Part 46: auf Wiedersehen, adieu August 27-30, 2012

After our “Sound of Music” Tour, we caught public bus #25 to Hellbrunn Palace to take the trick water fountain tour.  We quickly discovered that it was trick as in “a cunning or skillful act or scheme intended to deceive or outwit someone” and not a trick as in “an allusion.”  No magic here.  Just a prince archbishop’s mean-spirited toys. 

Hellbrunn was finished in 1619 and belonged to prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus von Hohenems.  It was a summer “day home.”  In other words, people came there during the day to have fun and then went back to their homes in Salzburg to sleep.  I can’t imagine having a house without a bedroom, but this guy had a palace without one.  It has a natural spring running through it which lead to the creation of the aforementioned water fountains. 

The first stop is an outdoor stone table where the archbishop hosted dinners.  Unbeknownst to his guests, that hole in the top of every chair held a water spout (except for the archbishop’s, of course) that would at some point be turned on and you would spend the rest of the evening with a wet posterior.  I wasn’t expecting our tour guide to ask people to actually sit at the table, but she did.  Apparently, some people hadn’t read a description of this place before coming because there were volunteers. 

From there we saw a couple of really nice outdoor fountains before entering a room attached to the main house with a fountain of Neptune.  It was a fancy room with a lot of paintings and molding work.  Also, one fountain was designed to fill up with water which caused it to stick out its tongue at you.  In a side room was a fountain that had dragons swimming around.  When you left the fountain room, you were, of course, sprayed with water.  Once I got outside and noticed the deer sculptures on the outside wall had water shooting from their noses, mouths, and antlers, I put my raincoat on for the duration of the tour. 

We followed a stream that was used to power wooden figurines in shadow boxes and got to a large water-powered musical theatre (built in 1750).  There were hundreds of wooden figurines that moved and it even powered an organ that played music.  It was really cool.  Then, all the people who hadn’t noticed the water jets on the stairs that were pointing right at them (luckily, I noticed), were sprayed with streams of water. 

The last room holds a fountain that when turned on moves a metal crown up and down in.  Apparently it is meant to symbolize the rise and fall of power.  At any rate, exiting was accompanied by water flowing over the sidewalk in arcs and water jets shooting straight at you at random.  I was hit in the leg, but luckily it wasn’t life threatening. 

 

From there, we walked around the gardens and toured the house, which features some amazingly painted rooms.  We also walked up a giant hill to go to the Monatschlossl (little month-palace).  It was originally built because a visitor to Hellbrunn felt that having a nice building on the hill to look at would really improve the view.  So, one was built by the time the visitor returned a month later.  Now it houses an ethnographic museum and has a great view of Hellbrunn and Salzburg Fortress.  We then climbed back down and caught the bus back to Salzburg. 

My dad and I hopped off the bus a little early in order to take a nice picture of the fortress.  This is also when we visited Nonberg Abbey and the Mozart Bridge that I talked about in “The Sound of Music” post. 

 

The next day we caught the train back to Vienna and then the plane back to Sofia.  We ate pizza again at the restaurant near my house, but other than that, didn’t do anything too exciting.  The next day was my parents’ last day and we decided to see a little of Bulgaria outside of Sofia (which is actually the best part of Bulgaria, in my opinion). 

We weren’t really up for driving ourselves, so we found a tour company that would take us to Rila Monastery and Boyana Church .  Simeon, our guide and driver, picked us up from the city centre and we were off.  I felt kind of bad  because we were all really tired so we didn’t talk to him very much and spent a lot of the time in the car napping. 

I went to Rila on my orientation trip when I moved here so you can read about it in more detail here.  The short version is:  it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It has played a vital role in protecting Bulgaria’s history and culture.   It is covered, inside and out, with amazing paintings.  It also has a museum with really, really old church things including Rafail's Cross, an incredible wooden cross featuring over 650 figures showing 104 religious scenes that took the monk 12 years to finish. 

