Vienna, Day 2

Today the sun came out, but so did the wind!!  Out of the wind, the temperature was fine but in the wind it was really cold, and sometimes it gusted so hard it nearly blew me over. But we didn't let a little wind spoil our day.  We started out by going to the Spanish Riding School at the Hafburg Palace to see the morning exercises of the famous Lipizzaner Stallions. They are white and beautiful, and they dance to Mozart and Beethoven.  This is the fancy hall where they train:

We weren't allowed to take photos (they kept announcing that it was absolutely forbidden) but Armando sneaked this one before the horses showed up.  Below is a photo from the internet.




And here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHP_--L4nAs&feature=related is a 28 second clip of them in the room we were in - someone who videotaped a performance and shouldn't have.

After the horses, we walked to the Opera to catch the metro to meet Herta. On the way we took some pictures of some interesting buildings. Everywhere you look there are statues, and copper colored cupolas on the roofs.

More naked ladies holding up a building.

In the underground station next to the Opera, for a few coins you can pee to Mozart!!!

We met Herta at Schloss Schonbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburgs with only 1,441 rooms.  AND with 1,441 rooms, they had no kitchen!  The kitchens were in another building and the food had to be transported by carriages to the Schloss and of course kept warm on the way.  We walked around the grounds and up to the Gloriette - a Roman looking structure where the royalty used to have breakfast sometimes. We sat there and had coffee, but saw no kings or queens there.

Changing of the Guard

The Neptune Fountain near the Gloriette

The Gloriette

Carvings on the Gloriette. They look like dead pigeons to me.

Many of the trees along the walkways were trimmed flat like this. I think if Armando had his way, the trees in our back yard would look like this too. Woe be it to any tree who decides to hang a branch over the patio!!  Suzanne, do not let Dave see these pictures, or your yard will look like this too!!

Then we went with Herta to her place to get her car and her "grand-dog" (she is babysitting a beautiful golden retriever that belongs to her daughter), and we drove up to the two mountains outside Vienna - Kahlenburg and Leopoldzburg. The views were amazing and we could see the Danube. The island you see in the middle is man-made and 20 km long, for jogging, biking, skating, etc. and the narrower channel of the Danube is for sailing, swimming and other recreation.

The old center of Vienna is on the right.