Today we did a walking tour of Vienna with our guide Herbert. Thank goodness we had him because he showed us a lot of places we would have otherwise passed by, a lot of side street short cuts, and he gave us some good stories and the history of Austria.

We visited St. Michael's Church. It was amazingly beautiful inside. From the outside it was very plain, but inside it is ornate yet historic. It dates from the 1200s and within the last 10 years during restoration they discovered frescos that date back to the 1600s they have decided to save and not restore them. Mozart's Requiem was first performed here as his memorial in 1791. As it was unfinished when he died that is how it was performed.

We also visited St. Stephen's Cathedral. It was much more impressive from the outside, however it doesn't quite have the history as only 30% of the stone is original. Much of it was destroyed during WW II and had to be rebuilt. My favorite part of this cathedral was the ceramic tile roof.

 

 

Herbert showed us where Mozart often stayed and wrote while in Vienna and a small concert hall in the guest house.

We also saw where Mozart died of unknown causes (some type of illness) at the age of 35. Unfortunately, the building was destroyed during WW II and today it is a modern department store.

This was a touching monument that was dedicated to the Jews who had to scrub the streets of Austrian election propaganda after the NAZI invasion.

Into the Hapsburg Crypt we went where we learned that interestingly enough they only had their bodies entombed here. Because they were strict Roman Catholics they felt that part of your body had to exist to go to heaven. Since they were afraid of their tomb being destroyed somehow they "spread their body out." Their heart was one place, entrails another, and body in the tomb. Real nice. Not sure why then they needed tombs the size of my car! Here is Sisi's tomb who was the Princess Diana like Empress I wrote about yesterday.

We then went off in search of some lemon soda and sacher (chocolate cake). Stevie wanted to go to the cat café. This is an interesting café where the doors are all replaced with a chicken wire type window and cats of all types were running around inside. However, I talked her into something more traditional and we went to the famous Oberlaa instead.

We also had two opportunities to see the Lipizzaner stallions even though the show troupe is on tour in July. First, we saw some of the young ones training in the square. Then we were able to see the mamas and colts grazing in the park. They were too cute, and we found out that they are born dark and turn white as they get older.

We finished our evening with a visit to our hotel sauna and rain shower with a cool aquarium in the wall. I need one of these in my house...changes from a mist to a waterfall to a rainfall to wall jets.