Vienna Day 3

Our third day in Vienna started with a tour of St. Stephan's Cathedral. We walked by it plenty of times in the first few days and even climbed the south tour, but it took us a while to work the cathedral into our schedule. It was definitely worth the wait. The cathedral dates back to the fourteenth century and even earlier than that in some spots. Much of it was destroyed in WWII due to fire but the outer walls and quite a few of the inner details remain. It's a beautiful space.


After our tour of the cathedral we headed to the outskirts of town to visit the city cemetery. This is the final resting place of Brahms, several of the Strausses, Schubert, and it has important memorials to Beethoven and Mozart. It's a lovely place and a quiet contrast to the bustling city center. It was fitting to visit the grave of Johannes Brahms especially after grappling with his first and second symphonies over the last few weeks.


From the cemetery we had lunch at the Naschmarkt, this time not in the pouring rain, and then toured the Kunsthistorisches Museum (the collected artworks owned by the Hapsburgs including Renaissance and Baroque art as well as Roman and Egyptian art) and the Hofberg treasury. The highlight of the treasury, for me, was the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor which is about 1100 years old. It was made in the 900s and was worn for the coronations of all of the Holy Roman emperors.




After the museums Kaia and I enjoyed a Sachertorte at the world famous Cafe Sacher and then finished up our day at the Rathaus. The Rathaus is Vienna's city hall and every summer they have a music film festival each night. The city of Vienna sets up an enormous screen in front of the city hall and shows concerts, mostly classical, for thousands of people who show up to eat, drink, and enjoy the festivities. The night we visited we enjoyed Teppanyaki and Radler (it's German/Austrian beer with lemon) and stuck around for the first act of Carmen on the giant screen. It was quiet an event with thousands of people and it happens every night in the summer. It's something to behold.


After we watched a bit of Carmen we hopped on a tram that took us part way around the Ring and back to our hotel. What a lovely evening.