Week 12 (Part 2): Vienna

Vienna is known for its music and it horses. On arrival Matt's dad suggested we visit Mozart's house. Ally's dad suggested we visit Arnold Schwarzenegger house. #dadlove. On our first day we had a few hours to have a look around the city before some major games of football (Man Utd vs Liverpool, then El Classico). On our way into the city we passed a pizza van and decided to share (SHARE) a slice - we asked for one, paid a couple of euro and left with a quarter of a 20 inch pizza.............

Vienna's city centre is quite small, allowing us to wander and visit many of the best sites in a single day. We saw St Stephen's Cathedral surrounded by horse drawn carts. We saw the Spanish Riding School's beautiful white horses and the home of the Vienna Boys' Choir. Mozart was everywhere, their pride and joy, and yes we did visit his house. Statues were elaborate on many buildings and sometimes quite amusing - like the fight two pairs seem to be having below - and on Ally's dad's birthday we stumbled upon a statue that was modeled after him.

Inside St Stephan's Cathedral

Outside St Stephan's Cathedral

Mozart's House!

Horses of the Spanish Riding School

Check out the dude with the tridant

Home of the Vienna Boys Choir

There are many museums surrounding parks with lots of benches and each museum building is equally impressive. As Easter is approaching we found a couple of Easter markets selling the most beautiful decorated eggs, as well as gingerbread, fluffy toy chickens and other hand made gifts.

But the icing on Vienna's pretty cake for us was a concert inside a room Mozart had (apparently) played in. On our last day we were convinced by a young man to attend a concert after he got the price down by assuring us that we were on our honeymoon ;) that night we dressed up (as much as you can when you're living out of a backpack) and arrived in a velvet seated small room with a little stage at the front ready for some music and dancing. As amusing as the set up was with it's tiny stage and relatively small audience, we sat through a show of wonderful musicians - 5 strings, 1 flute and a pianist - who played many of Mozart's and Strauss' classics. They were joined for some songs by an opera singer, and a pair of dancers who performed ballet pieces appropriate of Mozart's era. Everyone performed in 'traditional dress' which added to the atmosphere. All doubts were wrongly considered and the performance was wonderful. So pleased to have experienced the music of Vienna :)

Eurovision! If only we were here then!