Vienna then Back to Germany

1st stop was St Karls Church. It was here that, several years ago, refurbishing was taking place and we were able to ride an elevator up, close to the dome. Then stairs got us really up close into the dome. The paintings in the dome look much different up close than on the ground. Figures are very distorted. We’d read that an elevator was put into place to continue this sight but when we got there, and paid the admission, we found that there was no elevator at all and no way to access the dome. We looked around the church then moved on.

We walked to the square and went into St Stephens. Here one can enter a portion of the church without paying. We looked around then moved on as one church was beginning to look like another.

Our highlight was going, again, to the café where both Beethoven and Mozart played, at the oldest café in Vienna and Vienna coffee!


https://www.visitingvienna.com/eatingdrinking/cafespubsbars/cafe-frauenhuber/
https://cafefrauenhuber.at/index.php/de/

We only had coffee but it was the history that was so amazing. Thinking about how the music sounded over a coffee so long ago.
Before leaving on our trip, we’d promised Lucian a trip to a real palace. I had the Schonbrunn Palace in mind for this. We’ve been to this palace before but didn’t have any time to spend in the gardens. This time we set aside a day.

https://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/

Before leaving Canada, I’d reserved our tickets both for the palace with an audio guide and a ticket for the gardens. There are no photos allowed in the palace itself, hence no photos. The palace is a must see if there is time. It takes one back in time to when Mozart even performed before the Empress when he was 4 years old. As a child Marie Antoinette lived here in the summer.

We had a Classic Pass so could get into everything. The gardens have a labyrinth that is fun for awhile but we got hungry and wanted to go up to the Glorietta, the building at the top of the hill, that serves food and coffee and a great place for photos. The Glorietta was built in commemoration of some obscure war.


The trail up to the Glorietta is a bit steep and it was warm out so we were hot and thirsty when we got to the top. It was time for a cold glass of Austrian wine for me and beer for Dale. The rooftop is a perfect view of the city and place to shoot photos.

With only a few days left in our trip we took the train back to Germany. We had 1 more stop to make and that was with our friend Dieter. He always graciously gives us his apartment during our stay, and this time was no different. We took him up on his offer and canceled our hotel in Nuremberg. Instead of spending more time in Nuremberg we went to a favorite city, Regensburg where we ate sausages by the Danube, visited the site of the Hitler rallies in Nuremberg and I had a fabulous dinner, prepared especially for me, all Gluten Free!!!

Poor Lucian never got to go kayaking, but was so tired when we got back to the US. I suspect he was glad to get home, enough of running amok around Europe with Grandpa and Grandma!

Now to get back to where we were before we left home!