Melissa's Amusings: June 2013

It was brought to my attention that my titles seem incorrect, since Prague is not in Germany. To my way of thinking, it made total and logical sense. The main reason I am calling it "Germany Vacation" is because for me, the idea of the vacation was to see Justin, who is stationed in Germany :-) The trip also starts and ends in Germany. The fact that we are also in The Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary is secondary and is "icing on the cake". I'm not sure what I will call our next visit to see Justin, maybe by then I will be more creative or accurate!

Simona, our tour director (from Romania), established a rotating seating assignment. Every travel day we would move up (or back) two rows, this would give more people the opportunity to be seated in the front . I thought I was perfectly satisfied with where I was at, because the side windows were fairly large.

Simona had a wealth of information she shared with us while traveling.

So, this morning we moved up two rows and were at the very front.We were right next to our very capable bus driver, Dietmar (from Germany) and....

his sidekick, Scrat, the Saber-toothed Squirrel from "Ice Age".

Scrat started all the 'disasters' in "Ice Age".

It did not take long before I realized that this was an excellent day for sitting in the front. Dietmar had discussed with Simona about the route we should take to Vienna, most of it off the major highway. Instead, we traveled through the Czech Republic's beautiful countryside.

We went thru quite a few picturesque villages. Many of the houses had gardens in the small area between their front door and the street. The gardens varied from a well-tended 'kitchen-herb' garden style to more of a wildish 'cottage' garden. I especially liked the scene I viewed of an elderly woman with local style dress/apron/kerchief etc. sweeping her front walk that was lined on both sides by pretty gardens.

The churches with their unique steeples/spires were very eye-catching and could be easily seen.

I think Scrat also liked the views.

In between the villages we went by rolling hillsides...

and bright yellow fields of Rapeseed.

If I was not in the front, I would not have gotten to see the back of this truck...

which made me smile.

During part of this day's drive, Simona was telling us a little bit about how it was during the Communist Era( she was a child at the time and told us some of her families experiences) and how it may still be affecting many of the people, especially in their dour demeanor. I really can not imagine how depressing it would be to live where you can not trust ANYONE (even close family members) or where no happiness is expressed...everything so very dreary! She had a few 'jokes' she shared that were on the surface funny, but if you actually thought about them had quite sad undertones to them.

Some interesting/pretty buildings in the last Czech city we drove thru.

As we were entering Vienna, we were told how graffiti was an art form and not discouraged.

We drove past Vienna's trash incinerator. It is a unique building 'created' by artist F. Wasserhaus. His underlying principle is "tolerance of irregularities" and has a few other expressionist architecture buildings around to his credit.

The tower is the smokestack and the gold bulge contains fire control rooms.

Once we were let off at Vienna's Inner city, we quickly decided on a restaurant for lunch. We had just enough time to have an enjoyable lunch before the city tour began.

Hmmm, which beer to try this time?

The tour first starts off on the bus, which circled the inner City on the Ringstrasse. This tree-lined boulevard is where the 16th century city walls enclosed and protected the city. It now has many public buildings in a variety of architectural styles along it. The bus let us off for the walking part of the tour at the Maria-Theresein Platz, a formal garden between the identical buildings of the fine arts and the natural history museums.

Statue of Maria Theresia in the center of the formal garden, between the two museums.

many details on side of the museums

A short ways from the museums is the Hofburg Palace. This complex of many different wings or sections is a result of the 600 years or so that it was occupied by the Hasburgs. Each reigning Hasburg had an addition built based on a different architectural style. We first come to the impressive Neue Burg designed by Gottfried Semper ( he also designed the fine arts and natural history museums) built between 1881 and 1913. A lot of details on this semicircular building!

different museums are located inside the Neue Burg

The main reading room for the national Library is also located here.

We then go thru one of the gates to the courtyard, In der Burg.

A monument to the Emperor Franz II of Austria was made during the years 1824-1846 and is in the middle of the courtyard.

Here are some of the 'finery' on the buildings surrounding the courtyard.

A very stunning dome structure above the Michaeltor Gate

The colorful Renaissance style Schweizertor Gateway leads to the oldest section of the Palace, the 13th century Schweizerhof (Swiss Courtyard).

Above the archway are the many titles of Emperor Ferdinand I and the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Since we were just passing through we did not enter the oldest section. Instead, we exited the large courtyard through the Michaeltor Gate.

This passageway is quite elaborate with the ornate wrought ironworks of Anton Brio and.....

sculptures subtly placed in nooks ...

and detailed carvings in the domed archway.

We come out and look back at the more popular way of entering the Hofburg. This area of building, the Michaelertrakt, has three entrances to the courtyard. Each entrance has gigantic statues of Hercules alongside them.

Again, no one is looking up at these 'works of art'.

On both ends of the michaelertract are wall fountains symbolizing Austrian's Navy and Army powers. We passed this one on the way to....

"Mastery of the Sea"

view the famous white Lippizaner horses in their stables.

There was more talking than viewing here :-(

We pass what I think is Josefsplatz. If so, then behind the statue of Joseph II is is the Punksaal, the most impressive room in the library.

I would like to find out what the figures holding up the golden globe are representing.

With one last look at the outstanding view of the Michaeltor/Michaeltract, we head on ....

towards Graben street, a very striking street lined with beautiful buildings in a variety of different architectural styles.

A Jugendstil building, the Ankerhaus- is the one on the right with the square, green trimmed top.

I often got a feeling that I was being watched :-)

or protected

There are two fountains dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. One is dedicated to St. Joseph and the other to St.Leopold. The statues were sculpted and placed above the fountains in the 18th century.

Pigeon on hand is not part of the statue.

Between the fountains is the Pestsaule (plague column) monument. It is a memorial to those who died in the 1679 Plague epidemic. There are different parts to the angel decorated column. The golden top figures on a cloud represents the trinity, another group of figures represents Faith defeating the Plague, and another figure is a praying emperor.

Nearby, tucked away in a side street is the 2nd oldest church in Vienna, St. Peters.

The dome is huge compared to the two towers.

Next stop on our walking tour is St. Stephens Cathedral. The oldest part (13th century) of this church are the Romanesque two smaller towers and part of the west facade between them that survived a fire. Since then the church has been rebuilt and added on to in the Gothic style.The stunning South Tower/spire is 450 feet tall.

The Haas Haus on the left created quite a stir for being so modern and crowding the cathedral.

A matching tower on the north side was started, but funds ran out, as did the Gothic style. So the in-completed tower was finished off with a Renaissance cupola.

The Romanesque front, Gothic sides and South tower and a Renaissance cupola can be seen in this picture.

The exterior has many decorations and statues.

Part of a skeleton at the top of this plaque caught my eye.

The roof has more than 200,000 glazed tiles, this side is a chevron design.

Inside the church, the first thing I noticed was the strange lighting that the stained glass windows produced. It reminded me of either the 60's metal Christmas trees with a colored wheel spotlight on it or very colorful light reflections produced by water.

Here are some of the stained glass windows in the church.

The Gothic stone pulpit was carved from sandstone by stonemason Anton Pilgram. The fathers of the church; saint Augustine,Ambrose, Gregory, and Jerome are most prominent on the pulpit.