Our Last Day in Vienna

Looking from the Upper Belvedere to the Lower

 Our last day in Vienna was a free one. Scott has a pedometer on his phone and we kept track of the number of miles we walked each day. On this day and those following (the tour concluded this night), we walked an average of 10 miles. With so much beauty to look at, it isn't hard. From our hotel we walked through the Botanical Garden to the Belvedere Palace Complex. We started at the Upper Belvedere and then visited the Lower. Both are art museums and house a wonderful collection of old and modern pieces. They are famous for their Klint paintings, both the ones they have and the notorious ones they finally returned to their rightful owner after a court case portrayed in the recent movie, "Woman in Gold" with Helen Mirren.
Then we walked through the city marveling at the ornate buildings and huge avenues with gardens and fountains. Lunch at the historic Cafe Schwarzenberg was perfect too. That night was our last one with the tour. They left the next morning. After a fun dinner at the Rosenberger Buffet style Restaurant we enjoyed a wonderful performance of Mozart's Requiem at the St. Charles Church. Back at the hotel we had a heartfelt presentation of thanks and gifts to our guides and bus drivers. Our Greater Rutland Tour of Austria was over for us and our personally planned vacation would start the next morning.

I'm not sure it this is really supposed to be a "serious" work of
art of just for fun - but it certainly was the latter.

We loved this "rug" made of woven fibers -
quite a contrast in this historic building

The chairs matched the modern works

The formal gardens down to the Lower Belvedere

With fountains and cascading waterfalls

It was really hot most of the time in Austria - this day it reached
the high 90's 

Looking up from the Lower to the Upper Palace

Just one example of the ornate Baroque buildings in the city

We had lunch at the famous Konzert Schwarzenberg Cafe -
one of the oldest coffee houses still in business

Of course we had beer!

And wurst with mustard and horseradish, croquettes, goulash soup

This seemed like an American type pastry

While these represent the Austrian types - all very good

The entrance to our hotel with the Orthodox Church behing

Gary and Marjorie Salmon are fellow Shrewsbury residents

Rebecca Johnstone on the left is involved at Spring
 Lake Ranch with us and Mary Crowley is a fellow artist

The St. Charles Church where we heard
Mozart's Requiem on our last night with the tour

Cheryl and Dick Hanson with Rip Jackson, our Chorus
Director

The interior of the church just before the
performance. We sat up front!

Stephansdom, Vienna and Eisenstadt

Lots of cafes line the streets of the city

The main nave of the church looking
towards the high alter

After another excellent buffet breakfast we had a short walking tour of the city, mainly St. Stephen's Cathedral. Based upon 2 ruined churches, the first one built in 1147, the current Romanesque & Gothic one was largely completed in the 14th C. During WWII the German city commandant ordered it's destruction as they were abandoning the city. Happily a Captain Klinkicht disregarded the order!
We had a short time to have lunch at a quiet outdoor cafe near the river before again boarding the buses for an afternoon visit to Eisenstadt and the Bergkirche. It's all about Hayden and the Esterhazy family there. Hayden spent more than 30 years working for this family, mostly here. Shortly after his death in 1809 his head was stolen by phrenologists and only reunited with his body in 1954 - stranger than fiction! We visited his tomb and then walked over to the Palace for a brief tour. On the way our guide took us through the former Jewish area - the last self governed Jewish settlement in Europe. Jews came here with the Romans and after the expulsion from Vienna in 1670-71, they found refuge here under the Esterhazy family. This area became the center of Jewish learning and scholarship until the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938. We passed the Jewish Museum - the first one in Austria after 1945. I would rather have visited this then the palace we toured next - nice as it was.
Then it was back to the hotel where we had time to swim and sun bath before dinner in the hotel that night. Many attended a concert in the city but Scott and I opted to enjoy a quiet evening. We walked down to the river and around the area, getting quite lost for awhile, but having fun.

This is the front entrance with the famous
"Giant's Door" named for the thighbone of a
Mastodon that hung over it for decades!

Tomb of Emperor Frederick III

These lizards and toads bitting each other represent the fight
between good and evil. At the top a stone puppy guards the
preacher against evil.

This is the pulpit, a masterwork of late Gothic
Sculpture - that's it's railing on the right here.

We saw many Middle Eastern origin citizens or visitors throughout
Austria, many in full burkas.

The charming little town of Eisenstadt, seat of the Esterhazy
Family

Hayden lived here for 30 years and was buried
in the small church of Bergkirche.

This organ was played by both Hayden and Beethoven and was
used to premier a number of famous pieces.

His tomb where he now totally lies

We were sorry not to have time for this museum!

The entrance to the Esterhazy Palace area, beautiful restaurant
over on the right - no time, sigh!

The front of the Palace

The town looked so inviting but again, no time. Organized tours
have their place but if it wasn't for the concert aspect, we'd be
on our own as usual.

