A broad abroad: DAY THREE

It was recommended and we didn't want to miss it so we set out first thing in the morning to take the Ringstrassa Tram Tour around the city. The cost - eight euro's but the trip of a lifetime. The ride took 25 minutes at most, and for 10 of those at least we were stopped at traffic signals. Not sure why this tour is recommended. It did acquaint us with the buildings and sites on the Ringstrassa which is the street in Vienna.

In 1857 Kaiser Franz-Joseph I announced his decision to begin the demolition of the surrounding walls and fortifications of the Innere Stradt, together with the glacis around them. The decree signaled the birth of Vienna's new Ringstrassa, a magnificent boulevard 3.2 miles in length and around 200 feet wide. It eventually opened on 1 May 1868.

Some 85 architects from across Europe initially submitted their plans from which the Building Commission selected the best ideas. These were to integrate the Austrian Parliament, Rathaus (City Hall), University and Burgtheater buildings in a crucifix arrangement, along with a museum complex opposite the Hofburg, a prominent position for the State Opera House, and sufficient space for a large park beside the Wienfluss river. Such grandeur and glory was soon joined by the magnificent palaces of the rich, predominantly Jewish, Viennese bourgeoisie- the Rothschilds, Ephrussis, Wurttembergs and Wittgensteins- whose luxurious residences were designed and built by the best architects of the time.

After the "exciting" tour we walked back to the Ringstrassa to look more closely at some of the buildings and the park.

An original city wall. Had I seen the sign earlier " Old Timer Bus tours" I might have been tempted. By the end of this day we felt like two "old timers"!

Some of the more modern buildings that are visible from the tram.

This building is the Vienna State Opera. Built by architects Sicardsburg and Null, the new Vienna Royal Opera was vilified by the Viennese as a "sunken chest" from the moment it opened on 25 May 1869- Mozart's Don Giovanni was performed - for such sins as lacking a plinth. This did not detract from the Opera House's reputation however, and within a few years it had achieved worldwide fame as a building of unrivaled beauty. The Opera House suffered heavy bomb damage at the end of World War II, but it was reconstructed and modernized. It opened again in November of 1955.

Beautiful grounds and the buildings all house museums of one sort or another

The Maria-Theresa Platz. The monument of Maria-Theresa was built more than a century after her death. It is a very imposing monument by Casper Zumbusch with a total height of 62 feet. The statue of the seated Empress is 19 feet high. The total weight of the bonze statue is 44 tons. It took 15 years to complete it. The project for the themes of the monument was provided by the historian Alfred Ritter von Arneth, who wrote an extensive monograph on Maria Theresa.

Beneath the monument is a cavity structure with pillars in order to spread evenly the forces over the ground. This cavity was used in 1945 by the Russian army to store weapons.

Known as museum quarter.

The Maria-Theresia Platz is home to four beautiful Fountains featuring Nymphs and Tritons.

The Parliament building. Quite impressive. Construction lasted from 1874-1883. The architect designed the building as an ensemble where each piece harmonized with the rest. The most famous feature is the statue of Athena and the fountain. Despite heavy damages and destruction during World War II, most of the interior has been restored to its original appearance.

It was time for a break!! We found this little restaurant and decided to give it a try. Trip advisor had given it some good ratings. We had a wonderful meal there and our waitress was extremely helpful selecting the right wine to go with our dishes.

We were first served this plate of bread accompaniments - oil which had been flavored with leaves from an oriental lime tree. tomato and rocket (arugula) salt, poppy seed and salted nut butter. We have been vowing to lay off the bread but we could not resist tasting these. Wonderful!

We decided to split two entrees since the food servings seems to be way too much for us . We split this ravoli with truffle and champagne foam... (( It was while enjoying this lovely lunch that we got to talking about our tour to hear some wonderful music during our stay in Strazburg. Oh dear! It was Vienna and it was yesterday. Well that was a first - missing a tour. The interesting thing is Sharon had gotten a message from Viator asking if the number of tickets ordered was one or two. We confirmed that it was two. I don't know what we were thinking. oh! We weren't obviously. )

and a fancy beef ( should have written down the name) like pot roast with hash browns. It was delicious! We had our picture taken outdoors because the light was bad inside and heaven knows we want you all to see our faces.Well they are happy faces because we did our enjoy our meal!

Passed by this little auto shop - wonder how I'd look in one of these. I will be needing a new car when I get back. These looked nice.

Stars honoring musicians all along the street.

