6/15/14 Vienna: Wandering around looking at pretty things

Continuing our walk, we entered the courtyard of the Hofburg.

This archway leads to the Schatzkammer where the jewels of the Habsburgers are kept.

There are a lot of carriages driving around the central city for tourists.

We went through a passage with a dome that contains the entrance to the Kaiserliche Appartements, the Sisi Museum, and the Silberkammer, as well as the entrance to the Spanische Hofreitschule.  There are a lot of statues.

There are more statues and fountains on the exterior that faces Michaelerplatz.

And giant fish for some reason.

Michaelerplatz is one of the main gathering places for carriage rides (the other being Stephansplatz by the cathedral).

Church tower.

Vienna was originally a settlement called Vindobona.  Ruins of Roman walls are visible in an excavated section of Michaelerplatz.

From Michaelerplatz we proceeded down Kohlmarkt past Cafe Demel, one of Vienna's more famous cafes.

The bee is a symbol that seems to be associated with banking in general and the First Bank of Austria in particular.

This street used to be a moat, hence then name "Graben."  A major feature of Graben is the Pestsäule, a religious monument to celebrate the defeat of the Turks and the end of the plague.

You may have noticed I enjoy photographing statues with birds on their heads.

Cherubs are creepy little mother fuckers.

Don't shag your cousins or this might happen:

This is the cathedral, Stephansdom.

We had about fifteen minutes to look around the the cathedral.  I went back later to take the elevator up one of the towers.

After the cathedral we walked down the Kärntner Straße, the main expensive shopping street.

There's a shop that sells pettipoint embroidered objects.

Hotel Sacher, home of the Sachertorte.

There are stars for opera composers.

Fountain by the opera house.

Museumsquartier.

Maria Theresia memorial statue.

It was also the last day of Pride Week.

The steps to the Albertina, an art museum in a formerly fortified building.

David and I went searching for dinner while Rex had coffee and cake with some friends who were in town at the same time we were.  Then we all went into the Haus der Musik, which will be the next post.