Vienna, Part 3: Tuesday

The trouble with blogging a trip more than a week after taking it is that my lines are blurred between when I took pictures. Was that Tuesday? Wednesday? Yikes.

I'll do my best.

Tuesday dawned and as I headed down to our hotel's awesome breakfast, I took pictures of the art and decor they have. Hotel Kunstof was a clean, stylish place, pretty conveniently located. I enjoyed it.

Then Summer and I set off to catch the Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour that was free with our Vienna Pass.

Along the way, I stopped this:

We took the Red Line to the Opera House, where we then caught the Yellow Line to Schonbrun Palace. Along the way, I took pictures from the bus. 

Okay Pizza. Well, okay then.

This place reminded us of Collier Hardware in Chico. 

We arrived and Schonbrun and had a walk around the outside. We did not visit the inside.

Next, it was off to the Belvedere, home to a gorgeous interior and a fabulous art gallery.

For some of my exterior shots of the Belvedere, my camera was on a wrong setting, unbeknownst to me. It's not actually that blinding white in person.

Spring planting

The outside is beautiful, so the inside...you're probably sensing a theme by now.

The Belvedere is home to Vienna's collection of one of Austria's famous artists: Gustav Klimt. It contains several paintings by him, including his most famous: "The Kiss." Of course, it also contains other artists.

Rodin

The Kiss

For the visually impaired.

This Monet is utterly charming.

We had lunch at the cafe in the museum. I had an orange "punch" (really a sort of hot orange juice, and absolutely marvelous), and a sweet potato gratin with sheep cheese, spinach, and a cumin-yogurt dressing.

Summer parted after lunch to rest, so I set out on my own to walk back towards the central historic district.

Looking back at the Upper Belvedere

Wandering Vienna is never dull.

I had a 4:30 appointment to go on a tour of the Spanish Riding School, but I had just enough time to see the State Room of the Austrian Public Library.

When I walked in, a huge, happy sigh came out of me. 

Home to over 200,000 antiquarian books (dating between 1500 and 1850), amazing statuary, frescoes, and old globes, this hall is a bibliophile's dream. It was stunning. Absolutely stunning.

Finally, it was time to tour the Spanish Riding School. The Lipizanner stallions are treated like absolute royalty here. Training is humane and only begins when the horse has reached maturity. Riders train with the same horse through it's career, and the bond between them is lovely.

We got to go into the stable area, but we were asked to refrain from taking pictures, and, of course, from touching the horses. However, you can walk by the stable area from the main street outside, so the pictures I have of the barn are from there.

The indoor riding ring

After the tour, I did some more wandering and picture-taking.

After so much walking, I was ready for dinner (a simple chicken sandwich). As I left the restaurant, I noticed the latest fashions for Austrian men in a nearby shop window. 

Another lovely day of art, architecture, lovely food, and Austrian tradition.