Three Churches, One Afternoon

Horse-drawn carriage parked outside St. Peter's

The walking tour done, next on the agenda is checking out some church interiors.  The free walking tours I've been on do not involve going inside the buildings you're seeing.  So let's see some churches.

First up:  St. Stephen's.  This is the giant.  The walking tour ended at this point on building's west side.  It once was among the tallest buildings in the world, at 444ft in height.  The ornate spires reminds me of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.  (Yes, St. Stephen's is much older.  So, technically, it would be correct to flip it say that the spires of Sagrada Familia remind one of St. Stephen's)

Note the black stone.  This is not the natural color of the rock.  The building is made of sandstone, which absorbs pollutants like a sponge.

The building apparently is under a perpetual state of restoration.  So, this too is like the perpetually under construction Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

It is difficult to get a good angle because of the height, and with a real city packed around it.  So maybe this view will work:

Nice of them to include a miniature.

From the south side you can get a decently comprehensive angle:

Let's go in.

One last look at St. Stephen's, framed by its neighbors.

And, look, there's a horse-drawn carriage.

Instead, I'll walk to the next destination.

Michaelskirche.  On Michaelerplatz.

This isn't austere, by any means, but it was far less opulent that St. Stephen's.

I lit a candle and placed it off by itself.

This is my art photo, with the candle I lit being in the foreground.

Out of Michaelskirche and back into the streets of Tourist Vienna.  Like most streets in Vienna, this is an upscale shopping street.  This one, Kohlmarkt, appears to be a very upscale shopping street.

There are so many statues and monuments it's hard to keep track.  Basic rule, if it's not obviously an homage to Mozart, then it is almost guaranteed to be Hapsburg related.

I looked it up.  (Imagine!)  It's the Wiener Pestsäule, a memorial to plague victims in Vienna, built in the late 17th Century (which means it was built by Hapsburg money) (so I was sort of tangentially correct with my Hapsburg comment above).

The name sounds too much like "pustule" to me.  I know that seems to be somewhat childish, but the bubonic plague epidemic did involve pustules appearing on the body, so, no, it's apropros.

Speaking of apropos, next up is the third church on this Three Church Afternoon.

Kirche St. Peter's.  On Petersplatz.

Handsome church and a hansom cab.  The interior falls comfortably in between St. Stephen's and St. Michael's on the ornate scale.

And when I walked out, there was a horse drawn carriage.

I looked at those two horses, both beautiful white, out in the rain, pulling tourists around a crowded city for just oats a day.  And I couldn't help thinking that one of those horses would've said to the other:  "I coulda been a Lippizaner.  I coulda been somebody,"

Rains are getting stronger.  And it's past time for my afternoon.  I walk past the Opera.

I'm not sure why the pink rabbit is hanging out in front of the Opera, but why not.

Trams!

Vienna is absolutely lousy with tourists on a Tuesday in December.  I don't even want to imagine what this place must be like in summer peak tourist season.