Chip Pride: A Sunset in Vienna...The Perfect Farewell!

Day #2 in Vienna, Day #6 traveling

The front of the palace

After the long day walking and 3 ½ hours standing at the opera last night, I let myself sleep until I woke up. I was hoping to sleep until 9 or 10, but that didn’t work out and I rolled out of bed around 8. After a quick breakfast, I hit the road to the Hapsburg summer palace, Schönbrunn.

During the time of Empress Elizabeth, Schönbrunn was outside of the city walls. Today, it’s a 10 minute tram ride from my apartment. Originally a mansion built in 1469, Schönbrunn was transformed into a palace in the 17^th century. The palace has over 1400 rooms, but the tour only takes you through 44 of them. I liked Schönbrunn a lot more than the Imperial Apartments in the castle inside the city. The Rucco style of the furniture and décor felt more fitting for a royal family. Inside the palace, pictures weren’t allowed. However, the ball room was so beautiful, I snuck a photo or two.

I wish I could go to a ball here.

As a summer residence, Schönbrunn is renowned for its Baroque-style gardens. Since it’s winter time, the gardens weren’t that spectacular, but I could see the promise in them. Along with the gardens, Schönbrunn is home to the oldest zoo in the world. Fr. Libor strongly suggested visiting it because the animals are kept in a more realistic setting than in normal modern zoos. For example, the giraffes, lions and elephants are all in the same pen. Unfortunately the entrance ticket was 15 euro, so I decided to pass.

The gate to Belvedere

After the palace, I went to Belvedere. Belvedere is actually a complex with two palaces (upper and lower) along with the normal palace necessities, i.e. gardens, livery, treasury, etc. The palaces house expensive art collections now, but since it was a beautiful day and I was getting low on euro, I decided to pass on the expensive admission ticket and just walk around the palace grounds for fun. While I was walking around, I ran into some Peruvian guys I met at the opera last night.

The Upper Palace in Belvedere

The major walking part of my tour started after Belvedere. I took the metro to the Vienna University. Next to the university is a Neo-Gothic Votivkriche. The Votivkirche was finished in 1879 and was built to commemorate the failed assassination attempt on Emperor Franz Joseph I. The Hapsburgs were always the targets of assassination attempts. Emporess Elizabeth died when an anarchist stabbed her in the heart in Geneva. And, if you know history of the World Wars, the first one started when the heir to the Hapsburg throne was assassinated. The Hapsburgs were really great targets because they symbolized a powerful dynasty, and an assassination sent a strong political message.

Freud's former practice

From the memorial, I walked towards Bergasse, the neighborhood of Sigmund Freud’s former home and practice. After a bit of searching, I did find his house…it was hard to miss with the giant FREUD sign on the street. From Freud’s home, I wandered through the streets of the 9^th district of Vienna. There are a ton of different small shops, cafes, and bars and it was very endearing. However, it was also fairly expensive, I saw some places offering coffees for 6 or 7 euro!

Perhaps the most picturesque part of my day was in the most unexpected place. The guide I was following suggested a walk along the Danube canal. It mentioned outdoor bars, bikers, and a lot of other warm weather activities. There was a brief mention of graffiti, so that piqued my interest. If you go to Vienna, you HAVE to go see the canal! The art work along the canal is absolutely beautiful. The sun had finally come out and so it illuminated the graffiti and the colors reflected nicely into the water below.

Graffiti along the Danube Canal

I walked across the canal to search for Viktor Frankl’s home. Frankl is the author of “Man’s Search for Meaning.” The book details his experience as a prisoner in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Before being arrested, Frankl worked in Vienna as a psychologist. During his imprisonment, he continued working with fellow prisoners. Phame, the director of the CMU Honors Program, requires this book in the Introduction to Honors course that I mentored in. I’ve read it three times and graded 150 papers about it! Frankl answers some important questions about life, especially how to motivate other people to want to live.

A guy adding his mark to the canal

From Frankl’s house, I went to St. Charles’s church. It’s an outstanding Baroque style church. I was a bit put off that I had to pay to go inside, but I bit the bullet because it was highly recommended by Fr. Libor. The cool thing in the church was a lift (included in the ticket price) that takes you to stairs that lead to the top of the church’s dome. I question the decision to implement this “panoramic” view in the church because the view isn’t that good (impossible to take pictures through the glass) and I think the monstrous metal contraptions necessary to stabilize the lift and stairs to take away from the beauty of the church and altar.

The oldest church in Vienna,
circa 740

Trying to get a better panoramic view of the city, I went back to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the city center to climb to the top of the south tower there. There aren’t any lifts in this tower! I walked up over 330 stairs to a height of 67 meters. Again, I was slightly disappointed by the dirty glass covering the windows that prevent a really great photo. But, I did enjoy the beginnings of a beautiful sunset from the top…just no pictures for you to see!

After all this walking, I had a little bit more to do! I went souvenir shopping and got a few postcards to mail back home. Then, I made it back to the hostel around 18, made dinner, and wrote my blog! Tomorrow, I have to take a taxi at 4:30 AM to the airport to head out to Paris! I’m really excited for France because I have quite a few friends there that I’ll be meeting up with.