We ate lunch at a restaurant outside the monastery.  We all had shopska salad and my parents tried koufteta (I eat koufteta all the time, so I wasn’t interested).  We then headed off to Boyana Church.  Boyana is also a World Heritage site and was started in the 10^th or 11^th century.  The main part of the church dates from the 13^th century.  The main draw of the church, which has no windows and a tiny little door, are the many paintings inside from 1259.  These paintings actually cover older layers.  The paintings are well-preserved and there is even an air conditioning system that keeps the interior climate-controlled. 

After we finished, Simeon dropped us off at home and we spent the rest of the night eating left- overs and watching TV.  The next morning, at 5:30 am, I walked my parents to the front gate so they could catch a cab to the airport.  I was then mauled by puppies on my way back to my house.  There are worse things than a puppy mob. 

Part 45: Do, a dear August 27 2012

For all the English police reading this, I do know how to spell “doe.”  My misspelling is of course in reference to the song from “The Sound of Music,”  arguably the most well-known musical of all time.  It was filmed in Salzburg in 1964 and most tourists come to the city to tour the filming locations and my parents and I hopped on that bus.  Literally.

 

 

 

At 9 am we were off on the “Original Sound of Music Tour.”  I have no idea if it’s actually the original but I’ll just assume it is.   It leaves from a church just across the street from Mirabell Gardens.  Many scenes from Do, re, mi were filmed here.  Maria skipping under an ivy-covered archway, the children mimicking the poses of athlete statues and running around the fountain before the grand finale jumping up the steps were all filmed here. 

On the bus, our tour guide entertained us with stories from the filming, including that to keep Kym Karath (Gretl) happy, the crew started giving her a lot of chocolate cake.  As a result, she gained a lot of weight as a 5 year old causing Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trap) to require a double to carry over the mountains at the end of the movie because according to him, Karath was “built like a tank.” 

Our first stop was Schloss Leopoldskron, which was used as the back of the Von Trap house.  It’s a privately owned building, so you have to look at it from across the lake (the lake Maria and the children overturned their boat on).  Then, we had a long-ish drive to the gazebo.  On the way, we heard about how Charmian Carr (Liesl) was asked to gain weight to make her look younger and she did so by eating something like 10 full schnitzels that kept being replaced for the dinner scene on Maria’s first night.  Yeah, 10 schnitzels would do it. 



Front of Von Trap House

 

Before reaching the gazebo, which had to be moved from Leopoldskron due to people trespassing onto the property and driving the owners crazy with their own renditions of “You are 16,” we drove by Schloss Frohnburg, which was used for the front of the Von Trap house.  Apparently, there’s a lot of movie magic going on in this film.  We couldn’t stop there because it is also privately owned.

The Gazebo is now in the park near Hellbrunn Palace.  It’s sort of like Dr. Who’s Tardis in that the inside in the movie is larger than the outside.  Additionally, Hellbrunn’s front terrace is also the back terrace of the Von Trap House.  There’s that movie magic again (and for anyone keeping track, that’s the third house used in the Von Trap home composite).

 

We drove by Nonberg Abbey, but didn’t stop.  However, later that day, my dad and I climbed up the hill to take a look around.  The view of the mountains from there is amazing but the chapel looks nothing like the one in the movie. 

 

From there, the hills were alive.  The first large mountain we passed was Untersberg, the mountain the Von Traps crossed into Switzerland.  If you actually cross this mountain from Salzbrug, you actually end up in Hitler’s back yard.  As one tour guide put it, Captain Von Trap was a submarine captain, so maybe he didn’t do well on land.  Or maybe it’s that movie magic thing again. 

 

We drove into the lakes district where the opening montage of Austrian scenery was filmed.  We also passed Sheep mountain with the cogwheel train that Maria and the children ride.  We ended up in Mondsee where the cathedral that hosted the wedding is located.  In the movie (and in real life) Maria and Captain Von Trap get married at the abbey, but since movie Maria had a gigantic train on her wedding dress, they needed a bigger church. 