Schonbrunn Palace, Austria

A view of just one part of the amazing gardens at Schonbrunn Palace, summer home of the Hapsburg Family

After another great breakfast we packed up and headed off in our buses to Schonbrunn Palace where we had the last of our 3 major concerts. The 1,440-room baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural and historic monuments in the country. It was built and remodeled during the 1740's and 50's during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa. Franz Joseph, the longest-reigning emperor of Austria was born there, spent most of his life there and died there in 1916. After the fall of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918 it was preserved as a museum. We had some free time to explore the gardens and enjoyed our leftover pizzas in the shady walks.
After some rehearsal in the beautiful Chapel, the concert was a huge success. We had a big enthusiastic crowd and the acoustics were excellent. It was the BEST performance I'd heard (and I'd heard 4 of them). Afterwards we had a tour of the palace, which was of course, beautiful and then boarded our buses again for our hotel in Vienna, The Hotel Imperial Riding School - the fanciest one yet, and right in the center of the city.
We didn't have long to get settled before we were on the buses again. This time for a ride just out of the city to one of the famous wine gardens where the Viennese go to enjoy the new summer wines and food. It was a lovely spot with bottomless carafes of their wine and a very good buffet dinner. The other customers asked for and received a brief concert which all enjoyed. A fun evening!

The hill in the distance was built so that you could get a
increasing perspective and view of the palace and grounds

Looking back from the fountain to the palace.

A close up of the Poseiden Fountain

Heather in front of the Grotto, palace in back

A view from our picnic bench in the shade - it was a very hot
day, in the high 90's. One day it went over 100!

One of the posters for the concert

Rip leading the Chorus in a rehearsal in the chapel

A close up of Scott, still rehearsing as the gentleman in front
hasn't put on his vest.

A charming cupid watches the performance from on high

I managed to take this photo before being told they weren't
allowed. This is just one of the tons of rooms we toured.

The wonderful Wine Garden where we had our dinner our first
night in Vienna, although it was out of the city aways.

We sat outdoors in a lovely courtyard/garden with lots of other
diners. They requested a few songs and loved them!

Mauthausen Concentration Camp and St. Florian's Monastery

View of the huge facility at Mauthausen as we entered

 Israel's monument near the stairs to the quarry

Scott and I finally had a good night's sleep and the breakfast buffet was even grander than the previous hotel - mimosas! Then we were off on our buses again - this morning to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial. In the middle of farms and charming villages this huge prison was built at the site of a stone quarry. There thousands died of overwork, the cold and other horrors - or just plain shot. Barracks lined up in rows held hundreds in small unheated rooms. There was no medical services at all until just before the end of the war when a clinic was built - presumably to pretend to the winners that some humanity had been observed. It was evident from the accounts in the museum that it wasn't. Photos, mementos and remembrances from survivors testified movingly of their experiences and those that didn't live until liberation.

This simple monument was very affecting - the railroad line ending
at what felt like the gas chamber.

The bucolic countryside seen through the barbed wire

 The grounds were covered with individual memorials from every country remembering their citizens who had died here. Some were more evocative then others. But the whole conveys the cold stark horror of a policy that attempted to exterminate people the State defined as "undesirable"; Jews, Roma, homosexuals and Jehovah's Witnesses and later, Polish intellectuals. I learned after touring the camp that they had their own gas chambers here - our guide did not mention this and it wasn't featured in the museum. Wikipedia is much more explicit and harrowing. At the close, the Chorus performed several appropriate pieces, among them my favorite - MLK, a haunting song. The Chorus does an amazing job on this!

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized

If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down on him

Mmm, mmm, mmm
So let it be
Mmm, mmm, mmm
So let it be

It was impossible to tell what country this was from but aparently
each city and town contributed their own placard on the face

After a quick lunch we toured the Augustinian St. Florian Monastery, founded in 1071. The present beautiful Baroque buildings and church were finished in 1708. It is the home of the St. Florian Boy's Choir and School - also founded in 1071! The composer Anton Bruckner served as organist here from 1848 - 1855 and is buried beneath his beloved organ. After a tour through the Abbey we listened to an organ receital and then heard Rip play several wonderful pieces on this famous instrument with over 7,000 pipes. It was a real thrill for him and us.
Several of us were dropped off afterward in the center of Linz to see the historic area. Scott was tired so I took off alone and really loved this pretty city bisected by the Danube River. On the way back I found a great bakery and brought back some famous Linzer Torte for Scott and I - yummy!

We formed a circle in the main room of the museum and had a
silent vigel holding hands and then the Chorus sang.

St. Florian's is a palace of a Monastery; home of a famous
boy's choir and school

One of the impressive entrances to the courtyard

Seems a little risque for Monks and little boys,
but well polished!

The main ballroom and now concert hall

The library had over 130,000 items including many manuscripts

These cherubs looked hard pressed to hold up the table

These skulls were rather "decoratively" arranged in the crypt

The Chorus performs in front of the main alter - this wasn't one
of our publicized concerts. Great acoustics in these churches!

The bass section!

Looking over the Danube River from the historic center of Linz to the Pilgrimage Church of Postlingberg at the top
of the hill. This is where we had our second concert the night before

After the war our guide's mother lived on the Soviet side and
worked on the U.S. side - the conditions were much better in the
latter.

The main square in Linz

Soft colors and lots of white decoration on the buildings