Day 2 - Vienna (part 2)

The original plan was to leisurely head to St. Peter's (near our hotel) for a choir concert by 3 p.m. However, our little side trip to Salm Brau took us farther from St. Peter's, but very much closer to Belvedere Palace.

Of course, upon realizing this, I convinced (told) Brendan that we could squeeze in JustOneMoreThing. (Hey, we can be leisurely when we're back home!)

The palace's museum houses a couple of the most well known artworks of Vienna, including "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt and "Laughing Man" by Richard Gerstl. The latter is literally a self-portrait of the artist laughing - which sounds adorable until you learn that it was completed shortly before he committed suicide. Brendan was unimpressed by "The Kiss" (and anything else Art Nouveau) and both of us deemed "Laughing Man" as one of the creepiest paintings ever.

The Belvedere complex includes both upper and lower palaces, and is surrounded by gardens. It was built in the early 1700s as a prince's summer residence. The rain let up (thankfully) for our walk from the lower palace to the upper palace/museum through the gardens.

Since we were now officially far from St. Peter's, we had a bit of a walk back to the underground and caught a train to our home base, St. Stephen's Square. We passed a few interesting things on the way: a pharmacy, where we scored another free toothbrush - our third free toothbrush of the trip after the two complimentary ones at the hotel ("I thought you had packed that!"); a man peeing against the Belvedere Palace wall after parking his brand new BMW (wtf); and a late-1600s statue or "mercy column" (below) created at the end of the last plague epidemic.

Even though it was still early afternoon, we were both a little tired from jet lag and sightseeing and needed a dry place to rest before taking on the rest of the evening. Luckily, I had noticed the Northwestern University International Choir was performing at an organ concert at St. Peter's. We entered the beautiful early-1700s Baroque cathedral and chose a pew near the alter as our concert seats.

The concert was free with a donation, and the church was packed as the music began. My favorite thing about music is that it's definitely a universal language -- you could sense the peacefulness and beauty of the music being experienced by everyone in the church, no matter where we had traveled from.

Fun facts: In 1970, Peterskirche (St. Peter's Church, interior photos below) was transferred to the priests of Opus Dei (of da Vinci code fame). And the earliest church building (none of which exists today, other than by name) dates to the 12th century.

Exterior of St. Peter's Church

 



Loved the city streets - quintessential European pedestrian throughways (only permitted vehicles allowed), lined with shops and pretty post-war rebuilt architecture.

After the concert, we walked (less than 5 minutes, thankfully) back to the hotel to rest a bit before grabbing pre-dinner drinks at the hotel bar, which included a great view of St. Stephen's and the pedestrian & shop-lined streets surrounding it. While at the bar, Brendan tasted his first schnapps of the trip (too strong for me!).

 

Drinks with a view, only an elevator ride away from our room!

Couldn't enough of the view from our hotel bar.

Then, we enjoyed another traditional Austrian meal for dinner, and while I loved the taste of the local food, I was starting to become concerned that I would soon no longer fit into my clothes.

 

Eh. We can worry more about that while we're being leisurely at home...

 

Auf Wiedersehen!