Also filmed in Mondsee was the bicycle ride along the lake and the scene where the children are lounging in trees along the roadside. 

(Tangent:  In Mondsee I saw a store selling lederhosen and dirndls and the models were posed like something out of Victoria’s Secret.  Hey, traditional costumes are sexy too.)

After giving us time to explore Mondsee, we got on the bus back to Salzburg.  My family’s actual next stop was actually Hellbrunn Palace, but I’m going to skip ahead to more exciting Sound of Music sights that my dad and I visited later that day. 

After climbing up to visit the abbey, we came back down and walked under the arches near the cathedral which Maria also walks under on her way to start work for the Von Traps.  We also made sure to walk across the Mozart Bridge (an important component of Do-Re-Mi). 

 

On our first day in Salzburg we visited St. Peter’s Cemetery.  Parts of the scene where the Von Traps were hiding from the Nazis were filmed here (others were filmed on a California sound stage).  Also, the University Market that my dad and I inadvertently ended up in on our first day in Salzburg was used for a scene in Do-re-mi as well. 

We pretty much covered the entire movie.  Oh, and the tour guide on the bus made us sing.  Those songs really stick in your head. 

Part 44: The Eagles Nest August 26 2012

I didn’t realize growing up that my elementary school playground, The Eagles Nest, shared its name with Hitler’s 50^th birthday present.  Hitler’s Eagles Nest is a mountain retreat in Southern Bavaria near the Austrian border.  In German, the name of the retreat is Kehlsteinhaus, so I’m sure the coincidence was unintentional. 

On day 2 in Salzburg we were doing the one thing my dad requested:  going to The Eagles Nest.  WWII history is king in my family’s house so a trip to Hitler’s mountain retreat was only to be expected.  We boarded the bus around 8:30 am and set out across the German border to get our historical perspectives broadened. 

The Eagles Nest was given to Hitler in 1937 in honor of his 50^th birthday and is located 5,764 ft above the town of Berchtesgaden, Germany in the Bavarian Alps.  The bus you take to the top passes through 5 tunnels over a mere 4 miles.  The views are amazing!  You’re so high up that you can see forever (ok, just 120 miles). 

When the bus reaches the upper parking lot, you enter a long tunnel that goes into the mountain.  You’re lifted the last 400 ft by a large, shiny brass elevator.   It was made of brass and shined because Hitler was both claustrophobic and afraid of heights.  We rode up the elevator with over 30 other people, but Hitler would only ride with 5 others because the back-up elevator could only hold 6 and he wanted to make sure he made it down.  Nice.

Kehlsteinhaus is now a privately owned restaurant so there are a lot of tables and such in it.  However, the wood paneling, lighting, and marble fire place (complete with chipped corner due to Allied troops souvenir seeking) are all original. 

Due to his fear of heights, Hitler only went to the Eagles Nest about 10 times and he didn’t stay for very long any of the times.  The most significant event that occurred there was that the French ambassador to Germany, André François-Poncet, was hosted there in October of 1938.  François-Poncet was leaving Germany after his warnings to the French government of Hitler’s plans were ignored.  The Eagles Nest was largely used to impress and intimidate people such as François-Poncet. 

Kehlsteinhaus was higher up on the same mountain as Hitler’s summer home, Berghof.  Hitler had a house, barracks, and even a school just a little ways down the mountain.  These were all destroyed in an Allied bombing raid in April of 1945.  The Eagles Nest was left untouched, but according to our tour guide, reasons differ as to why.  Some say, it was foggy and the pilots didn’t see it.   Others say the pilots felt it didn’t really matter.  It was ultimately saved due to the fact that Hitler didn’t really ever use it and so the connection to him wasn’t really there. 

My dad and I hiked around the mountain a little bit before we were packed into the elevator to descend. 

