Best Trip Ever--Day Two

Today we moved to the Pension Shermin, near Karlskirche. It was nice to be in an area of town that I was more familiar with.
Karlskirche--St. Charles Church
This was one of my favorite spots when I lived here. It was a nice quiet place to sit and study or read. The church always stays cool, so with little AC in the summers, it was a nice break from the heat. When Jon and I went in, I was disappointed at first because they were restoring the inside of the church. It made it hard to really see the architecture and decor. However, because of the restoration we were able to ride an elevator (and then climb some stairs) to the top of the dom. It was really cool and gave a great view of the city. it was fun to see the ceiling of the church up close. The church is decorated in Baroque style, so it is very elaborate and dramatic. Many of the architectural features that I had thought stood out from the ceiling, I realized were just painted on once we could get close to them. It was amazing. With the restoration, they had a small museum exhibit. I really liked this unique painting of Mary's mother teaching her to read. It was a subject matter I had never seen before.
Outside the church in the courtyard, the United Buddy Bears were on display. This is an exhibit sponsored by the United nations. There are 125 bears that have been painted to represent countries in the United Nations. They are touring the world and are a project to promote tolerance, peace and international understanding. Jon and I took pictures with the Guatemalan Bear and the Qatari Bear.

Kartnerstrasse and Stephensdom

This is the pedestrian area of Vienna and the church at the center of the city--St. Stephen's Cathedral. It is a great place to shop or just to sit and people watch. I introduced Jon to wurst stands for the first time. It was love at first sight. He had to get a hot dog or sausage everywhere we went. Kartnerstrasse is also full of Italian gelato carts. I think Vienna has more gelato per capita than anywhere outside Italy. I was happy because I was able to get Almuddler again. (Almduddler is my favorite soda. It is hard to find outside Austria and tastes kind of like apple beer or gingerale.)

Amerika Institut and Staatsoper

After lunch we walked around and found my old school--The Austro-American Institute of Education (Operngasse 4). It was really bizarre being there. I felt like I had been reincarnated and was visiting a past life. It was really fun to see it though and to show Jon where I use to get a pastry in the morning or a wurst for lunch in between classes. My old school is right across the street from the state opera house. The Staatsoper is one of my favorite buildings in Vienna. I love the architecture.

Musikverein

You can't go to Vienna without going to some sort of classical music performance. We decided to see a piano and violin performance at the Musikverien. The Musikverein first opened in 1870 and is one of the three best concert halls in the world. The building has amazing acoustics. It is also the home to the Vienna Philharmonic. The concert we saw was really good. The violinist was the best. He was really entertaining to watch. We decided he thought he was a rock star--he could head-bang with the best of them. His hair kept getting caught in the bow. Jon leaned over to me during the concert and said, "Do you think he knows he isn't Bon Jovi?" The Musickverein is just across the street from Karlskirche, so we tried to take a night shot of the church. Not bad for not having a tripod.