Truthfully, I could have skipped this leg of the trip. I'm not a big fan of big cities, and this was definitely one of them. On the drive there, we stopped to see Melk Abbey, which was actually pretty cool. We were in a rush, because we didn't have a room secured in Vienna, so we didn't stay as long as we should have.
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The entryway into the abbey. It was a gorgeous building. Without paying, you
could get into the chapel, but only along the sides.
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The ceilings were painted beautifully. Every inch was covered with designs
and it was awe inspiring. Unfortunately, it was dark, and I didn't have a tripod
so the pictures aren't as good as they could be. But you can at least get
the idea.
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Not just the ceilings were beautiful. The walls were done in wood and gold
leaf and were incredible. This picture really doesn't do it justice. It
was all just opulent.
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Once in Vienna, we walked around the center a bit. The town's golden child,
Mozart, was well represented. Here is a statue of him with the treble clef
done in flowers below him.
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One of the many cool looking buildings in the center of Vienna. Many of the
buildings had impressive statues on them, as well.
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And here are some of the cool statues. Scott got many more pictures of them
than I did, as I quickly grew tired of photographing them all. These were
on the side of Hofburg Palace.
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This is one of the gates on the Hofburg Palace grounds. We saw the treasury
here and it was truly impressive!
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This is a picture of Schoenbrunn Palace. It was modelled after Versailles, but
I sure hope Versailles is prettier. I wasn't really impressed with the outside
of it. The inside of it, however, was quite stunning.
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At least it was big. But all the gravel was just ugly.
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This is the "back yard". It was nicer, but still TOO much gravel. We were
pretty tired by now and didn't really explore much. It was just too drab to
be enticing.
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Here I'm trying to minimize the amount of gravel shown. The fountain and
structure in the back were probably worth seeing. Maybe next time.
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And another try at minimizing the gravel. This one I think does it. The gardens
were at least quite well manicured and pretty in their formal way.
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And what's a trip to Vienna without going to the Opera House and seeing them
perform some pieces by Mozart? They did an encore of the Blue Danube Waltz,
which, not by Mozart, was still my favorite piece they did. The Opera House
itself was quite beautiful.
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All photos copyright Anne Sullivan