Vienna-Austria-I
As I said in the last Self Portrait Friday post, we ended up driving all night to Vienna after a couple of beers and a discussion as to where we should go over the weekend.
From Stuttgart to Vienna we had to drive 670 kilometers and it took us about 8 hours and a half, but I had to sleep at some point, very close to Vienna, because my eyes were acting up. Other travelers may know what amazing effects 30 minutes of sleep can have.
The good
We drove a few minutes through the small streets of Vienna's center and were lucky to find a free parking spot a few minutes walking distance from the Stephen's Cathedral. Walking towards the city center in order to find a tourist information point we spotted a pension caller Lerner. They had free double rooms at €60 a night with breakfast included. Tired and not willing to go search for the tourist information point to find alternatives to this accommodation, we booked two rooms on the spot.
The bad
Only one room was free when we checked in, in the morning, so we had to wait and take turns to shower. The rooms had toilets on the hallway, which is not the peak of comfort and overall the building seemed old and not recently renovated. It wasn't the cleanest pension I've seen, or been in, in Vienna over multiple visits, it was perhaps the most unclean, the only thing going for it was the convenience generated by the situation and the very central position. If you need a place to sleep right in the center this is a very good spot.
The ugly
I just have to put this image here, last time I saw something like this was in Paris, which is very dirty, one of the most dirty cities I have been to in western Europe and at some corners it was smelling heavily of piss. In Paris we saw a man holding his kid in a bus station, over the sidewalk edge, to take a piss. This time we saw a woman and her kid in Vienna and the bad part was, there were toilets just a few meters away, free of charge and empty. There you go lady, you're behinds and your kids behinds are now internet famous.
bad bad tourists
The places we've seen and photographed
St. Stephen's Cathedral is situated at the hart of Vienna and is one of the most famous tourist icons of this wonderful city. The cathedral is the seat of Vienna's Archbishop and the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna.
It stands on the ruins of two former churches extending back to 1147 A.D. and currently has a Gothic and Romanesque style.
Der Graben or in plain English "The Trench" is one of the most famous streets in Vienna and it's history spans over hundreds of years since Roman times. The street is full with shops many of which have prices beyond normal peoples reach. This is the a main promenade street and has plenty of places to shop but to also sit down for a coffee, drink or eat something like the traditional Viennese Schnitzel.
If you are unsure whether you are on the Graben or not, you may recognize it by the presence of the Wiener Pestsaeule which basically means "plague column".
Vienna was hit by one of the last big plague epidemics, in the year 1679. While fleeing from the city, the Emperor Leopold I vowed to erect a mercy column if the epidemic would end. A provisional wooden column made by Johann Frühwirth was inaugurated the same year, showing the Holy Trinity on a corinthian column together with nine sculpted angel.
Peterskirsche or "St. Peter's Church" is another tourist attraction in the center of Vienna. It's location near the Graben and the Pestsaeule make it a busy place all year round, tourists come inside and not just photograph but many also stop to pray or light a candle.
It is speculated that Peterskirche is the oldest church in Vienna, although from the earliest building, from the Early Middle Ages, nothing remains today.
This church was preplaced with a Romanesque church with a nave and two aisles. It is believed to have been established by Charlemagne around 800.
This is the end of part one. I will continue later with most likely two parts, one dedicated to Schönbrunn and one to places around Vienna I photographed, perhaps just a photoblog post.
Thank you for reading.
Edit: As promised here is the second part Vienna part II