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St. Stephan's Cathedral
St. Stephan's Cathedral is one of the most visited places for tourists in Vienna and is located right in the heart of the city. We started off this morning with a walk around the flea market at Naschmarket. The flea market is open every Saturday from 6:30am to 4pm and has a huge variety of antiques and collectibles for sale. It is also connected to the regular food market so we wandered around both. The sun was beating down on us with ferocious strength (which I now have the sunburn to show for) but it was a fun experience nonetheless. After the market we stopped and bought a bottle of wine to enjoy later on (after yesterday's experience of finding all the stores closed by 7pm, we thought we'd play it safe this time) and dropped it off at the hotel.
We then wandered over to the Hofburg Quarter and visited the Imperial Apartments, Silver Collection, and Sisi Museum. It was a combination ticket (9,90 Euro) for all three areas...talk about a looooonnnngggg tour! If I had known how long it would take to get through the whole thing, I think I would have walked a lot faster through the Silver Collection (which you go through first). The Sisi Museum was interesting. Apparently Empress Elizabeth (Sisi) was not happy with her life or
Flea Market at Naschmarkt
The flea market at Naschmarkt is open every Saturday from 6:30am to 4pm and is filled with all sorts of things to rummage through. her position and spent a great part of her later life away from Vienna. However, after her assassination (she was stabbed with a file! Ouch!), the people became quite enamoured with her, and she remains of great interest to this day. The Imperial Apartments are where Sisi and her husband, Franz Joseph, resided (they did not share a bed and instead had two adjoining apartments).
After the museums we walked over to the Cafe Demel, which was only about a block away. As much as I wanted a coffee, it was much too hot, so I settled for a rasberry soda and a piece of Cleopatra cake instead. They have a HUGE cake selection at Demel, and there is a glass area where you can watch the pastry chefs prepare everything. After the cafe we walked to Karlskirche, under which the Imperial Vault is located. The vault is where the crypts of many of the Hapsburg Rulers are kept. We took several pictures of the more ornate looking crypts and then headed Graben Street, a shopping area and also the location of the Plague Column (a sculpture constructed in the 1600's). Next to the Graben was Peterskirche, which is
Flea Market at Naschmarkt
The flea market at Naschmarkt is open every Saturday from 6:30am to 4pm and is filled with all sorts of things to rummage through. Note the "Bush Go Home" sign on the rooftop in the background... I'm not sure if that was meant for Daddy or Jr., but either way seems appropriate. arguably the most beautiful church (on the inside) in Vienna. We took some pictures and then headed back up Graben to Trzesniewski, a tiny little shop that sells open-faced sandwiches. We each ordered three (I had a tomato, an onion with egg, and a spicy pepper) and sat down to eat.
After the sandwiches we walked over to St. Stephan's Cathedral which was about a block away and went inside. It was much too dark to get any good pictures so we went around the outside to the South Tower and paid to climb the 343 steps up (which actually only go to about the halfway point). After huffing and puffing our was up the steps, we finally made it and enjoyed the view of the city from all directions. After getting our strength back, we made our way back down and went further up Stephansplatz to the Hoher Markt area to see the Anker clock. There are twelve historical figures on the clock (one for each hour) that all do a dance each day at noon. We thought that maybe there would be a smaller show every hour as well so we sat and waited for the clock
Flea Market at Naschmarkt
Another view of the flea market... to turn 6pm to see what would happen. The new figure slid to the VI position on the clock, but other than that (and six bells chiming), nothing happened. It was still nice to sit and relax for a bit, so it wasn't a complete waste of time sitting there.
We headed back toward Stephansplatz and stopped at Zamboni and Zamboni for some ice cream. I had a tirimisu and nutella ice cream that was yummy (especially since it was so hot all day). After that we wandered back over near the cathedral and I stopped at a chocolate shop to buy some goodies (which hopefully won't melt with all this heat.... I have yet to see a post office here to mail anything and tomorrow is Sunday anyway). There was a guy in the middle of the street entertaining the crowd with tricks, so we stopped and watched for awhile. We then hopped on the U3 to Volkstheater and walked back to our hotel, where I will now finally enjoy some wine!
Tomorrow is our last day in Vienna! We plan to see the Palmhaus, Gloriette, and the Belvedere, which should mean that we will have covered
Naschmarkt
The Naschmarkt is open daily and you can find all sorts of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. to buy there. most of the highlights of the city!
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Michael
non-member comment
Heeheehee, good thinking on the wine front! Sorry to hear you got sunburn :( Ahh, being stabbed with a file is a horrid way to die. What kind of assasin kills with a file? It sounds like you're getting to try a great selection of foods over there, your blogs always leave me feeling hungry with your descriptions. Tirimisu and nutella icecream sounds gorgeous. Vienniesse(Vieniese?) chocolates sound exciting. It sounds like it's been a very tiring day with all those stairs and walks!