Friday, June 12, 2009

Chapter 21 - Vienna, A Little Whimsy

We've been to Vienna twice now, and I swear it's the most beautiful city I've ever seen in my life. I'll do many blogs on it, I suspect, on the fabulous buildings, palaces, churches and museums, but I want to do this one about a few whimsical things we saw there. When you walk in the inner ring of Vienna, you are bombarded by so many wonderful sights, you don't know where to look first ... or even second. But a few whimsical things caught my eye.

The first two pictures are of a public toilet in the underground. There's no such thing as free public toilets in Vienna because the authorities are afraid of "nefarious activities" being done inside them. This one is called the Opera Toilet. It costs one-and-a-half Euro, about $2.10 (which if you have to go, doesn't seem that expensive). It was spotlessly clean. And while you're in there, you get to listen to loud music from an opera. The one I heard is by Mozart (of course), but I'm such a parvenu when it comes to opera, I didn't know which one it was.

The outside of the toilet where you pay.


The stalls are called loges.


Around the palaces and other historical sites, you see these
young men (no women) in historical costume. They frequently
have fliers they hand out about upcoming events.


Look in the rear center at the young man in black
ostensibly playing a violin. He doesn't move at
all; at first I thought he was a mannikin.


What a bright spot of color the balloon seller provides.


You see these carriages all over the old town area. They
provide an old world flavor. If you close your eyes and
just listen to their hooves clopping along, you can almost
feel like it's centuries ago.


You pay for 20, 40 or 60 minute rides. Someone who shall remain
nameless thinks it's a waste of money, but I'm hoping to persuade
him to change his mind. I was struck by how tired some of the
horses seemed later in the afternoon. As I've said before, many
people have their dogs out in Austria, and Vienna is no exception.
I didn't see one dog bark at the horses.

1 comment:

  1. Ms. Schendel: If you're interested in visiting the area around Poznan, Poland (Posen, Prussia) where many of the U. S. Schendels originated, check out the 01/08 entry here:
    http://genforum.genealogy.com/schendel/

    ReplyDelete