Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Day 5: Atop Vienna


After a delicious breakfast at Wombats, I headed off to Hoher Market to see the life-sized figurines do a little dance at 12 noon. They parade around this ancient (but somehow described as nouveau) clock, appearing only once in 60-second intervals. It was quite kitschy and not really my style, but there were throngs of humans there watching, so I guess it was a good thing to see.


I headed over to St. Stephan's, where I finished off a mass, then rode the tiniest elevator I've ever been in to the top of the church to look out onto the city. It was really magnificent.




The bell tower at the top rings out over the city, dominating the airways. Up close it was just as majestic.
























In German, the writing you can hardly see on the green roof reads, "ICH FERGEBE DIR", which means, "I forgive you". Apparently though, the incorrect spelling lends itself to a variation of meanings behind it. Since it can be seen from the church roof, legend has it that artist Michail Michailov had some deeper connotations with regards to his feelings for the Catholic church. More reading here if you are interested.




I then visited Judenplatz the memorial in commemoration of the Jews that were lost in the Holocaust.







...then walked over to my favourite neighbourhood in all of Vienna: the financial district.




The old stock exchange was fairly nice from the back...




...but it was the sunlight in the adjacent park that took my breath away.





And then I went INTO the Stock Exchange.





It wasn't until I was INSIDE that I was blown away. Imagine working here everyday? And thousands DO. This is where the REAL Austrians lived...it was remarkable. There were cheap soup bars everywhere, lunch shoppes that sold good food for non-tourists. It was a haven for a gal like me: someone looking to see culture, experience real life, and not pay an arm and a leg for it. What a great little borough.


















The "paddy wagon" out front...




...the police station was pretty radical.




Then again, so was the chocolate shoppe two doors down.




And for a little bit of money, all the wiener schnitzel one could eat was theirs...






It was all pretty magical around these parts. And then it became more so when I stopped for some orange...



...some purple...



....and some yellow.




Outside the shoppe I stopped in for lunch, was this art installation under glass. I guess it was all the contributors to Austrian culture and heritage. Could it get any better than keys to the city? Well, no...until I saw Freud.




...and then all things changed.




The Freud Museum, situated on a quiet, artsy street, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the city, is located in Freud's actual HOME. Does it get much better than this? No.




It was in this room (THIS EXACT ROOM), that Freud's daughter practiced psychotherapy. Is that not remarkable? I think so.





In this closet sat Freud's suitcase, medical case, and other such paraphernalia. They've since all been enshrined, but lordy, was it cool to see all of his actual stuff behind glass.



This was his ACTUAL waiting room. Could you imagine you were Sigmund Freud's patient and you were waiting HERE to see him?! Ha!





It was also at this museum where they pay homage to certain aspects of the profession, including the couch. Read away...



...see the ACTUAL couch...



...where dozens of art aficionados have since made their mark making a bit of a mockery of "the couch"




Real books, real bookshelves, real history. HERE.




Once I left the Freud Museum, I was in la-la land. It was hard to get back to the jarring reality that was Vienna after all that. So I took a stroll through the town's centre...





...past an old church...




...and into some fall magnificence.



Stopped for my quintessential bench shot...




...marveled at the archways of the university...




...and at the ceilings (if you were a student HERE, wouldn't you be tempted to come a LITTLE more often?!)



...and paused for a moment longer to enjoy the geraniums nearby.




City Hall came next in all her splendor...





...in all her panoramic splendor...




...and then I popped back to the parliament building for a little quiet photoshoot. Seemed the street was closed off for some sort of parliamentary do (or so I thought), so I shot some pics of the closure...




Then I decided to walk home through Volksgarten. Saw some roses...



...some fountains...



...and some magnificent skylines.



After getting back to the hostel, I showered up and got all gussied up to see the opera. Though I only made it through two of the three (or possibly more!) acts, I was happy to be there, happy to see the kind of talent that Austria can produce, and happy to be sitting beside a woman who thought I spoke German for the first twenty minutes we sat beside each other. I didn't have the heart to correct her. Later I found out she spoke English as well. Sigh.

I popped into the corner cafe after arriving FAR too early for the opera. Sat at the bar, had a few glasses of wine, and enjoyed the views...















...while writing a little diddy about the night.




All in all, it was a fantastic day, followed by an even better night. Though I crashed early, it was a lovely 24 hours spent in Vienna.











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