It's finally time for another trip destination! This one dates back to August of 2022 and begins about a week or two after my sister left us during her visit to France. Shortly after my wifes parents came to see us and spent two weeks in Europe before heading back home.
It was the first time that I had seen them since we left Canada three years prior and was sort of a last hurrah for my wife and I before we ourselves moved back home a month later.
The vacation began in Austria where we spent one week touring the country and then continued on for one more week in France.
My wife and I took a plane from Paris early in the morning and met my in-laws in the city of Vienna around 9am or so. We only spent one day in Vienna, but we were able to see quite a bit of it in that short period of time. No doubt we missed a lot but there were other destinations in the country that were higher on our list to see, so what can you do but make the most of your short time somewhere?
After a brief stop at our hotel we headed out to wander around the streets with no particular destination in mind. We mainly stuck to what we figured was the old town of the city.
The weather was over cast and rainy for the first half of the day but it did clear up a little by the afternoon.
The city was like many large European cities in that it had a nice mix between new modern construction alongside many historic buildings, statues and monuments that were thrown in here and there to keep things interesting.
Overall I thought that the city was quite nice and really liked all of the Beaux Arts and Baroque style architecture.
It had that romantisized old world charm to it that is common among many of the cities and towns across Europe.
Here are a few specific sites and attractions that we wandered into during our walk.
The Hofburg
The Hofburg is a series of buildings that make up the former imperial Palace of the Habsburg dynasty.
The photos above and below are of the entrance to the imperial apartments, which now hold the Sisi Museum. The museum showcases a collection of personal items once owned by Empress Elizabeth.
Originally built in the 13th century and expanded many times since, the Hofburg is now the residence and offices of the president of Austria. Not a bad building to call your office if you ask me.
The building is certainly impressive and it's located in a central spot in the heart of the old town.
A constant stream of heavy foot traffic makes it a good place to people watch, if you're into that sort of thing.
Something that I found interesting was that right out front of the museum entrance was a historic foundation that had been excavated, preserved and put on display to the public. It was neat seeing a visual display of just how old the city actually was.
The building was decorated with several large and beautiful statues that gave off that feeling of oppulance and power often felt when visiting these old European Palaces.
Walking through the entrance way we came to an inner courtyard.
It was somewhat plain in there but there was another large statue that was nice to see as we made our way to the other side of the complex.
Karlskirch
We did a large sweeping loop of a walk around the old town and next we came to the Karlskirch, or St. Charles's Church in English.
Dating back to the 1700s this church was a wonder of Baroque style architecture in my humble opinion. It was unique and impossible not to be impressed by it.
We wanted to go inside but we thought that the 10 euro per person fee was pretty steep for a church and we decided against it. We have been into a lot of impressive churches over the years in Europe so we have hit a point where we now begin to question "Is it worth the money? How much better could this one be than the last one we saw?"
We decided to just admire the exterior for some time and then we moved on in our walk.
Stadtpark
Vienna had quite a few large greenspaces scattered around and we love walking through any sort of European park or garden. That is one thing that I always tried to add them to my list of things to do in any city. This park was quite exceptional too.
Mozart was born in Salzburg Austria but he spent much of his life in the city of Vienna so the city plays tribute to great composer in many ways.
In the Stadtpark there is a statue of him that we passed by while making our way through the space.
Actually there were many statues and monuments to view in the park and on our walk around it.
I took photos of just a few of them.
We casually wandered along the walking oaths before continuing our loop around the old town back you our hotel.
Ankeruhr
Along the way we saw this clock that was built by the Anker Insurance company way back in 1914.
It actually has a really interesting story and history about it that can be found here. I borrowed an excerpt from the site (below) that I found particularly interesting, but if you are going to the city and plan to view the clock then I recommend reading the whole article. It's a quick two minute read or so but is well worth it to get some background info before your viewing.
Anker commissioned the work as a contribution to the city’s art and culture, but also as a subliminal reminder of the importance of life insurance; the clock contains various allegorical motifs representing the inevitable passing of time and the transience of human existence.
St. Stephen's Cathedral
St. Stephen's Cathedral is an impressive gothic church located in the center of the old town just a short walk from the Hofburg.
I didn't take a lot of pictures of it because of the dreary weather but it was another large church that you can't miss, mainly because of its central location and of course, it's size.
Conclusion
Day one of any travel day is always a tiring affair, but even more so when you're travelling from North America to Europe and the flight takes you through the night. We headed back to the hotel so my in laws could take a nap before dinner time. My wife and I stayed out and had a drink at a bar to pass the time. Overall we didn't see a lot of the city but I did really enjoy our short time there. If nothing else it was a great introduction to the country of Austria and made me excited to see more.
