Hello, Vienna!
Why did I wait so long to get here? Better question: why have we only allotted four days of the Grand Tour for this extraordinary place?
Can I start my blog with showing you some photos from walking around? (PAUSE) I heard no objections so here I go ... hum a Viennese song as you scroll through my pictures (below) ...
I read that the people living here consider themselves of Vienna ... and being Austrian is more of a remote or secondary thing. Maybe like Chicago people don't think of themselves first as being from Illinois? We have definitely left Bavaria and the Bavarian culture far behind. Vienna is old world but urban and sophisticated.
We arrived yesterday (Thursday) and checked into our hotel (below).
Months ago, Earl surprised me by getting tickets to a Vivaldi concert at an old church in Vienna and the tickets were for the night we arrived. Vivaldi is my favorite composer and his Four Seasons is my favorite music.
We took an Uber to the church (below) last night. Its name is Karlskirche, a Baroque church which makes it an appropriate venue because Vivaldi's music is Baroque.
When we walked through the doors of the church, oh my gosh! (Photos below.)
I was tickled that we had front row seats -- surprise! -- and as we took our place, a musician was tuning her harpsichord (below). Her harpsichord! We saw in the program that period instruments were going to be used. I was getting quite giddy.
This is the view (above) from our seats to the music stands. Of course, I did not take photos during the performance.
I wish I knew a great writer who could adequately describe this concert because it was one of the best nights of my life. The talented musicians (harpsichord, bass, cello, 6 violinists) played with a passion that was contagious. The lead violinist played center stage, performing the entire Four Seasons with no music sheets and I thought he was going to burst with love for this music. I felt tears on my cheeks during more than one part. Poor Earl -- I would squeeze his hand during the more exhilarating sections.
Being in the first row for musical performances is fun but not required because it's really all about the sound. We often get the cheap seats waaay up in a balcony. But last night, it was so fantastic to be first row. Earl and I both agree we had no sense of the audience behind us. It was as if these nine musicians, about 10 feet away from us, were playing for us alone. The acoustics were incredible; no microphones were needed.
After it was over, Earl and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. (Final bow photo is below.)
What a night! What a way to start our Vienna stay! (Don't say anything about me always having the same dress on. It has been way too cool in the evenings to wear my summery dress, the only other I brought along.)
Here are two photos (below) especially for Peg Mobley, who lives across the street from St. Charles Borromeo in Dayton. Karlskirche is named for St. Charles Borromeo so I took these photos for you, at a side alter in the church.
Can you stand some more church photos? I hope so because that's always a part of European vacation for me and millions of other people. Today (Friday) we started our sightseeing with a visit to St. Stephen's Cathedral, one of the most famous churches in Europe.
It is the most magnificent church I've been to -- perhaps ever? Not sure. It's gorgeous in places, but it's the vastness of it that overwhelms me.
Today we also had lunch in a restaurant that overlooks Stephenplatz (below), the square outside the cathedral ...
and then we spent the afternoon at ... drum roll, please ....
Technologies Museum! Yeah, buddy. It was even my idea to go because The Mister is always so good about going places that I like.
Here are a few photos from the museum (below) ... starting off with a poster ad for radioactive toothpaste!
So it's been a fun time in Vienna so far. Before you go, I want to share one more photo (below) with you. Many buildings have figures of people carved into them.
This one cracked me up because at first glance, it looks as if they are holding hands. Then I noticed they were chained together. Secondly, he's wearing some sort of primal animal head fur on his head ... and honest to gosh it looks like she's wearing sunglasses pushed up to her head, with a scarf holding back her hair for the beach.
I'm sure there's some sort of mythological story to it.
I lied -- one more funny photo of a sign telling you this place has "WC" -- water closet a.k.a toilets. Some one has a sense of humor!
Thanks for reading my blog!
Jane
Can I start my blog with showing you some photos from walking around? (PAUSE) I heard no objections so here I go ... hum a Viennese song as you scroll through my pictures (below) ...
I read that the people living here consider themselves of Vienna ... and being Austrian is more of a remote or secondary thing. Maybe like Chicago people don't think of themselves first as being from Illinois? We have definitely left Bavaria and the Bavarian culture far behind. Vienna is old world but urban and sophisticated.
We arrived yesterday (Thursday) and checked into our hotel (below).
Months ago, Earl surprised me by getting tickets to a Vivaldi concert at an old church in Vienna and the tickets were for the night we arrived. Vivaldi is my favorite composer and his Four Seasons is my favorite music.
We took an Uber to the church (below) last night. Its name is Karlskirche, a Baroque church which makes it an appropriate venue because Vivaldi's music is Baroque.
When we walked through the doors of the church, oh my gosh! (Photos below.)
I was tickled that we had front row seats -- surprise! -- and as we took our place, a musician was tuning her harpsichord (below). Her harpsichord! We saw in the program that period instruments were going to be used. I was getting quite giddy.
This is the view (above) from our seats to the music stands. Of course, I did not take photos during the performance.
I wish I knew a great writer who could adequately describe this concert because it was one of the best nights of my life. The talented musicians (harpsichord, bass, cello, 6 violinists) played with a passion that was contagious. The lead violinist played center stage, performing the entire Four Seasons with no music sheets and I thought he was going to burst with love for this music. I felt tears on my cheeks during more than one part. Poor Earl -- I would squeeze his hand during the more exhilarating sections.
Being in the first row for musical performances is fun but not required because it's really all about the sound. We often get the cheap seats waaay up in a balcony. But last night, it was so fantastic to be first row. Earl and I both agree we had no sense of the audience behind us. It was as if these nine musicians, about 10 feet away from us, were playing for us alone. The acoustics were incredible; no microphones were needed.
After it was over, Earl and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. (Final bow photo is below.)
What a night! What a way to start our Vienna stay! (Don't say anything about me always having the same dress on. It has been way too cool in the evenings to wear my summery dress, the only other I brought along.)
Here are two photos (below) especially for Peg Mobley, who lives across the street from St. Charles Borromeo in Dayton. Karlskirche is named for St. Charles Borromeo so I took these photos for you, at a side alter in the church.
Can you stand some more church photos? I hope so because that's always a part of European vacation for me and millions of other people. Today (Friday) we started our sightseeing with a visit to St. Stephen's Cathedral, one of the most famous churches in Europe.
It is the most magnificent church I've been to -- perhaps ever? Not sure. It's gorgeous in places, but it's the vastness of it that overwhelms me.
Today we also had lunch in a restaurant that overlooks Stephenplatz (below), the square outside the cathedral ...
and then we spent the afternoon at ... drum roll, please ....
Technologies Museum! Yeah, buddy. It was even my idea to go because The Mister is always so good about going places that I like.
Here are a few photos from the museum (below) ... starting off with a poster ad for radioactive toothpaste!
So it's been a fun time in Vienna so far. Before you go, I want to share one more photo (below) with you. Many buildings have figures of people carved into them.
This one cracked me up because at first glance, it looks as if they are holding hands. Then I noticed they were chained together. Secondly, he's wearing some sort of primal animal head fur on his head ... and honest to gosh it looks like she's wearing sunglasses pushed up to her head, with a scarf holding back her hair for the beach.
I'm sure there's some sort of mythological story to it.
I lied -- one more funny photo of a sign telling you this place has "WC" -- water closet a.k.a toilets. Some one has a sense of humor!
Thanks for reading my blog!
Jane
One of the things (I believe) that makes photos in Europe so nice is that streets are narrow and buildings tend to be more than one story tall. That enables the light be softened and warmed bouncing of the tan and beige colored walls. Clouds help soften the light too.
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