Vienna- Home to a Vast Empire, Opera and More

Vienna- One of the two capitals of the once great Austro-Hungarian Empire which stretched over modern day Austria, Hungry, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and parts of Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine from the early 1800’s until 1918.  Knowing only a vague outline of the city’s history before arriving we were taken aback and pleasantly surprised by the grandiose and powerful architecture evident throughout the city.

Vienna City Hall

Austria’s Parliament building 

The National Library, which is part of the old Hofburg Palace.

We decided Vienna was a good place to take in some upscale culture (with our “student discount”) and we managed to snag second row seats at the Hofburg-Orchestra.  The concert hall was located in the Imperial Palace where Mozart and Beethoven among many other famous composers once performed.   

 Along with orchestra there was also several opera numbers performed  This is the finale with all five singers belting it out.

 The pterodactyl hanging in entry way to the Natural History Museum. The Museum  displays thousands of the once great empire’s vast collections. It’s said to be one of the oldest and largest natural history museums with the collection dating back more than 250 years  and with an inventory of some 25 million items.

One of the most extensive and impressive exhibits were the minerals, stones and meteorites from around the world (and space). The rows and rows of packed display cases filled five huge rooms.

Sue doing her best wooly mammoth impression.

 The “Venus of Willendorf”. The 5 inch tall figurine is about 25,000 years old and was discovered in 1908 on the Danube river. Remarkably similar statues have been discovered all over the Eurasia continent among the remains of hunter-gather tribes,  but their specific significance is unknown.

The Austrian National Library houses a globe museum, the only one it’s kind worldwide. 250 globes from over 5 centuries were on display, with many of the early ones missing the Americas entirely and slightly later versions showing the gross inaccuracies of the time (both geographically and with depictions of cannibalistic Native Americans or sea monsters)

Roofline of the Church of St. Peter.

Next up heading back east to Prague to sample some famous Czech beer.