Thursday September 2nd
To get to the Vienna transport system they had to catch an overland commuter train four stops. So they went over to the station and bought the ticket for this and the train came along shortly afterwards. These trains are modern fast and smooth. At the stop there was a U Bahn, underground train waiting so they managed to get onto that and with one more change were in the centre of Vienna. As soon as they emerged from the underground they were pounced on by a man dressed in 18th century costume selling tickets to a Mozart concert. As it happened it was the concert they had been considering going to. Apart from being a very good salesman he was also very helpful and showed them on their map where they were and where other things were in and around the main part of the old town. The front of the cathedral was swarming with similar costumed people all selling various Strauss and Mozart concerts. He was able to show them the box plan and the options and prices. This particular concert, which is primarily for the tourists, rotates through all the major concert halls during the year.
Their first stop was Stephansdom, the cathedral. The guide book gave the impression that there were more features worth looking at on the exterior than the inside. Looking inside they agreed and didn’t pay €4.50 to look around. There was plenty to see by just looking in at the back. The finest feature is the tiled roof covered with 250,000 colourful tiles laid out as the Hasburg coat of Arms.
Mozarthaus was nearby so they spent the rest of the morning here. This exhibition was on three floors and first two being an exhibition tracing his life and work and the last one being the town house where he for over two years and composed The Marriage of Figaro here. The audio guide was excellent, complete with appropriate excerpts of music. It gave a fascinating insight into his life and was probably more realistic than the movie Amadeus. It was 1.30 by the time they got out of there so they found a place to sit and eat their lunch and plan the rest of the afternoon.
There were other things to see in the vicinity so they set out on a walking tour. There were several magnificent Baroque churches to visit on the walk each one special in its own way. However the Jesuit Church turned out to be a real find. Here they ended up with their own private tour guide. There was a woman volunteer in the church who spoke really good English and she started to show them around. She showed them things they would never have noticed. She was absolutely passionate about the place and rightly so as it had many unique features, It dates back to 1631 although the Baroque appearance dates from 1703. It really has to be seen to be believed. All the walls and ceilings are covered with Frescos. A lot of illusionary techniques have been used in the paintings to give a 3D effect including a ceiling dome which isn’t really a dome at all. All the side chapels have painted domes as well except for one. The inlaid wood work on the doors, pews and pulpits is indescribable. A lot has mother of pearl inlaid. The only modern feature is a new altar for services today. It is made of 12 concrete chairs representing the disciples and the 13th chair that the priest sits on represents the chair for Jesus. There used to be a modern cross made of lego standing on it but it was repeatedly vandalised by people who couldn’t cope with a modern image, so it has now been placed in the pulpit out of the reach of tourists. The middle part of the cross is a tuck symbolic of the fact that nothing stands still and everything is always moving on. Things like this were told to them by this lovely lady. Mary asked her where she had learnt her English and it turns out she had been an Au Pair in London 40 years ago.
From there it was pretty much general walking and finding places of interest. They did get over as far as the Opera house to inquire about tours in the next two days, but there are no English speaking tours until Sunday and they won’t be around by then.
So it was back into the subway to negotiate the train system back to the camp. It was all very easy even though there were two stations called Klosterneuburg. They got off at the second one which was the correct one and had a late dinner and went to bed.
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