Day #7 - Saturday, March 23, 2019 - day in Vienna!

Saturday we had all day to explore Vienna. We had all gone to the grocery store near our apartment on Friday evening and bought breakfast food to eat on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Between the two apartments we had eggs, toast, bacon, cereal, fruit, juice, coffee, and more - a breakfast feast!  It was nice to start the morning with a hearty breakfast before we headed out to explore on foot for the day. Thanks to those who helped cook and clean-up in their respective apartments - you know who you are and we appreciate your willingness to serve the group in that way. Also, Saturday's forecast called for mid-60s and sun, so we were excited for a really nice day in Vienna!

Back at MA before the trip, the leaders researched walking tours in Vienna and this tour was the most highly rated. The tour guide's name is Dace Schaerf, a local Austrian that has done various tours around Vienna for groups over many years. I was excited to see the sites and hear some background history and insider stories from someone that knows the city so well. If you ever find yourself in Vienna, I would recommend checking her out for a tour - you can see more on her website here. Below are pictures from our day in Vienna - some with captions and some without. I encourage any parents reading this to ask your student about some of their favorite sites and experiences in Vienna - we had a great 24+ hours in this beautiful city!

This is right at the beginning of our 2.5 hour walking tour. Our tour guide, Dace, is in the red coat.

If you look closely you can see two flags (one red, one blue) on the roof on the far left of the building. The two flags signify the Austrian President's office. Across the street from that office is a shorter building - you can see another lone flag on the roof in the far left of the picture - that is the Austrian Prime Minister's office. We learned that in Austria the Prime Minister is head of the government, while the President is head of the country.

We stepped into the below building for a few minutes to see the inside... even the ceilings in many of these Viennese buildings are very fancy!

On March 12, 1938, Hitler delivered a speech to Austrians from the front balcony of the above building (it's a bit hard to see the balcony in the picture, but it is directly to the right of the top of the lamp post in the photo). Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square) and the newer part of the Imperial Palace (Neue Burg) turned into Hitler’s grand stage and birth place of Nazi Vienna. When he proclaimed the ‘homecoming of Austria’ at the 1938 Anschluss, 250,000 ecstatic Viennese cheered him on Heldenplatz. That square symbolized centuries of power of the German speaking nation. (Yet Hitler disliked the Habsburg monarchy and their multiethnical Empire.) As the photo below shows, the Führer (the German word for Leader) chose to make his proclamation from the Neue Burg’s balcony. The name Heroes’s Square is unrelated to the Nazis but dates from the Napoleonic Wars and victory over the Turks. 
(Info above from: https://www.vienna-unwrapped.com/hitler-in-vienna/)

(Photo from Google Images)

The tour guide told us that the building at the end of this path used to be a place where Mozart gave concerts... and now ironically it is a dance club.  Check out that green grass! 

Vienna Parliament building - very ornate. Also, you see the construction crane in the picture. We saw several constructions sites around Vienna, and our tour guide told us that Vienna is doing very well economically, which can be seen in part by the on-going construction all over the city.

Signs of spring - love it!

The Austrian President's office - you can see the two flags up on top of the roof.

This is a wall mosaic (looks like a painting, but it's actually a mosaic - made up of really tiny tiles) replica of DaVinci's Last Supper, made by Roman mosaic artist Giacomo Raffaelli. This mosaic is so beautiful! It was really hard to tell it was individual tiles - I could only tell if I got close enough and if the sunlight coming in from a window was hitting it just right to show the tiles. It is at a church called Minoritenkirche, formerly called Italienische Nationalkirche Maria Schnee. 

We heard from our tour guide that it was common to have two entrances to the church - one for the men, and one for the woman, and they would sit separately inside the church as well. You can see the male entrance above (beautiful) and the woman's entrance below (not so ornate... hmmm). You can see that the second entrance below has now long been closed up and only the one entrance is used.

Cafe Central in the middle of Vienna - a cafe where many famous past musicians, artists, writers, etc. met for coffee.  There was a long line outside the front to get in to see a piece of history.  If I ever make it to Vienna again I'd love to go inside and check it out.  There's just something about knowing you are standing in such a historical spot that is so fascinating.

We walked through several churches in Vienna. This one has a deep crimson fabric draped over the front chancel and alter area for the lenten season.

An old painting on the wall in the church that our tour guide said is over 700 years old. She told us that before education for children was widespread (starting around 1717 by the Hapsburg family), no one could read stories from the Bible, so the stories of the church were more told using pictures (like this one) on the wall rather than using words.

Baptismal font.

These are Roman ruins in the middle of the city that were first discovered in Vienna in the 1990s.

The Hofburg

This ornate domed ceiling looks like it might be found inside of a building, but it's actually found outside - you walk under it while down one of the sidewalks in the center of Vienna - so fancy!

