Exploring Vienna

We were up and ready to explore the center city this morning.  We took the metro in, but I wasn't certain of my orientation when we came up from the station. Rather than leading the group in the wrong direction for a block until I could find a street sign, which I've had to do several times, I decided to just ask someone on the street.  I approached a young man who confirmed that I was headed the right direction and kindly wished us a good visit to the city.  As we walked away, several of the members of the group said "he was so Nice!"  It's amazing how impactful first impressions can be.  It was a nice way to start our visit.

We began with a stop at Stephansdom and a private tour of the crypts.  After that we grabbed a picnic lunch in the store and continued on to St Peters church.  There was a service in progress, so we only stepped into the back and listened for a few minutes and looked at the beautiful interior.

(taken later in the evening when we came back by)

 Next we saw the Hofsburg Palace.  I've never toured, but would be curious what options there are to see the various parts of the inside. 

We continued walking through the city to see the Augustinerkirche although the heart chamber was not open to visit.  It is also the church where Royal weddings took place.  Maria Theresa was married there and there is a huge tapestry in the Schonbrunn Palace depicting the event.  Napoleon Bonaparte married into the Hapsburg family and was also married there.

We continued on to the Museum quarter for a picnic lunch.  Such beautiful architecture!  We did not stop for museum visits today though.

Giant statue of Maria Theresa between two of the museums.

We then headed to the Karlskirche and went up on the elevator to the top of the dome.  You get a city view from one of the clear glass dome windows, and a close up view of the paintings on the dome itself.  I was non-plused however with the giant elevator scaffolding that was set up in the midst of the sanctuary.   Other places where we've got up have had elevators in towers, or have allowed visitors to use stairs to access the higher elevations in the church.