On the second day John, Sue, and I got up and got moving. I wanted to take them to the summer palace and get there early before the crowds. We saw this when we were there during New Year, so I left my three boys at the apartment to sleep in and relax a little.
John and Sue standing in front of the palace gates. You can see how HUGE they are!!!
The fountains are truly amazing in the front.
John and Sue in front of the palace. There are 1,441 rooms in this summer palace.
Sue is getting eaten by the lion and Hercules is trying to save her! Thank goodness he did save her!
The fireplaces in the corner was feed from the back like all of them in the palace. The family didn't like to see the servants.
This is the Hall of Mirrors where six-year old Mozart performed for the family. He amazed them by playing without being able to see the keys, he jumped playfully into Maria Theresa's lap, and he even asked six-year-old Marie-Antoinette to marry him.
Check out the view from the window!! I would love to have this view everyday!
This is the Great Gallery which is the palace's main party room. One thing that I really like about this palace is they decorated the house with family photos and drawings that the kids and grandchildren drew.
I am not sure if you can see Sue, but she is there up on the balcony. It shows how big the palace is.
Here you can see her a little better, but can still see the immense size.
Striking a pose on the stairway!!!
After that Sue and I took a walk to the gardens. That is one thing we weren't able to see in December was all the beautiful flowers and gardens. I was very excited to be able to see them all.
I love the handle on this pot!!!
They had these all over the place, beautiful with roses!
There were statues like this all up and down the gardens.
Here you can see how immense the gardens were and this is just part of it. They go off to the left and right for quite awhile!
Talk about a fountain - I can have one of those in my backyard!!
This is "the Gloriette" a purely decorative monument celebrating an obscure Austrian military victory.
Here you can see the statues on the side of the garden and the designs in the grass patches.
This is the two-headed eagle of the Hasburg family.
We stopped and smelled the roses - and they smelt great!!!
It was also really cool to see the fountains with water in them this time!!!! After that we headed back to the apartment to pick up the boys.
The crew standing in front of the statue of Maria Theresa, she was the only female ruler of Vienna.
These two statues welcomed us into the museum area!
She was very religious (Catholic), had 16 children (among them the infamous Marie Antoinette of France), and was quite popular with the people she ruled. Maria Theresa introduced many good reforms in the Empire, especially in finance, education, healthcare, and civil rights. Overall, Maria Theresa has been considered one of the best rulers of the Habsburg dynasty.
We then headed into the Kunsthistorisches Museum. It showcases the Habsburg's collected artwork in a really great building, that was actually built for showing off art.
I like on the ceiling how they put the main artists, this one says Michael Angelo.
David and John by the lion statue on the grand staircase!
I couldn't help taking a picture of these. They do not look comfortable at all to wear. :-)
David and Michael with their lion faces!!!!
This is Theseus Defeats the Centaur Rome. During the wedding of Perithous, King of the Lapiths, the Centaurs tried to abduct the Lapiths' wives including the king's bride Hippodamia. With the help of the Athenian hero Theseus, the Lapiths overcame the Centaurs in battle. This statue represents this battle. It was commissioned by Napoleon for the Corso in Milan.
We found this interesting, they are paintings all the way around this horseshoe shaped area. It is not even a room, we looked at it through the glass and there is no floor.
I wasn't sure what this was. It is put on a horse during jousting to protect the horse.
This is a breast piece that was once owned by Maximillan I.
These were for really small people. The boys said they wouldn't wear the skirt. :-)
My knight in shining armor next to another knight. Mine is much better looking!
This is Ecce Homo, a crowd mills about and there is a commotion. They nudge each other and start to point. Follow their gaze diagonally up the stairs to a battered figure entering way up in the corner. "Ecce Homo!" says Pilate. "Behold the man." And he presents Jesus to the mob.
This is Titian's Danae - a Renaissance centerfold. Danae is about to be seduced. Zeus the king of the gods, descends as a shower of gold to consort with her.
This is a self-portrait done by Parmigianino. The reason I think this is cool is that he did it like he was looking into a convex mirror and he did it on wood.
This is Raphael's painting, Madonna of the Meadow. It is Mary with baby Jesus and John the Baptist.
When the Habsburgs ruled both Austria and Spain, cousins kept in touch through portraits of themselves and their kids. This is little Margarita Habsburg from age two to age nine.
This is Caravaggio's David with the Head of Goliath. David shoves the dripping head of the slain giant right at us. Good thing I have my David to protect us!!
This is in the middle of the museum and you can see the people up on the balcony. I am taking this from the second floor. You can see how immense this museum is.
This is a painting by Albrecht Durer. This piece looks a little like a hog pile of saints and angels, but it perfectly geometrical. The crucified Christ forms a triangle in the center, framed by triangular clouds and flanked by three-sided crowds of people. He included himself, the lone earthling in this heavenly vision with a plaque announcing that he painted this in 1511.
AJ really liked this piece of art. It is called The Four Rivers of Paradise. According to the conventional interpretation, the four continents are depicted here as female allegoric figures paired with the gods of their respective rivers. Slightly elevated about the others, Europe is sitting on the left, accompanied by the river god of the Danube, and facing Asia on the right with the Ganges. At the back is America with the god of the Rio de la Plata. The Nile has his arm around the black beauty Africa.
