Vienna, Days Two and Three

 Our second day in Vienna was a busy one.  After an excellent European buffet breakfast (cold cuts, pastries, many types of bread) plus scrambled eggs and sausages for the non-Europeans at the hotel, we walked 20 minutes to the other side of Old Town to visit the Vienna State Opera building.  It is a repertoire theater where they put on a different opera or ballet every night!  When we were there, the stage crew was tearing down a set they had put up the previous night for the rehearsal of a future production and began putting up the set for that night's opera, which they would tear down and set up for the rehearsal set for the next morning.  They are busy people!

The theater itself is large with floor seats and many boxes around the room, with the center Royal Box originally for the royalty of days gone by.  They have multiple break rooms, each decorated differently from ornate baroque to modern where folks can get drinks and snacks during intermission.

The Vienna State Opera House

The Grand Staircase as you enter the building

The many boxes surrounding the stage and the stage crew building a new set

This chandelier is large enough that maintenance people can walk around inside to change a lightbulb!

Velvet padded doors to the boxes

A modern break room with temporary decorations for a children's performance

Ceiling of the Baroque style break room

Floor Seating

After taking the official Opera House Tour, we had a walking tour booked to take us around Old Town (Innerstadt).  We started at the Opera House and spent quite a bit of time in the Hofburg Palace grounds, the home of the Habsburg family where they lived, played and worked while in Vienna (they also had a monstrous Summer Palace on the outskirts of Vienna).  The Hofburgs were the ruling family of Austria from the Middle Ages until 1918.

The Hotel Sacher, famous for their Sacher Torte 

Mozart statue on the grounds of the Hofburg Palace

Heroes Square on the Hofburg Palace Grounds

Clock Tower with a traditional clock in the center, a sun dial clock at the bottom, and the small white round clock on top shows the phases of the Moon.

The Palace grounds are also the home for the Spanish Riding School's Lipizzaner Stallions

The Swiss Gate built about 1552, named after the Swiss Guard

 The many interconnected buildings serve various purposes, from government offices, multiple museums, library, and chapel.
  

The next day, we stopped at a Cafe around the corner from our hotel for a great breakfast of excellent European coffee and a pastry.  We spent the day walking around on our own, checking out the Easter Market, the massive Parliament Building and a general food and restaurant market that is over 1 km long, where he had a wonderful lunch.  On our way back to the hotel, we stopped to admire the Karlskirche with huge tulip beds.  

Karlskirche (Charles Church)

Subway Entrance at Karlsplatz (Charles Square) across from the church

Parliament Building

Just in case the workers didn't know what a WC (water closet) is, a Visual diagram was added

This public swimming pool on a barge in the Danube Canal was attached to multiple party barges, serving drinks.

After a quick nap and a light dinner, we walked back to the Old Town to the Lipizzaner Stallion arena to watch their performance.  It was astounding, but no photos or videos allowed as it may disturb the horses.  They pranced in unison to the beat of the music doing fancy steps that brought them diagonally across the arena and even an amazing "skip" step where the back legs moved together to move them forward but the front legs were high stepping.  A couple of the horses could rear up from a standing position and then kick out the back legs together so that all four legs were in the air.  Incredible.  An amazing evening and a beautiful walk home among the lights of Vienna.

The Spanish Riding School Arena with the chandeliers dropped before the performance

The chandeliers raised and the horses would enter from the door on the far end with folks purchasing sitting or standing only tickets spread around the galleries

The lights of the Lipizzaner Stallions after the performance

The Hofburg Palace at night

Beautiful Ironwork Doors to a Shop

Louis Vuitton's building at night - Designer shopping area included all the big names

In our walks during the day, we became lost a few times and walked in circles, each time inadvertently ending back here at Louis Vuitton's, so when we again saw it on our way home from the performance, I had to take a photo.  

We stopped for a late dinner at a traditional Austrian restaurant in an old building with wooden beamed ceiling, wood paneling and the rudest waiter we had ever met.  Austrian waiters are known for, and apparently take pride in, being gruff and sometimes rude, but this guy actually yanked the menu out of Lin's hands when I ordered wine with my ghoulash instead of his recommended beer!  The food is not our cup of tea....the gravy was heavy, meat was fatty, and everything very salty.  But when in Vienna, eat as the Viennese....once. Tomorrow we take the train to Salburg.