Next on our itinerary for the day was the Hohensalzburg Fortress.  The fortress is probably one of the most recognizable landmarks in Salzburg as it sits on a giant hill in above the old part of the city.  Construction started in the 11^th century and continued until 1681.  When you take the audio guide tour, you see models of it at various stages of development. 

We took the Funicular up the hill because it was faster and drier and the all inclusive ticket (up and down and the fortress) is only 10 euro.  In trying to find the audio guide pick-up point, we did a quick circle of the fortress’s interior.  Then we started our tour of the inner rooms.  We started out in a room that was either part of the kitchens or the dungeons and then headed into the torture chamber with the prerequisite hooks and chains. 

From there we headed up Reck Tower, the highest tower in the fortress with great views from all sides of the surrounding town (including a retirement home that looks like a castle).  Next you see the state apartments.  These rooms are lined with painted wooden panels and one room has an amazing stove from 1501.  There is also a toilet.  Hey, everybody poops. 

From the state apartments you head down a really, really long hallway and see the Salzburg Bull, a barrel organ from 1502.  Apparently it is extremely loud and was used in connection with church services. 

Once the audio guide tour was complete, we went to the Fortress Museum.  It shows the military history of Salzburg over hundreds of years.  By the time we made it through the museum, we were done so we headed back down to the funicular.  We stopped at the pretzel stand again and then sat for awhile to watch a presentation of a reading of Babar with orchestral accompaniment.  We were there during the Salzburg Festival, which has public showings of operas, orchestras, and other shows that people might not otherwise get to attend on a giant outdoor screen. 

Eventually we made it back to our hotel and finished up day 2. 

Part 43: The Hills Are Alive August 25, 2012

The morning of August 25 started like all our other mornings in Vienna with breakfast from McDonalds.  However, this time, I was ready to go early and so I was sent on a pick-up mission.  Little did my American self know that McDonalds in Vienna (and probably all of Europe) on the weekends doesn’t open until 7 am.  What?  Luckily, I was only 10 minutes early and got to spend some quality time with my Kindle and the drunk people waiting for their breakfast before (and I’m just assuming here) going home and sleeping until 4 pm. 

With breakfast finished, we headed off to the train station (Westbanhoff, this time) to catch our train to Salzburg.  On the train, I continued reading “Little Women.”  I’d never read the book before, though I really like the movie (the 1949 film, not the later versions) and it was free for Kindle, so I decided, “Why not?”  I really liked the book; however, it took me FOREVER to finish it.  I reached the part where Beth March died while on the train and I found it to be really sad.  Most of the time I don’t become overly saddened by death in books.  When Dumbledore died in Harry Potter, I was surprised, but I wasn’t sad about it.  I liked the way the author described it.  Plus, it was sort of a long, drawn out process, which always helps (has anyone else seen the ending of “My Dog Skip?”  How about “Where the “Red Fern Grows?”). 

We got to Salzburg and found our hotel and my dad and I went to explore the city.  We saw Mirabell Gardens, which are the gardens of Mirabell Palace, the home of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau.  He built it in 1606 for his wife and large number of children.  From there, we crossed the Salzach River into the old part of town.  We saw Mozart’s birth place, the Cathedral, and Residence Square.  Residence Square includes the Residence Fountain (the largest baroque fountain outside of Italy), and two archbishop palaces.  There is also a nearby Mozart monument. 

We crossed Chapter Square and saw the Neptune fountain, and then we angled our way up the hill.  We stopped for lunch and I got a “chicken burger” with garlic mayonnaise which is basically the best condiment ever invented.  We walked up the hill towards the fortress a little ways before heading back down and eventually finding ourselves in St. Peter’s cemetery, which is where the Von Traps hid from the Nazis in The Sound of Music.  I plan on doing an entire Sound of Music post later on, so I’ll just save the details. 

