Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Evening Exploration

When Jon arrived back to the apartment after work around 4:30, there was still a little daylight left, so we headed out for a walk to explore some of downtown Vienna. Here are pictures from our stroll...

This is the St. Stephens Cathedral. I love the Gothic style architecture of this church; these humongous cathedrals amaze me. This cathedral was finished in 1160. I hope to get better pictures of it sometime during our trip, that is if the sun shows it's lovely face.
Right now they are doing some restoration to the exterior of the church so I could only shoot so many photographs without capturing the work equipment.













Another church near the cathedral

As Jon and I continued exploring Vienna we came across the Rathaus. This was definitely one of the many sights I wanted to see while we were here, and I am so happy we ran into it!

Through the trees.



Jon


As we approached, we saw all of the tents and people and realized there was a festival going on... Score! We grabbed a mug of gluwein and walked around the fest. This festival is known as the Viennese Ice Dream, in which they've built a 4,000 square meter ice skating rink. At the entrance of the festival there is a large rink, then the rink snakes through to the front of the Rathaus into another large rink. It was incredible to see.

I found these two pictures on the internet so you can have a better idea of what this looked like:
You can see the first rink in the front, then the trail snakes through to the back where there is another large rink, right in front of the castle. Isn't that amazing!


This is the other pic I found on the internet, showing you what the trail of ice looks like.


Here are a couple more picture I captured from our evening.
The Rathaus is the City Hall in Vienna. It was built between 1872 and 1883.








I'll keep the pictures coming ;)

14 comments:

valerie said...

Amazing...that's the word that comes to my mind...simply amazing.
I'm so glad you happened onto this site.
That skating rink is so neat!

I love the cathedrals too. I remember seeing several in NYC and being in such awe at the construction.

I'll be back to see what's next.

Love,
Val

Lindsey said...

WOW!!!! Sooooo gorgeous!!!

d.a.r. said...

Goooooooooorgeous! I adore Cathedrals and churches. I have a teeny tiny obsession :)

Abbie said...

It literally blows my mind that they were able to construct such massive, gorgeous and intricate buildings almost 1000 years ago! Steph, I am seriously so envious of you guys! It looks like you're seeing some pretty amazing things on your trip! And how fun that you just so happened to stumble across a festival! Keep the pictures coming! I am loving them!

~Mrs. Guru~ said...

That is so breath taking!

Kebi Cedawna said...

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog, I'd love for you to follow me and hope you don't mind if I follow your blog as well.

Your header pictures are beautiful as are the pics from Vienna. The farthest I've ever traveled is Wash. D.C. The National Cathedral was the most beautiful architecture I've ever seen. The gothic style is just breathtaking.

Kebi Cedawna said...

I tried to email you but it would only open up in Outlook and I don't have that program set up on my computer.
I read that you got married in OKC. Are you from Oklahoma? I'm from the Bartlesville area. It's always nice to meet a fellow Okie ;)

e said...

amazing. Seems as though you guys are having a great time.. can't wait to see more pictures!

The Dutchess of Kickball said...

Those buildings are gorgeous, you never see anything like that in the states.

jlc said...

Oh wow! How I wanna go visit!!


I HAVE to see churches no matter where I travel. I just think they are just gorgeous! Espesh the gothic ones... such great pics! Thanks for sharing with us!!

Young Traveler said...

I used to live in Vienna! I'm glad you are enjoying it. I lived in the first district and it was AMAZING!

In Bratislava, there is a house by a church (I can't remember which one), but the house is abandoned and all of the windows are painted like famous works of art. It's great.

morewineplease said...

WOW WOW WOW!! So beautiful, so much History!

rebecca said...

Wow wow wow! Those pictures are incredible! I get so jealous every time I read a "European" blog, lol! Can't wait to see more pics!

Katie & Ryan said...

Your pictures are amazing!!! I just love how everything lights up at night :0)