Vienna Part 1: Tourist Attractions

I have finally taken the time to sit down and write about my trip to Vienna with Annina that I did in the beginning of May. I left for Vienna on the second of May and we spent a wonderful week exploring the city and having fun before flying back to Norway the 9th of May. Here is the first of three posts from my trip, titled Tourist Attractions!

St. Stephan's Cathedral 

St. Stephan's Cathedral is probably the most famous church in Vienna and is located smack in the middle of the city centre. You are also allowed to take photos inside which was a nice gesture, since usually churches are very strict on thit point. I would guess it's about the same size as Nidarosdomen in Trondheim for those of you who have been there. There are several tours you can pay to go on inside, and we decided to go up the bell tower also known as the north tower. It is the smaller of the two towers, but has a great view out over Vienna. To get up in the tower we took an incredibly small elevator that took us all the way up to a small viewing area with the great view and the biggest bell. It's a nice church, but it was a bit too touristy for my taste.

Zentralfriedhof - Main Graveyard

The main graveyard in Vienna is a tourist attraction in itself. It is impressively big and here you will find the graves of many famous musicians among other well known people. Among the graves we looked for and found were Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. In the middle of the graveyard is a large round chapel with a crypt underneath and surprisingly it was free to enter and to look around. There is also a section of the graveyard that is almost completely overgrown and it was a bit spooky to walk among the overgrown graves. Vienna is known for its big funerals and it is considered status to have a big gravestone and a huge party. This was easy to see as we walked around, with one gravestone bigger and more detailed than the previous. Of all the different ones, I found this one in the picture to the right the most original and cool looking!

Schönbrunn Palace

Schönbrunn Palace is probably the most famous tourist attraction in Vienna. Here the famous Habsburg family lived for several hundred years while they ruled Austria and the countries around. Now the Palace is a museum with tours of the rooms that are still kept as they were when the castle was used up to the beginning of the 20th century. Every room had it's own purpose and is filled with fine furniture and art on the walls. It was actually very impressive to walk from room to room and learn about their purpose and to look at the way of life these people had. Among the rooms was the room where the young Mozart jumped on the Empress's lap and gave her a kiss after performing for her one of his many classical pieces.

Behind the palace is a gigantic garden so big it actually takes hours to walk around. We walked around looking at sculptures and fountains before making our way to the opposite end. Here the Habsburgs had built a lookout that had an absolutely fantastic view of the garden and the palace in the distance. In the middle of the garden is the biggest fountain with a small pond and some big statues that made for a great photo spot. The Vienna zoo is also located in this garden but we decided not to go there. I have to say I was very impressed with the palace and the palace grounds. Be sure to check out my complete photo album in a later post.

Museum of Fine Arts

Vienna is a city with extremely many museums so we had to decide which ones we had time to visit and which ones were actually interesting. After a few tips (thanks Tobias!) we ended up going to the Museum of Fine Arts. This building like most buildings in Vienna looked old and majestic. The outside looked impressive enough, but the inside was even more impressive. Right inside the entrance was a big room with three big staircases and in the roof was a hole to the rooms above. It's hard to explain how it looked, but it's definitely worth the visit. The first floor covered art from the oldest civilizations, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to mention a few. And wow what a collection. There was so many different artifacts and objects it was hard to believe one museum could own all of it.

Then we got to the second floor and here there was room after room with famous painting from people like Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens and Dürer. The rooms just never ended and personally I have never been to a museum with so many paintings, although Annina told me that the Louvre has more. The coolest part? Photography allowed in almost the whole building! In the third floor there was an equally impressive coin and money collection with rare coins dating back to before the Roman period. Some of pure gold! Normally I am not the biggest fan of fine arts, but I have to say this was a very interesting place.

Schatzkammer - Treasury Chamber

The "Schatzkammer" or Treasury Chamber in English is yet another museum in Vienna. Here some of the Habsburg jewels and other Imperial treasures are stored and displayed. Crowns, scepters, fine clothes and other ornaments in gold, silver and other valuable metals are shown as you walk through the many rooms. Some very impressive and expensive looking items were on display and I think these photos will illustrate what I am talking about. It became clear that the Habsburg family was as powerful and rich as many of the other royal families throughout Europe. Most of the paintings and other artifacts in the Museum of Fine Arts was collected by them as well and they are a big reason Vienna is such a rich cultural city.