Wien Bleibt Wien
We started our
second day in Vienna with a visit to the Wiener Stadtpark, where we saw the statues
of some of Vienna’s greats: Johann Strauss, Franz Schubert, Franz Lehár, and a group of penguins (I
am not sure of the history behind this monument). We continued to Karlskirche,
after which we ditched my sisters at a café and visited the Secession Building.
To our disappointment, the only Klimt there was one single permanent
installation and the remaining art was mostly contemporary.
In the evening, we made an excursion to Saint Stephen’s
Cathedral. I could not help recalling a paper I had written back at Yale about
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, who visited Vienna in 1873 for the World’s Fair and
wrote in his diary about being shown the Stephansdom by Emperor Franz Joseph. Unlike
the Shah, we had the chance to ascend one of the Cathedral’s towers and take in
a birds-eye of Vienna under a winter sunset. We will have to wait for another visit to be given a personal tour by the Austrian emperor, though.
Saint George Church
Franz Schubert Monument
Hans Makart Monument
Penguin statue
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Franz Lehár
A fancy facade
Karlskirche
Karlskirche with a Christmas petting zoo in the front
Detail of the Secession Building
Saint Stephen's Cathedral
Saint Stephen's Cathedral at sunset
The view from Saint Stephen's Cathedral at sunset
Saint Peter's Church as seen from Saint Stephen's Cathedral
Another view of the roof of Saint Stephen's Cathedral
Another view of the roof of Saint Stephen's Cathedral
The nave of Saint Stephen's Cathedral
Stephansplatz
Another view of Saint Stephen's Cathedral
Karlskirche
Christmas market in front of the Karlskirche
A Viennese street
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