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| Slow down crazy child. |
Off to Helmut Zilk-Platz for the start of the tour. Past the Opera building. Unfortunately for me, Helmut Zilk-Platz is extremely close to my hotel. I get there way early.
Where's the fire what's the hurry about? OK. I've exhausted the lyric snippets from Billy Joel's "Vienna" (probably his best song). I've got time, so let's explore the neighborhood.
First up, Augustin-Kirche, St. Augustine Church, the private church of the Hapsburg royals.
It's very white.
Parts of several Hapsburg's are buried here. Heart parts to be specific. So, yes, the Hapsburgs would have said, "Bury my heart at Augustine-Kirche."
Do I have time for another church? Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true. (I thought I said I was done with the Billy Joel "Vienna" lyric snippets. Though you can see when you're wrong, you know, you can't always see when you're right.
Kapuzinekirche.
Must simpler than the Hapsburgs' palace-like cathedrals.
This is a chapel attached to a Capuchin monastery.
So the austerity is part of the plan.
The appointed hour for the start of the Walking Tour was drawing close, time to scurry back to Helmut Zilk-Plaza.
Where I learn the scupltures are anti-fascist imagery.
The stones were quarried from the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, where the Austrian Jews were sent to work.
The Jewish population in Austria went from about 200,000 before the Anschluss (literally, "annexation") of Austria into the Third Reich, to 5,000 post WWII. Of those, 65,000 were murdered in the concentration camps. Most of the rest fled.
Doesn't that put you in the mood for a fun walking tour?
Let's explore the Hapsburg palace area.
Lots of horse drawn carriages in the tourist core of Vienna.
By the way, the tourist core of Vienna is Vienna. The whole city is a tourist core.
And they are quite photogenic, which is why I took lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures of them. Even though I would never ride in one.
That is not a "foreshadowing" of a picture of me sitting in one flashing the thumps up. I have no interest in riding in one. I don't judge others who make their own lifestyle choices. If you want to ride in a horse-drawn carriage, let that particular freak flag fly.
When will you realize? The hansom cab waits for you.
When it comes to fitting in snippets of lyrics from Billy Joel's "Vienna," so much to do and only so many hours in a day.
This area is Heldenplatz, Heroes' Square. Hitler gave a famous speech in Vienna from the balcony of the building below.
Sorry for all the Hitler references, especially since I am trying to keep this light. But only the Hapsburgs dominate the political history of Vienna more than Hitler.
So more horse drawn carriages to lighten the mood.
Speaking of horses, we did walk past the theater where the Lippizaner stallions perform, the Spanish Riding School, along with the stables, but the horses weren't out and prancing, so no photos.
This is Wolfgang, our guide, winding down the tour. Which ended with this
The spire of St. Stephen's Cathedral, the enormous cathedral that dominates the center of Vienna. So, despite the warning in the song, I did not kick off before I even got halfway through. I got the whole way through my Free Walking Tour of Vienna.
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