Vienna - a beautiful city

Our second day in Vienna was very hot, it got to 38 which is the hottest it has been there this summer. We went on a city tour in the morning and I asked the guide, Walter, if this was a usual summer. His reply was, 'NO!', and that it is the hottest, driest summer they have had in a very long time. This meant that when he stopped to tell us about different buildings or events in history he had to find shade to do so. I'm certain we would have died otherwise.

Asking Walter questions. He was a tall dude!

We found out about the tour through our hostel and because we booked through them we got it at a cheaper price. Walter was a fantastic guide who was very knowledgeable. Our tour started by the river where I learned about the important part Vienna had in European trading history. I saw the church that had a uniquely shaped bell tower so traders would know they were in Vienna, it functioned a bit like a lighthouse.

Bell tower that functioned like a lighthouse

Then we walked through the Jewish Quarter where we were told about how poorly the Jews were treated, a common theme running through European cities. There was a statue in the square of one of the 'only good Germans',  according to Walter and his statue was there because of an allegorical story he'd written about religion. I thought it was nice so will share it with you. The story is a about a man who has three sons. He had a ring to pass onto one of his sons when he died and which ever son he gave it to was guaranteed to be loved fully by men and god. The father could not decide which son to give it to so had the ring copied exactly so that no one could tell the rings apart. When he died each son got a ring and they started fighting because they wanted to be the only one loved by men and god. The fighting got so bad that they got advised to all wear the rings and whoever had the real one would be loved by men and god. So they did and never found out who had the real ring. Can anyone guess which each ring represented? Muslims, Jewish and Christians, clever ha? In the war the Germans burnt down the statue of this guy but after the war the Austrians had it redone and now it stands proudly in the square again. It was a chilling spot.

Monument for the Jewish people

Walter then showed us around the different architectural trends and we ended up in the Hofsburg palace complex. A lot of the places we went we had walked passed the day before so it was great having some of the history behind them. Annalisa and I noted how each tour guide takes slight digs at other cities in Europe to make their city seem the best and this was true for both the tours we've done so far. Walter could not say enough good things about Vienna; free education, low rents, free public events and so on. He was very honest about the role of Austria in the war and took us to the spot where Hitler addressed 200, 000 people to get them amped for the war, the most Austrian's in a public space ever. He said 5 years later no one went back to that spot and everyone involved wanted to forget that moment when they went into the war having no real idea what they were entering in to. I remember seeing photos of that rally in history class. In that space I saw a spectacular bronze sculpture of a horse only supported by two legs. There is only one other like this in the world in this position because it is hard to distribute the weight properly. I thought that was cool.

Couldn't survive without my penguin fan from Singapore

Cool horse on two legs

After the tour we got a bite to eat and Annalisa went Austrian and got some local specialties, a cinnamon scroll and a Viennese coffee. In her words she was 'well chuffed' with it.

She's well chuffed

The air conditioned metro seemed an appealing next stop on our way to Schloss Schönbrunn, the Hapsburgs' 1441 room summer palace. We opted for the 22 room audio tour because the palace was not air conditioned. Unfortunately I could not take any pictures inside the palace but I will tell you this, it was my favourite palace yet! I thought it was absolutely beautiful and oh my the gardens were out of this world. I did get some photos of those. While we were there we invented a new sport, something I think will take off in Europe this summer. It is called 'Hot Walking' and is when you walk around with a back pack on in 38 degrees or more. I was the hottest I have EVER been when I was walking around that garden?

Can you see what I see?

Red squirrel!!!

Statue in the gardens

Palace from the side

Woop!

Taking the steps like a lady

Oh, I'm too hot to keep going!

View from the top of the climb

View from the palace

At the top of the hill

More nice garden sculptures

A cold shower was high on the agenda when we got back to the hostel but it wasn't to be the last of the night. True to our word we went to the film festival outside the city hall and were treated to a French opera. I cannot tell you what the plot was because we were both utterly confused by it but the atmosphere was great nonetheless. When we got back we shared a can of Austrian wheat beer which really broke the bank at 45 cents a can and then settled in for the night before our 2.5 hour train trip to Budapest in the morning.

Yay! The film festival!

We managed to fit a lot in and I loved every moment in Vienna, it is a beautiful city.

Yay! Budapest! X

P.S. Just a message for Aunty J :) I'm thinking of you and wish you a speedy recovery. You'd have loved the Hapsburg Palace. Love you xoxox