This renaissance gate from the 16th century leads into the oldest part of the Hofburg area.

The world famous Vienna State Opera House was opened in 1869 with a gala performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”. Since that time, it has been one of world’s leading and most famous opera houses. Great musicians have held the post of director, among them Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Lorin Maazel and many others. (Historical info from: www.mozart.co.at/staatsoper-en.php, exterior photo above and interior photo below from: www.wein.info)

The famous St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. (The above photo and below two photos are from Google Images.) A few facts about the Cathedral: *The church has holy mass 7 times per day during the week and 10 times per day on the weekend. *It has the tallest steeple in the world at 444 feet high - reaching to the heavens! *Mozart got married here!  *Everyone in our group (except for Mrs. Johnson, who has climbed up on past trips and stayed back to get our group in line for the crypt tour) climbed to the top of the south tower - 343 steps up a dusky, narrow staircase - wow!

The impressive roof design on the top of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Inside St. Stephen's Cathedral

I am always looking for small souvenirs on my CFE adventures that my young girls at home might like. I saw this cross inside the St. Stephen's Cathedral gift shop that caught my eye. It is in German, but translated reads: Dear God, Rain falls, Earth lives, Sun shines, Flowers bloom, Children laugh, People Love. You are there. I speak a bit of German from when I learned it in high school and college, and studied and lived in Germany while studying abroad. So I enjoy translating these short sayings that I see in the shops, but even more than that I really like the simplicity of this saying - God is with us through it all - the rain and the sunshine, love and laughter, the good times and bad. I think that's a truth that we can all keep close to us in our heart, the knowledge that God is near to us and with us through it all.

A few pictures of the crypt below St. Stephen's Cathedral. We took a 30 minute tour down there - half of the crypt was nice and lit like the above photo (marble, etc.), and the other half was dark and a bit creepy - housing the skeletal remains of over 11,000 people - some properly buried (like royalty, Cardinals, Bishops, Dukes, etc.), but many as bones upon bones piled in a few rooms of the crypt. The history is rather fascinating and involves lives lost in the bubonic plaque. To read more about the crypt click here.

(Photo from Google Images)

After our busy morning of interesting site seeing, we were all hungry!  After the tour and visit inside St. Stephen's, we broke into smaller groups for lunch and some free time.  In Vienna there are many free standing "Wurst" stands that are delicious options for a traditional lunch. Ben got Curry Wurst, which is bratwurst with ketchup and curry powder on it - very traditional and a favorite in the area. 

Vienna's version of the hot dog - you choose your hot dog or bratwurst of choice from several fresh options, and they put it in a freshly baked roll for you. Yum!

So tasty!

(Cafe Oberlaa - Photo from TripAdvisor)

And of course the Viennese LOVE their coffee and cakes! We stopped at the delicious Cafe Oberlaa for coffee and cake - Ben and Dr. DiNardo decided to get the famous chocolate Sacher Torte (made famous at the nearby Hotel Sacher), shown at the top of the photo with and without whipped cream - they were not disappointed!

"In this spot in 1894 stood a house where Joseph Haydn lived from 1795-1797..."

Bronze model of St. Stephen's Cathedral, the spot where our group met up after our free time.

Inside Capuchin Church, which contains the Imperial Crypt (under the church), which is the final resting place for members of the Habsburg family. You can tell this one is "more modern" than the other churches we've seen on this trip. Capuchin was consecrated in 1632. In comparison, St. Stephen's Cathedral began construction in 1137 and was completed in 1160. We've learned some amazing history on this trip!

Hanging out towards the end of our day in Vienna - pretty sunset in the background.

We ate dinner as a group at a traditional Viennese family owned restaurant called Gasthaus Haller, which was conveniently located about a block from where we were staying. During dinner we conducted our CFE reflection time - reflecting back on our trip, what we had learned on our journeys, how our eyes and hearts had been opened to new things that we hadn't thought about or learned before this trip, and how this might affect out lives in the future. Several of the students mentioned that they would like to study abroad somewhere outside of the U.S. in college. Speaking from personal experience, I highly recommend this if you can do it. For me, it set the stage for a life long adventurous spirit and openness to new peoples, cultures, countries, and more. That viewpoint has been priceless in my life. Parents, I hope you are able to support your students in the future if this is something they find God calling them to do... it is life changing and a wonderful experience all around! (The three Gasthaus Haller photos are from Google Images.)

After dinner we crossed the street for some gelato as a group. This would be our last major time together on the trip before we pack up and head out to the airport on Sunday morning. While eating the delicious gelato we finished live streaming the MA boys basketball championship game back at the Target Center in Minneapolis... the Redhawks for the 3-peat win!  So proud of all the many special and unique accomplishes of our talented students - way to go, Redhawks!!

I have a few pictures I'll post from our day of travel back to MSP, but that will be a shorter post. Stay tuned!