1-32
(of 45 found)Vienna Day 1 - 2006 trip.
Sorry about the delay. Yes, I really am that lazy...
On day five of the trip, we left Budapest in the morning and headed
out on the relatively short drive to Vienna. The countryside didn't
look all that different
from Budapest, but the city had quite a different feel to it. It was a
bit cleaner and more ornate, but still had tons of graffiti. This is
definitely a very
cultured city (i.e. a bit snooty), since the main entertainment
seems to be classical music, art and opera. There were tons of museums
to choose from, but unfortunately we only had two evenings and a day
there.
We pulled into the city a bit before lunch, and we were dropped off
to wander around, eat, and wait for the tour guide. I'm not sure where
exactly we were dropped off, since I never got a good feel for the
layout of the city, but we were near a large pedestrian area with tons
of restaurants, shops, and a huge church. None of the Austrian
restaurants really sounded appealing, so my first meal in Vienna was a
nice curry ;)
After lunch, we boarded the bus with our tour guide, and went on the
standard tour of the city. I didn't take too many pictures from the
bus, but here are some crappy videos:
We first drove across the river to a newer part of the city, full of
modern skyscrapers. This was quite a contrast to the older part of the
city, where we were staying.
A lot of the buildings and statues have a military theme, probably a
legacy from the days of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire.
After driving around a little bit, we got out of the bus to do a
walking tour of some of the major sights in the city.
Anyone want a wooden Harley?
We didn't actually go in anywhere but the outsides of the buildings
were pretty impressive. Most of the pictures below are from the
exterior of the Hofburg
palace, which was the home of emperors and presidents. I definitely
would like to take a tour inside if I get back there.
We also stopped by Belvedere
Palace , for a walk around the gardens. There is
supposed to be a nice art gallery inside, but it was closed by the time
we got there.
There are a few more pictures on the next page.
