September 6

Today was a really busy day. We arrived in Vienna by train at about 9:00 AM. Our first activity was a long (about 3 miles), cold, wet walk to the hotel. We had no idea it was so far and were too dumb to take the subway. But we saw a lot of Vienna!

All Austria is talking about the Pope's visit.

A yummy looking turtle bun!

After climbing eight flights of scary stairs in the wrong part of town, we checked in at the Pension Dr. Geissler. Our room was expensive and less than inspiring, but oh well. Being on the seventh floor, it was quiet, at least. The reception gave us maps and some literature about Vienna. Based on the suggestions in the leaflet, we walked to the nearest subway station and bought "Vienna Cards", 72-hour passes for all public transport and discounts on museum admissions. No more walking three miles in the rain with all our luggage!

We didn't stop for long - pretty soon after arrival we headed out by subway for Schönbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Habsburgs. It was amazing. Everything is as they left it in 1918. There were no angry mobs trashing the place like in Versailles or Allied bombs like in Wurtzburg. Erik was especially excited and sad to be there, because he loves the Habsburgs and wants them reinstated. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside.

The palace and an only semi-wet Becky.

By the way, Marie Antoinette was born here. She wasn't French. Neither are croissants.

After Schönbrunn, we took a subway train to the city center and walked around. Our first stop was the Stephansdom, Vienna's cathedral. The Stephansdom is the last Gothic building in Vienna. Everything else got "Baroqued" in the 18th century. The cathedral was in a state of uproar; they were getting ready for the Pope's visit on Sunday.

Gothic!

The cathedral was packed, and there were cameramen and lights everywhere.

I think the crowd was waiting for something to happen. They were about 48 hours too early.

After the Stephansdom, we just set out walking and went over to the Hofburg, the winter palace of the Habsburgs. We didn't go in to any of the museums in the huge complex at this point, but we did stumble upon the Augustinerkirche, the family chapel of the Habsburgs. Among other things, there is a shrine to the recently beatified Kaiser Karl I, the last of the Habsburgs. (Well, Otto von Habsburg wouldn't agree, but...) It was moving. His body is buried in Madeira, but you can see that at least part of his heart is in Vienna.

Beate Carole e domo Austriae, ora pro nobis!

After Karl, we went over to the Schatzkammer, the treasury most recently of the Habsburgs but previously of the Holy Roman Empire. It's a blindingly gold-encrusted place, and there's way too much to take in all at once. Imagine row upon row of royal gems, lavishly embroidered tabards, crowns, weapons, vestments... It's crazy.

The crown of Rudolph II, circa 1600.

He would have also enjoyed the privelege of wearing the next crown, but only once:

The crown of Charlemagne is 1207 years old.

After all that sightseeing and running around, we were pretty wiped out. We headed back for the hotel and ate some dinner nearby. Afterwards, we walked about a block down to the Danube, which, as you can see, was neither beautiful nor blue. There it is, though.

The Danube