Vienna - Part One

 I'd visited Vienna twice while travelling, once properly spending a few days to explore, and then again when I was passing through heading to Italy. Its a lovely place, full of charming buildings, tasty food and a great selection of Museums. James had always wanted to go to Vienna, so I was happy to return and explore a bit more. We flew from Heathrow, landed, got ourselves checked in to the apartment where we were staying, and headed out to find some lunch. You know that old saying "You can't explore on an empty stomach" or something like that.

We found a nice little restaurant near where we were staying, and I got to try a Poke bowl for the first time which was very nice. The green stringy stuff was amazing, before we then headed into the Architecture Museum. Entry was Nine euros, and it was lovingly laid out & presented, and took you on a journey through the history of Architecture. There were these brilliant displays on wooden stands that felt like they were just as important as the Architecture themselves. I'm not going to lie, it was a little bit high brow and I felt a little lost in the content sometimes, but the bits I got were really interesting. Worth visiting if you've got an interest. 

We then headed over to Vienna's St Stephens Cathedral, with its beautiful tiled roof that you can't help but love. It had been closed for restoration works when I was last here, so I was excited to head inside and explore it. The actual cathedral itself is free to enter, but there's fees to see further things (The towers, attic, catacombs etc) We were there a bit late, so we only did the main Cathedral building. 

Excuse the blurriness! The colour of the sky beautifully contrasted with the stones of the Cathedral

The main view inside

I've never been in a cathedral that was so dark and it had an almost oppressive feeling. Granted it was dark outside, but there was very little lighting inside to help you explore. I love this picture, because its beautiful but also a little creepy, like the light is coming from the altar and shining outwards, rather than the light shining onto it.

There are so beautiful carvings inside, this one caught my eye, with the woman's watching stare over the children, and the intricate carving on the plinth they stand on. Well worth a visit, but maybe best enjoyed in the daytime wen its lighter and you can see more of the details of the decoration.

Not far from the Cathedral is this monument, Column of Pest, built to commemorate the victims of the plague. Its beautifully carved and we missed it in the dark, hence why we headed back the next day. Its very commanding and grabs your attention when you see it. 

Here's a much better and no blurry picture of the cathedral in the daytime, aren't those tiles fantastic?

And while you're exploring Vienna, keep an eye out for the Lipizzaner horses, they are a very famous breed of horses, very famous in not just Austria, but also neighbours Slovenia and Hungary and other countries who were part of the Habsburg empire. They as special for being very long lived and excellent for show jumping & dressage. We saw the stables, but weren't able to get any closer. They are stunning horses though!

Close, but yet, so far away!

We then had a nice leisurely stroll back to the apartment as the evening set in, we saw this beautifully lit up temple and this statue in the little park near where we were staying.

What a lovely way to end the day!