A Little Late, but a Beautiful Piece of Christmas Music

Veni Emmanuel

Vienna

We had a nice train ride from Salzburg to Vienna. European trains are a wonder--smooth and fast, nothing like the bone-jarring rides I remember on Amtrak and the Metra. It's hard to believe that good train service in the US wouldn't dominate air travel for distances under 300 miles.

Anyway, Vienna is a beautiful city--even when it's raining. It never rained hard, but we had showers off and on all the time we were there. Vienna has great mass transit and it's very easy to use. We lucked out in that the hotel I chose was right across the street from a subway stop (the "U") and we could get to the center city in about 15 minutes. We didn't use busses, but Vienna has a system of trams (streetcars) that seem designed to accommodate tourists. All in all getting around was very easy.

Here are some photos from our visit.

(Sorry for the delay. My iMac went down for a couple of weeks. Apple finally figured out that it was a bad video card.)

Believe it or not, a working clock

Street architecture.

Details from the inside of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

St. Stephansdom.

First guess: gothic church. Correct guess: City Hall.

Area around the Hofburg Palace.

Schonbrunn Palace, gardens and park

Salzburg

We both really liked Salzburg. The older part of the city was very nice and we were able to buy a combo ticket that allowed us to see all the major sights very cheaply. Mozart was born in Salzburg and you're not allowed to forget it for a moment. You can visit where he was born, where he lived and where he performed. Mozart actually spent very little time in Salzburg from the time he was five. He toured almost constantly with either his father or mother and then, feeling stifled in the small town, decamped to Vienna where he did much of his major work.

There are other reasons to visit, however. The castle is very nice and was formidable in it's time. Salzburg was a major city in the region from antiquity because of the nearby salt mines--salt, salz.

Here are some pictures

















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Innsbruck

Tim was kind enough to drive us up to Innsbruck on Tuesday. It turned out to be an easier drive than I expected and we appreciated the help. Innsbruck is not large and it's pretty easy to walk around town. Innsbruck was Emperor Maximilian I's favorite city and he spent a lot of time there. However, old and and sick, he tried to make one last visit and the local burghers wouldn't provide lodging for him and his retinue. Seems he stiffed them the last time he was in town. He went on down the road to Wels and died. The Hapsburgs did leave a lot of cool things around, though. Here are some pictures.














These are some of the bronze statues surrounding Maximilian's casket.


This is one of the carved panels from the casket. The casket is empty. The emperor was buried in Wels, where he died.





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Vicenza

Tuesday we all went to Vicenza, which is famous for the architect Palladio. If this doesn't ring a bell, think Monticello-- Jefferson was a big admirer. A lot of the buildings in Vicenza bear Palladio's stamp. My main memory is the ten mile death march my daughter took us on. Oh, she says it was only six miles, but I don't believe her. I can't gripe too much, however, because Maya walked the whole way.

In between the gasps for breath, I managed to take a few pictures.



















Maybe this is why the walk was so long. Where are we anyway? The GPS says we're in Milan.











An Italian movie star and her daughter relaxing on the steps of their palazzo.





























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Padova

Today Tim, Susan and I drove to Padova (unfortunately Chris had to work). We had a nice day walking around and seeing some really excellent examples of fresco art. Unfortunately, in every case photos were prohibited, so you'll have to take my word. There were a lot of other things I could photograph, so here are some pictures.































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