Our approach to the Hotel Imperial. Originally built by Duke Philipp von Wurttemberg ( it was one of the first on the Ring), who fell out of love with the project when the Vienna Muskiverein ( a concert hall,) built soon afterwards, blocked his view of the Karlskirche ( a baroque church). In 1972, Budapest hotelier Johann Frohner took over the building and renamed it the Hotel Imperial, starting the success story of one of the world's most luxurious hotels.

The entrance was one of those large revolving doors and this tea service is displayed on one of the doors.

(This is a picture of the dome of the Karlskirrche - just happened to have snapped it.)

Not just McDonalds in Austria but McCafe. They do serve beer.

Just a view or two down the Ringstrassa.

Our next stop was Stadpark. It is a large municpal park on the Ringstrassa and statues of famous Viennese artists, writers and composers are located throughout the park. The Kursalon building below is the site of popular waltz concerts.

Very close to this very statue of Johann Strauss II ( the waltz king) playing his violin were two "costumed" Viennese salesmen selling tickets to a concert at the Kursalon. I really thought we should get some. Sharon was a little reluctant. They weren't cheap and our first set of tickets weren't cheap either but I couldn't imagine saying we were in Vienna and we didn't go to any concert. Finally Sharon was convinced and so we purchased our tickets for a concert that very night. We certainly couldn't forget to go.

The Wienfluss ( Vienna River) which divides the park into two sections.

I'm sorry to say the rest of my blog disappeared. I had finished it but am not publishing them all right away. I read through this blog last evening and everything was there, this morning when I pulled it up to give it thte once over the portion of the blog which had pictures of a large Russian monument which we ran across on our way to the Belvedere Palace and Museum and the concert we attended were gone. I have no idea how that happened.

I had also deleted all the pictures - so no reconstructing.

Got some pictures from Sharon so am going to add to the post. Still no pictures of the concert but they are on Sharon's blog.

Found my pictures on my European cell phone. I really don't know how those pictures there except possibly through google somehow. Anyway I'm adding them to the blog.

Schwarzenbergplatz is a vast square situated near the Ringstrasse. There are several sights at the square including a fountain, a Soviet monument and a statue of the prince after whom the square was named. The fountain , Hochstrahlbrunnen was built in 1873 to celebrate the completion of Vienna's water supply system. Three hundred and sixty-five small jets at the edge of the basin, one for each day of the year, surround seven islands with jets symbolizing the seven days of the week. Twelve larger jets represent the months of the year, 24 more represent the hours of the day and thirty other jets account for the days of the month. The largest central jet represents the year.

The Red Army Memorial is located directly behind the fountain and was erected in 1946 by the Soviet

Army which occupied a sector of the city until 1955. Before that year, a T-34 tank accompanied the monument.

The plan to build such a memorial first occurred in February of 1945 - note that this was before the battle had even started. The Soviet army held a competition and a soldier ( and architect- won it with a simple pencil drawing. The first models were built from bread crumbs.

Once the fighting had ceased, the Soviets discussed several options on where to build the memorial. They finally decided to use the Schwarzenbergplatz and built the memorial to sort of wrap around the Hochstrahibrunnen ( the fountain) and almost incoporate the fountain. It is also likely the Soviets chose the location partly inorder to rub into the faces of US, French and British delegates that it had been them who had conquered Vienna.

The Soviets employed locals and prisoners of war for the construction. With the inauguration of the memorial the square was renamed - Stalinplatz. Dead soldiers were buried on the site of the memorial. In 1955 when the allied troops withdrew and released Austria into independence, a state treaty was signed in which Austria guaranteed to take care of the maintenance of the Heldendenkmal ( the memorial).

Ever since the withdrawal of the Soviet troops many right wing politicians have demanded that the memorial be blown up. It is the constant target of vandalism and there have been several attempts to blow it up. According to the treaty the Austrian government must repair all damage.

Generally there is a negative view of the memorial and even among today's Austrian population it is refered to as the "Pea Memorial". After the conquest aka as liberation of Vienna, supplies were short and especially children and old people suffered from malnutrition. In May of 1945, Stalin decided to donate 1,000 tons of peas that were provided for the starving population of Vienna.

With the withdrawal of the Sovietst the square was renamed Schwarzenbergplatz.

Our nest stop was the Belvedere Place. It consists of two Baroque palaces, the upper and lower Belvederes. The Baroque palaces complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy.

The Upper Belvedere.

Hubertus van Hohenlohe's exhibit at the Belvedere invites both Viennese citizens and tourists to capture the magic of Belvedere Palace in a perfect photograph. It just didn't turn out so well because Sharon and I had separated and I had no one to take my picture but me. But than maybe it is a picture of the perfet tourist as tourist's are always snapping pictures.