 

We emerged from the cemetery near a bakery that smelled delicious and then bought the first of many pretzels from an amazing pretzel stand.  We crossed through the twisty streets and came out right in the middle of the Grunmarkt.  It was packed with people and stalls selling everything from meat and vegetables to crafts.  Also there is the Collegiate Church, which was built in 1696 and has an impressive façade, though the inside is undergoing some sort of restoration.  We needed to head back to the hotel to pick up my mom.  On the way, we passed by the Pferdeschwemme Horse-Pond, which served a watering place for the Archbishop’s horses in 1695.  It’s nicer than any glass I’ve ever used. 

After collecting my mom, we again passed through Mirabell Gardens and crossed the river into the old town.  We were on a mission to visit several churches that I’d picked out in the guide book.  First stop:  Salzburg Cathedral.  Completed in 1628 (and reconstructed after an Allied bomb collapsed the dome), it is amazing!  It has a barrel-vaulted ceiling painted with beautiful murals and the carved moldings are fantastic.  There is also a baptismal font that was forged in 1321 that depicts several bishops as well as scenes from the Bible.  I had to wait over 5 minutes to get a picture of it because this tour guide would not move.  I swear she was reciting the names of every baby ever baptized by its waters. 

We moved on to St. Peter’s church.  The church was built in stages staring in 1250.  It also has a barrel-vaulted ceiling but it is decorated completely differently from the Cathedral.  It has vine-like moldings and only a few large murals. 

On a whim, we popped into the Fransciscan Church.  It was built in two different time periods.  The nave is from 1167 and the choir was built in 1400’s.  So, we have a Romanesque nave, a gothic choir, and a baroque altar.  It is also interesting because the church has many support columns holding up the ceiling rather than it being free-standing. 

After that, we went back to the hotel for dinner and watched The Big Bang Theory on my dad’s I-pad.

And so ended Day 1 in Salzburg. 

Part 42: Authentic Slovakia August 24, 2012

We caught the train from Sudbanhoff in Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia.  We were going to take a tour of the city with a company called “Authentic Slovakia” that afternoon.   After asking the train ticket lady for change, we managed to successfully navigate the bus system to the historic city centre of Bratislava. 

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and has been inhabited basically forever.  Ok, I might be exaggerating, but it has been inhabited since 5000 BC.  The medieval city centre is really nice.  There is a castle (1649) and tight, winding streets with a few nice public squares.  My dad and I got “Mexican” bagels for lunch (they had jalapeños and cheese and guacamole and frankly, I’ve nearly forgotten what real Mexican food is, so I thought it was good) and my mom got a descriptively named “chicken bagel.”   

At 3pm, after having some ice cream, we met Peter in his 1974 Skoda car.  The first thing I learned was that the seatbelt in the front seat is just for show.  Comforting.  Luckily, traffic in Bratislava was less scary than that in Sofia.  Gradually, we settled in to our Post Socialist Bratislava Tour.  First, we saw the first block style apartment building built in Bratislava.  Unfortunately, it was the first of many.  Peter also gave us some drinks and snacks that were popular during socialism.  I really liked the cookie/wafer thing.  It was good. 

Then we went to a market that, when it was built, was the height of modernity.  Now, it is largely empty, but still is still a good place to buy vegetables.  From there, we went through a pedestrian underpass that the government hired graffiti artists to decorate when Bratislava hosted some sort of hockey championship (turns out Slovaks really love hockey.  Who knew?).  We also saw a building that was made of marble donated by Fidel Castro.  

 

Then we went up a hill, to see a church that had a cave behind it modeled after the one in Lourdes, France.  The walls around it are covered in “thank you” plaques for Mary (obviously a Catholic church).  On from there to the- you guessed it- memorial to Russian soldiers that died liberating Slovakia during WWII.  It was a nice memorial surrounded by mass graves of soldiers.  On the walls of the memorial it has the dates that several Slovakian cities were liberated.  Most of them were liberated near the very end of the war.  Near the memorial is where the ambassadors of England, the US, and China all live.  They have pretty nice houses. 