These are self-portraits of Rembrandt. He was a master at self portraits. Each painting shows a slightly different emotion.
AJ said he was getting tired so David gave him a little bit of a ride.
This is called The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer. It depicts the painter in his studio. His model is posing as Clio, the Muse of history, who inspires the painter and proclaims the glory of painting in the old Netherlands.
This is Bruegel's The Tower of Babel. It became the most famous, most often copied and varied classic depiction of the tower. Perspective is provided by the seemingly Flemish port which seems tiny in comparison with the tower. Bruegel depicts countless technical and craftsmanship processes.
My three boys and their fierce lion faces!!!!
Next we headed down to ancient Egypt. This is some stone writings and vessels that are thousands of years old.
AJ liked this big pot. I love his smile!!!
This is a Roman mosaic, all those small tiny pieces had to take so many hours.
Their tombs are amazing!!
These are reliefs from the tomb of the treasurer and prince's tutor Merire, the tomb owner and his wife are depicted in prayer before a deity.
This is only the lid of one of them. It is HUGE!
Here you can see part of the remains left in this tomb.
You can see how ornately they decorate the inside of the tombs as well.
A little break before we head on to the next adventure!
Here you can see the front of the Maria Theresa statue a little better.
The big square located just in front of Hofburg Palace - Heldenplatz (Heroes' square) is named for two Austrian war heroes: Prince Eugène of Savoy, the victor over the Turks in the 17th century, and Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, who defeated Napoleon in 1809 in Aspern, near Vienna.
They are honored each with a monumental equestrian statue. Local sculptor Anton Dominik Fernkorn created both statues between 1860 and 1865. The statue of prince Eugène in front of the Neue Burg needed the support of the horse's tail as his horse has two hoof raised.
Heldenplatz is where Hitler declared Austria's Anschluss to the German Nazi reich. The statue portraits military leaders.
Everybody was getting hungry by this point, including me, so we decided to stop for some much needed lunch!!
We even had some wonderful lunch music while we ate.
John and Sue looking good and ready for some Austrian cuisine!!
AJ had one BIG burger!
Michael is done with dinner and finally feeling satisfied!
Sue getting ready to enjoy our dessert!!!
My boys and their ice cream!!!! It was time for an ice cream break!
John and Sue enjoying some gelato!
You can see all the horse and buggies lined up to take tourists around Vienna.
Pestsäule (the plague column) at Gragen is a reminder of the victims of the plague. It was Emperor Leopold I that vowed to erect it. It was designed by Paul Strudel and inaugurated in 1693. The Great Plague of Vienna brought the imperial city to its knees. Death toll estimates range wildly from a merely upsetting 12,000 to a truly devastating 75,000 people. The killer is thought to be the same Bubonic Plague (Yersinia pestis) that raged first in the 14th century, and began a second tour of duty in the 17th. All across Europe, outbreaks of disease crippled towns, but Vienna, as a trade cross-road was perfectly placed for a true epidemic.
This is a model of the church. I thought it was cool that the Lions club put it up! My dad has been part of Lions for years!
So I was out voted to go and see some of the apartments of the Habsburgs, so I wanted to climb the South tower of the big cathedral. Michael is very excited to go up the steps!
I have to say I was a little disappointed because it didn't take us up to the top, just about halfway.
It was still a great view though!!!
Here you can see the roof better of the cathedral.
David and Sue coming down the stairs. AJ and John stayed down at the bottom.
Here you can see the two headed eagle of the Habsburg family.
Michael was running way ahead of us, but he took a second so I could take a picture of him.
Here is the tower that we climbed!
Michael and David after our hike up!
Two Vs make a W, so Vandeways equal winners! After that we headed back towards the Habsburg treasury.
As a sign of their privileged status chamberlains at the Habsburg court wore a key that symbolized their access to the ruler's chamber. The office of chamberlain was reserved to members of the high nobility.
AJ photo bombing the crown of the Holy Roman Empire that Rudolf II commissioned for himself.
These portraits show Napoleon and his new bride, Marie Louise, Franz I/IIs daughter (and Marie-Antoinette's great-niece).
This Cradle of the King of Rome, once occupied by Napoleon's son, who was born in 1811 and made King of Rome. The little eagle at the foot is symbolically not yet able to fly, but glory-bound.
Ewer and basin used for imperial baptisms.
A unicorn horn!!!!
This is the agate bowl - that is one huge agate!
The collection's highlight is this 10th - century crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. It was probably made for Otto I (960), the first king to call himself Holy Roman Emperor.
This painting shows the coronation of Maria Theresa's son Josef II as Holy Roman Emperor in 1764. Set in a church in Frankfurt, Josef is wearing the same crown as above.
This is said to have a piece of wood from Christ's manager.
This is said to contain a piece of the tablecloth from the Last Supper.
This is said to contain a piece of the loincloth of Christ.
The middle one is said to contain a tooth of John the Baptist. The gold one on the left is said to contain a fragment of the robe of John the Evangelist.
After that everybody was done and ready to go back to the apartment for some dinner. We had a wonderful time in Vienna and saw some marvelous sights!! It was a long drive both there and back, but well worth it!!!
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