Thursday, September 15, 2011 – Vienna Austria – Belvedere Palace, Lunch at the Circus and Karl’s Church

We went to Belvedere Museum and Palace. The Belvedere is a historical building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the 3rd district of the city, south-east of its center. It houses the Belvedere museum. The grounds are set on a gentle gradient and include decorative tiered fountains and cascades, Baroque sculptures, and majestic wrought iron gates. The Baroque palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy.
     

Roncalli Circus for lunch -  Brat.  Then to take a closer look at all the wagons.  Also, check the price schedule for the circus.  The seats were in were a bit expensive on the chart.

 

  Dining car set up with tables outside

  

Then an Imperial Hotel Torte (cake) for dessert. This was created the year of the opening of the Hotel Imperial, 1873, in honor of Emperor Franz Josef I. A-chocolate glaze, almond flavor, marzipan and a slight hint of cocoa cream. we thought this was much better than the Sascher Torte.

Next:

Karl's church - This church was built to honor Saint Charles Borromeo and thank God for delivering Vienna from the plague. Stately in appearance, it is often overlooked by tourists in spite of its imposing presence.

Inside it is brightly lit in comparison to the Stephansdom, and the frescoes and murals can easily be studied for hours. But remember, like all churches and cathedrals in Vienna, this is a place of worship, and you are likely to find yourself in the middle of a service with little warning. The building actually incorporated four different types of architecture. The columns are evocative of ancient Rome, the front entrance is Greek, the dome is contemporary Roman, and the towers are Viennese. The two columns in front are decorated with scenes from the life of Saint Charles Borromeo. The left column shows his steadfastness, the right illustrates his courage. Both were inspired by Trajan's Column in the Forum in Rome. Each conceal a winding staircase leading to observation points at the top. These staircases are now closed. The church appears to have recently undergone renovation, but unfortunately has been marred by graffiti. This may be the result of being next door to a university.

   Elevator and stairs to the top

  

Tuesday, September 13, 2011–Schonbrunn Palace, Grinzing and the Circus

Stayed up until 2:30 am last night watching the US Open tennis men's final. Rest this morning after doing that.

That afternoon we went to see Schonbrunn Palace only a short tram ride away from our apartment in Vienna..  We toured the Palace but no pictures can be taken inside the palace.  We were here in the 80’s and I did remember the rooms.  It was nice to see it again and they are doing some updates to the ticket office and restaurants.   

Schonbrunn Palace - The castle was built to rival French Versailles in Baroque beauty and importance but the Habsburgs lacked funds to outdo its rivaling nation France. In earlier times it served as summer residence to various Habsburg rulers.

 

After we toured the Palace we thought we would go back to Grinzing and see the village in the daylight and have an early dinner.  We were on the tram looking and talking about Grinzing and the man behind us started talking to us.  He said we should take the 38A bus as it goes way up to the top of the hills above Grinzing.   The views were outstanding of Vienna, the vineyards and the road itself. There are hiking trails all over the area and several hikers took the bus. There are only a few stops from Grinzing to Leopoldsberg.  MOUNT LEOPOLDSBERG, VIENNA is a 425 meter high mountain on the northern edge of Vienna. From the mountaintop, you can overlook the entire city, the outskirts of the Alps, the Marchfled plain down to Bratislava and beyond, and the area North of Vienna.  The area around the current church is often called the "cradle of Austria", since it was here that the Babenberg Markgrave Leopold IV built his first castle to defend his little county against Magyar invaders.  Today, only individual walls and ruins are left of the original castle.

Lepoldsberg is not really very far “by mileage” but the road is a continuous string of switchbacks. fun ride. We had dinner after we got back to Grinzing and then we the took the tram back into Vienna.

  

  Views from the top at Leopoldsberg

  Edward at the walls of the old castle at Leopoldsberg.

Back in Grinzing the small wine restaurants – this one has been here since 1150

 

This is where we ate the first time.

 

  We had a break at Nino’s outdoor area.

 Here are some more restaurants in the village.

 

  Don’t park here.

  We have some lamps similar to there.

  We decided to eat at this restaurant

  We had some nice music in the background.

The buffet:

Cute signs

 

A cork screw exhibit – 3,000 of them.

As we were going around the Ringstrassa we saw in front of the Rathaus or City Hall building , in the park in the front of it was a tent circus. We got off the tram and went in to see the circus wagons, etc. and they were just beginning to have a preview show. They never questioned us for any ID or tickets, etc. We tagged along with the VIP group and got box seats at an old fashioned European traveling one ring circus, Roncalli Circus. Just like being a kid again including expecting to be kicked out at any moment. No lions or tigers or bears or elephants, but great fun anyhow! It was really good. What a day!

Edward also contributed this account: of the circus My dear wife of 39 years has so many times tricked my into doing things and having a great laugh later. This time involves sneaking into a circus in Vienna.
----We were on our way back to our apartment on the tram when she was distracted by the activity and lights of a circus that had set up on the city hall square. Wanting to get a closer look we got off the tram. We saw several amazing old circus wagons that had been fully restored. it was an old fashioned European traveling circus. Turns out it was the preview night for invited guests only complete with TV cameras. Elaine promptly inserts us into a group headed for the entry. While a gentleman was distracted, she led me up some stairs and we found ourselves on the VIP box seat level. I was ready to get out before being thrown out but Elaine insists on waiting for the show to start. Even after the show started she continue to watch and found some empty box seats. We sat and watched a great show. Just like being a kid again.Under the big top tent with all the lights and sounds. I, of course, worried about being thrown out, but now Elaine. There were no big animals like lions or tigers or bears or elephants, but a great show nonetheless. Far different from the modern Ringling Brothers circus set up in buildings in the US. So, that is the story of how we snuck into the circus on top of everything else we have done on this amazing trip. ---