Onward, to Hotel Borik.  This hotel is owned by the government and is now only used for official state visitors.  No one else can stay there, which is a little weird.  From the parking lot is a great view of the Danube and the city.  We then drove back down into the city and across the UFO bridge to visit a WWII era bunker and WWI cemetery. 

 

 

We visited the cemetery first.  It is very well kept by a group of volunteers, which is really great.  Apparently it was in disrepair (and part of it was destroyed by the Nazis to build the adjacent bunker), but a man decided to restore it and has diligently kept it looking nice for about 5 years now. 

After that, we went to the bunker.  The bunker was built to defend against the Nazis in WWII and is one of several in the area (it is bunker 8, we could also see bunkers 7 and 9).  AFter the Nazis invaded, the bunkers were then used by them.  The bunker museum is also run by volunteers.  One man, in particular, really dedicates time and money to the project.  He shops for WWII era items to put in the museum and even found several authentic uniforms from soldiers at the time that he lets visitors try on.  I wore a Slovak uniform with a fuzzy hat and my dad went for the Gestapo leather coat, which weighed close to 20 pounds (not exaggerating).  We learned about the history of the bunker and the Nazis in Slovakia.  Apparently there was a statue in Bratislava with a lion that Hitler saw and said, “The lion has to go.”  So it went, because, you know, he was Hitler. 

From there, Peter took us to see the attempt at giving Bratislava a subway.  One station was sort of completed and now it is a long dark concrete tunnel that has some amazing acoustics.  He also took us to see an old thread factory.  It was once a huge complex that made most of the thread in Europe, but now most of the buildings have been torn down. 

Finally, Peter dropped us off back at the train station.  We signed his guestbook and then immediately bought water.  It was a hot day.  I actually ended up buying another bottle about 15 minutes later before our train back to Vienna. 

The tour we took with Peter was really great.  It wasn’t something most people would probably pick, but it was really fun and interesting to see.  They also have castle tours and hiking trips.  So, if you’re going to Slovakia, check them out!

Part 41: Vienna….again August 22-24, 2012

We arrived in Vienna and took the metro to the city centre to find our hotel, which was supposedly somewhere near the Opera House.  Well, it wasn’t that far from the Opera House, I think “near” was an overstatement.  My mom stayed at the hotel to rest and my dad and I went out to explore and to buy 3 day passes for the public transportation system- which is amazing, by the way.

We saw the main shopping district and toured the Church of the Capuchin Friars Imperial Crypt.  I went through the crypt my first trip to Vienna and it is still impressive.  We also wandered around Hofburg Palace and saw the Lipizar stallions’ stables.  We then met up with my mom at the hotel to go to Schonbrunn Palace. 

I was excited about going to Schonbrunn since I didn’t go there during my first trip to Vienna.  I’m glad I didn’t go then because Schonbrunn has amazing gardens and gardens are decidedly less exciting in the winter.  Schonbrunn was the summer palace for the Hapsburgs and was built in 1695 and 1713.  It is yellow (which I found out later was an official royal color in Austria) and the interior is, as with most palaces, amazing.  You can’t take pictures inside, but my favorite room was the grand gallery.  It is 130 ft long with an arched roof painted with amazing murals.  I also liked the Blue Chinese Salon, because as anyone who has seen my wardrobe can attest, I like blue. 

We wandered around the gardens and then my dad and I walked up to the Gloriette.  This is a large pavilion used originally as a dining hall.  It overlooks the gardens and the palace and now holds a café.  We came back down and, since it was really hot out, went to the restaurant to try and eat dinner.  It was about 5:30 when we did this, but unfortunately they don’t serve dinner until 6:30, so we sat there.  It was hot.  Our dinner finally did come and it was delicious.  I had the vegetarian option, since boiled beef didn’t sound appealing and I don’t really eat beef.  I started with really good tomato soup (even though it was hot) and then I got some sort of spinach, potato, onion thingy wrapped in phyllo dough with a really good salad on the side.  Strudel (of course) was served for dessert, but I don’t actually care for strudel (or pie type pastries in general) so I just ate the crust. 

