there had been a lot of walking partly due to some creative interpretations of the map. But no matter, all things are solved by ice cream.
Just across from the square where we had ice cream was the MAK - a design museum.
The day ended with a tour of the royal crypts. While some royals are still honored with flowers and candles, others just kind of sit alone in corners. Isn't that always the way?
Sunday morning was Easter and our last day in Vienna. Along with many others, we took in a training session of the Lipizzaner horses. Note the chandelier and gold-leafed arena. Classical music was piped through loudspeakers throughout the show.
Cafe Central is famous for their coffee with apricot liqueur as well as a gorgeous gilt & marble interior that hasn't changed since the late 1800's.
After coffee, we made a mad dash to Hoher Markt to see the Jugendstil Ankeruhr - a clock that gives a show featuring various important figures in Austrian history to celebrate the passing of each hour.
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