Wandering in Wien

So finally, I'm actually writing about Vienna. I've had a lot of opportunities to wander around the city and see some of the main sights since I've been here. On my first full day in Vienna, the day after getting back from the Ski Week, I decided to do some wandering down Mariahilfer Strasse. It was Sunday, so all the stores were closed, but Mariahilfer Strasse is one of the biggest shopping streets in Vienna. As a side note, almost everything is closed on Sunday, including grocery stores and pharmacies. Some cafes or restaurants might be open, but usually never before 11, and then they close pretty early too. It's something that I've really had to get used to here, because I'm very used to being able to make a grocery store run at almost any time of the day or night, any day of the week. Here, during the week, the grocery stores usually close at around 6 or 7 at night. It's usually not that inconvenient, as long as you are familiar with it (I wasn't at first, and was very disappointed to find Hofer, the nearest grocery store, closed at 6:30 PM) and keep it in mind. So anyway, I was wandering pretty aimlessly down Mariahilfer Strasse, passing by hundreds of shops and restaurants, just exploring.

View down Mariahilfer Strasse from the MuseumsQuartier.

I came across this church, the Mariahilfer Kirche, whose exterior is very typically Austrian-looking. It was very beautiful inside, as you can see below. It was strange, because it was colder inside the church than it was outside (and it was COLD outside). I could see my breath in there.

Mariahilfer Kirche outside.

Mariahilfer Kirche inside.

A word about the weather: It is freezing in Vienna. In just the past few days, the sun has started to shine, and it has felt a little warmer. But last week and the week before, the cold was unbearable. Every day felt like the coldest day in Chicago that I experienced over winter break. But hopefully this warming-up trend will continue.. Anyway, I decided before arriving in Vienna that I wanted to make a point of visiting as many churches in the city as possible, because churches are some of my favorite places to visit when I travel. So I will keep you informed about my church visits. I kept walking down Mariahilfer Strasse for a very long time, because I didn't want to turn around even though my feet were killing me (my new boots weren't quite broken in yet..) and I was quite cold, and after a while I reached the center of the city, which caught me completely by surprise. I had no idea that I would end up in the "Altstadt," or historical city center of Wien. I passed through the MuseumsQuartier, where many of the museums are, walked past the Hofburg, one of the palaces of the royal Hapsburg family (according to Rick Steves, it was where they lived during the winter).

Die Hofburg.

A view down a street in the Altstadt ending at the Michaelertor, an entrance to the Hofburg.

The whole Altstadt is made up of cobblestone roads open only for pedestrians (and maybe a horse-drawn carriage or two as well..). On this particular Sunday it was filled mainly with tourists, who were watching street performers and admiring the Stephansdom and eating sausage from Wuerstelstands that surround Stephansplatz. Stephansplatz, or St. Stephen's Square, is the square in front of the Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) and is at the heart of the Altstadt. I'm not positive whether the Stephansdom is the biggest church in Vienna, but it is massive. And very beautiful, with tiled roofs and tall spires, mainly in the Gothic style.

Stephansdom.

When we took a tour of the Altstadt as part of our program's orientation, we learned more about the area. The monument in the middle of this square, called Wiener Graben, is called the "Pestsaeule," or "Plague Column." It was erected sometime in the 17th century after the plague had hit Europe, and it's pretty impressive. It's covered with netting so that the birds don't poop on it (insider information from my Austrian friend).

Wiener Graben.

Die Pestsaeule.

On the edge of Wiener Graben is a high-end grocery store called Julius Meinl. To give you an idea of just how luxurious this place is, when our program director told us to find the most expensive bottle of alcohol in the store, the winning price was 25,000 euro. There's also a cafe in the store, and I was looking around and discovered that they had gluten-free "Torten," or cakes! I didn't get one, because we were in the middle of the tour, but I will definitely be coming back. I was so excited about that, because eating out here can be really difficult, especially with all the bread and pastries and cake that the Austrians eat.

Der Feinkostladen Julius Meinl.

Later on in the tour, we came to this church called the "Jesuitenkirche," or Church of the Jesuits. It was built during the Counter-Reformation, and it's right next to the "Alte Universitaet," the original University of Vienna, which was founded sometime in the 14th century, making it the oldest German-speaking university (which I think is pretty cool). Of course, since the Jesuits are oh-so-scholarly, they were the professors at the original university, and many Jesuits still live in the neighboring buildings today (each Catholic order has its own building).

Die Jesuitenkirche.

Another church that we saw on our tour was the Ruprechtskirche, the oldest church in Vienna, built in the Romanesque style.

Die Ruprechtskirche.

On the "Judenplatz," or Square of the Jews (the translations sometimes sound awkward, sorry), which was the site of the Jewish ghetto in medieval times, we saw this memorial to the 65,000 Austrian Jews killed in the Holocaust. It's not a very big or imposing structure, but it's very symbolic. It's difficult to tell in the picture, but the memorial is made up of books (stone books) whose pages are facing outward, and I think there's supposed to be 65,000 in all, symbolizing the story of each person who was killed.

As part of our orientation, we went to the "Wiener Eistraum" (now this translation is definitely awkward.. literally, it's "Ice Dream," but we'll call it "Dream on Ice"). It's an ice rink set up in front of the Rathaus, or town hall, and it has two large open areas, but also these smaller winding passages that you can skate around. The skating part wasn't really that great, but just being there was amazing, because it was so beautiful, with the Rathaus all lit up and everything.

Wiener Eistraum.