Birthday Celebration in Eastern Europe

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Wednesday, 15 September 2016 - Woke early to explore Vienna on foot before lunch, beginning at the magnificent St. Stephen's Cathedral with its towering Gothic spire and Baroque interior, wandered through downtown past historic churches, the Plague Column, Hofburg Palace, and its imperial grounds, admired ornate Baroque details at St. Peter's Church, visited the Museum of Art History and Parliament with its Athena Fountain, and topped the day with a concert at St. Charles's Church followed by dinner in the lively city.

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Out early to see Vienna before lunch. First stop the main church in old Vienna - Saint Stephen's Cathedral

St. Stephen's Cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral, seen today in the Stephansplatz, was largely initiated by Duke Rudolf IV (1339-1365) and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first a parish church consecrated in 1147.
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The very tall tower on the cathedral is hard to photograph in the tight space of the square.

Standing at 446 feet tall and affectionately referred to by the city's inhabitants as "Steffl" (a diminutive form of "Stephen"), St. Stephen's massive south tower is its highest point and a dominant feature of the Vienna skyline. Its construction lasted 65 years, from 1368 to 1433. During the Siege of Vienna in 1529 and again during the Battle of Vienna in 1683, it served as the main observation and command post for the defence of the walled city, and it even contains an apartment for the watchmen who, until 1955, manned the tower at night and rang the bells if a fire was spotted in the city.
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The baroque style interior of the church
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Statue detail in church.
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Over the alter in church
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Adjacent to the catacomb entrance is the Capistran Chancel, the pulpit, from which St. John Capistrano and Hungarian General John Hunyadi preached a crusade in 1456 to repel Muslim invasions of Christian Europe. The 18th century Baroque statue shows St. Francis under an extravagant sunburst, trampling on a beaten Turk. This was the original cathedral's main pulpit inside until it was replaced by Niclaes Gerhaert van Leyden's pulpit in 1515.
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Gargoyles everywhere
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Downtown Vienna on our walk from the church to the palace.
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The Plague Column is a Holy Trinity column. The baroque memorial was erected after the Great Plague epidemic in 1679.
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Walking around downtown Vienna, we came upon St. Peter's Church just off the main pedestrian walkway.

The oldest church building (of which nothing remains today) dates back to the Early Middle Ages. The construction of the new Baroque church was begun around 1701 and finished around 1733. It was the first domed church in Vienna.
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The inside of St. Peter's Church with its Baroque high altar.
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We continued our walk to the great palace downtown the Hofburg Palace

Hofburg Palace is the former imperial palace in the centre of Vienna, Austria. Part of the palace forms the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria.
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Austrian eagle high on the ramparts

Built in the 13th century and expanded in the centuries since, the palace has housed some of the most powerful people in European and Austrian history, including monarchs of the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was the principal imperial winter residence, as Schonbrunn Palace was their summer residence.
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The main gate to the palace

The Hofburg in Vienna is the former imperial residence. From 1438 to 1583 and from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, thereafter the seat of the Emperor of Austria until 1918. Today it is the official seat of the Austrian Federal President.
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Hercules slays Hydra, exterior facade statuary in Michaelerplatz
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Here a royal china display - room after room of china.
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Along with the china was a display of the golden services for the royalty of Austria
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In the place heating was by furnaces that were supplied wood from a passage behind the furnace.
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Virginia Ann outside the palace
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The Museum of Natural History from the Museum of Art History - we were visiting the art museum. Both buildings were built between 1871 and 1891 and look very similar.
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Statue in the grand staircase of the Museum of Art History.

The two Ringstrase museums were commissioned by the Emperor in order to find a suitable shelter for the Habsburgs' formidable art collection and to make it accessible to the public.
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Looking up through a hole in the ceiling of the second floor to a balcony and beyond in the Museum of Art History.
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Parlament with the Athena Fountain which was erected between 1893 and 1902. In the middle is a water basin and a richly decorated base. The four figures lying at the foot of Athena are allegorical representations of the four most important rivers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They represent at the front the Danube and Inn, in the back the Elbe and Vltava rivers. The female statues above represent the legislative. Athena is dressed in armor with a gilded helmet, her left hand carries a spear, her right carries Nike.
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Triton and Nymph fountain, in the Volksgarten.
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On a walk to a concert we passed by the Konzerthaus, a concert hall which opened in 1913. Nice art deco designs on the building.
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Tonight we were headed to an Ava Maria concert at St. Charles's Church. First we walked by to check it out. People were relaxing around the pool in front of the church. It was very lively. So a quick picture and then off to dinner
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Cal and Virginia Ann at dinner
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Back to the church for the concert - which was held in the nave. The concert was great.

The church is dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo, one of the great counter-reformers of the sixteenth century. The church is cared for by a religious order, the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star.
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Apotheosis of Saint Charles Borromeo by Alberto Camesina is a massive artwork covering the wall at the end of the church.
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A simple organ setting
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After the concert another chance to photograph the church just as the moon appeared over the dome.
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