The Vienna Trip Part 8-Everything Else

 While in Vienna a slew of other things took place. I was lucky enough to go see the Prater, a permanent amusement park on the eastern side of Vienna. A group of people went with me and we all decided that we have to ride the giant ferris wheel. This sounded really cool, so I happily jumped in with the group and completely forgot that I am absolutely terrified of heights.

It was ok for the first few seconds, and then everybody moved to one side of the cart and the whole cart shifted. With my hyperventilation starting, I death-gripped the seat and refused to move. I was able to snap a few pictures, but there were relatively few to pick from for this post because they were all blurred from my intense shaking.

There were a few other rides at the Prater, but riding the ferris wheel was enough for me. I did appreciate the giant cat ride, though!

There were all sorts of interesting and intricate buildings throughout Vienna. This one was located near the Karlsplatz subway station, and once again I am not for sure of what it is. A lot of these buildings have no signs or anything to explain what they are, which sucks if you are a tourist.

This picture was taken in front of a monument for the fallen Russian soldiers of WWII. Behind the fountain is a large pillar with a statue of a soldier on it, but the tour was moving along and I wasn't able to snap a quick picture.

One tour sent me off with two others to experience the famous Viennese coffee houses. I was sent to the Cafe Griensteidl, a favorite of the famous Viennese author Stefan Zweig. There I enjoyed a basic coffee with milk and absorbed the atmosphere of the cafe.

This is a view of the Cafe Griensteidl. This cafe is located right next to the Hapsburg palace and was comfortable without being snooty. Back in the 20's and 30's the coffee houses places a huge role in the lives of artists and musicians.

I was also able to attend Wiener Blut (Viennese Spirit), an operetta based on the music of Johann Strauss II. The operetta was in German, but there was a small screen at the top of the stage with English translations. I really enjoyed it, but there were some inside jokes that I just wasn't able to understand.

Johann Strauss II was the composer of The Blue Danube, a very famous waltz. The video below plays The Blue Danube, and I'm sure you will recognize it quickly.

Another thing that I got to do was visit the Upper Belvedere, a once summer palace turned art museum. This gallery features my favorite artist, Gustav Klimt, including his most famous picture of all: The Kiss.

I was not allowed to take pictures of The Kiss, so here is a generic online picture that doesn't look nearly as good as it did in real life.

However, I WAS able to quickly take a photo of this one Klimt sketch. :D

After the tour was over I headed home and began to plan my next big adventure. The next trip was to take place during a week long break, and it was decided that I would be heading to France.

The Vienna Trip Part 7-Freud and Downtown

One of the Vienna tours took place at the Sigmund Freud museum, where Freud worked until the second World War. This museum is where Freud had his famous couch therapy sessions took place. Freud's apartments are quite empty since Freud took all that he had with him to London when he escaped from WWII.

This is the same room that all of his sessions took place at. The walls were covered with pictures of Freud's colleagues, family, and famous patients. The whole place was really cool, but it was hard to imagine what it was like without any furniture or remains from Freud's house. There is one room, but it is the waiting room and therefor not too interesting. Oh, I did learn one very important thing: Freud did cocaine. Maybe that's where he got all of his ideas from!

Oh, and this was Freud's official document certifying him as a psychologist. History!

The other tours took the group through the center of the city, but I would go back by myself later on the trip. The subway was the quickest and easiest way to navigate the city. This was my first time in a subway, but I adapted pretty quickly. It doesn't sound hard, but it really is when everything is in a different language. This subway took me to the heart of the city: Stephansplatz!

The heart of the city is Stephansplatz, which featured an amazing amount of stores. Since this was inside of the original walls of Vienna, there are tons of tightly packed buildings. There was shopping, food, and history everywhere!

As far as history goes, what you see in this picture is the "Carpenter's Tree." This sad little piece of wood stuck behind glass use to be a main destination for European carpenters. The idea was that anyone who was a serious carpenter would eventually travel to Vienna and mark that he was there by putting a nail into this tree. If you get really close to the glass you can see that the "tree" is completely covered with nails.

The American Bar was over priced and had a secret entrance to a brothel located next to it. Why? I don't know. I just kept walking.

This huge statue...thing...was located in the middle of Stephansplatz. I don't know what it was there for or what it represented. I'm going to take a guess that it was dedicated to the glory of Vienna or something like that. History!