From there we went to the Orangery.  Orangeries are so named because they were like giant green houses used to hold orange trees and other tropical plants from palace gardens during the winter.  Now, the Orangery at Schonbrunn hosts concerts.  We looked terrible, since we had been sweating all day, but the concert hall was fairly cool and the concert was good.  The concert featured a small orchestra that played compositions by Austrians (Blue Danube Waltz, anyone?) and had dancers and opera singers. 

The next day started out with breakfast at McDonalds (because it was just down the street from the hotel and it was cheap) where my dad asked me if the breakfast McChicken was good “for breakfast.”  I’ve eaten so much weird stuff for breakfast lately, that as long as I’m full, I don’t care.  We then went to tour the opera house.  I toured the opera the last time I was in Vienna, but this time I took some notes (not kidding). 

The Opera house was partially destroyed by Allied bombing during WWII, but has since been rebuilt.  The original parts of the Opera house are amazing.  The Emperor’s room and even the front entry have incredible ceilings and gold trimmings.  The rest is still really nice, but you can tell it was built in the 1950’s.  Now, the stage.  The flies are 82 feet high, the stage has lifts that can rise and drop nearly 40 feet below the stage (one lift is for trucks) and the entire stage is about 250 feet deep.  It’s really big.  That’s what I took notes on.  We also went to the opera museum to see the costumes.  I also got to see my dad try out the ballet position tutorial taped to the floor.  (see picture)

From there my dad and I went to see if we could get boat tickets to Bratislava for the next day.  We also stopped at a post office to see about stamps, but they only sell stamps in packages of 4 (only country I’ve ever been to that won’t sell one stamp), so I just got one stamp from the hotel desk.  Unfortunately, the boat was sold out, so we would be taking the train. 

We met my mom and went to the meeting place for our Segway Tour.  Since my mom has trouble walking, these tours are a really great way for her to see more of the city.  We met up, signed our lives away, and were trained in stopping, starting, and turning.  We then headed out. 

First stop:  Hofburg Palace.  (my first Vienna entry talks a lot about this, so go there if you want to read more).  We also saw the parliament, town hall, Beethoven’s Vienna apartment, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral.  A monument to Gutenberg was near where we stopped to get ice cream, and from there our guide took us to the Jesuit Church which has the most amazing interior.  It was built in the 1600’s and the outside is not much to look at.  However, on the inside, the vaulted ceiling is painted to look like it has a dome. 

Our guide also showed us a model of what medieval Vienna looked like (and some wall remnants) and  some concert halls and the standard monument to the Russian soldier, which are basically found in all countries liberated by Russia during the second World War.  We stopped for a good look at St. Karl’s church (built out of thankfulness for the Black Plague ending) and then made our way back to the Segway tour place by way of “The 3^rd Man” underground tour start site.  You can literally tour the tunnels where the movie was filmed. 

My parents and I decided to go see the inside of St. Stephen’s and then we went to Figlmuller, a restaurant famous for its giant Schnitzle.  It also makes the best potato-spinach salad ever.  It was soooo good. 

The next morning, we went to tour Hapsburg Palace.  When touring the palace, you get to see the Royal silver and china collection, which fills up rooms and rooms.  It is one of the most ostentatious things I’ve ever seen (and now I’ve seen in twice).  You then enter the Sissy Museum, which gives you a look into the life of Empress Elizabeth.  She has the standard “I hate being royal” tale and really became much more popular after her assassination than she ever was while alive.  Lastly, you see the private rooms of the emperor and empress in the palace.  They are mostly decorated in red and I probably couldn’t even afford the fabric that the furniture is upholstered in. 

From the Hofburg, we caught the tram to the south train station to catch a train to Bratislava, Slovakia for the rest of the day.