Vienna

Our first stop on an almost 2-week adventure was Vienna, Austria. While we were there we saw a lot of museums, most of them covering the history of the Habsburg family. It was crazy to me that I had not learned more about them in history classes back in the states because they were a very powerful family that had a lot of influence throughout Europe.

The group walking into one of the main squares, surrounded by museums.

At the first museum we went to, these keys were displayed. Jan explained that the cities/states that the Habsburgs conquered gave a 'key to the city' as a symbol that they were submitting to the empire.

This museum brought up something that I had not ever thought of before. These are photos of the different outfits that the emperor had to wear depending on where he was at. Before, whenever I thought of an empire, I thought of it as I do the United States, meaning that it are not only legally on nation, but the people also are patriotic toward the empire. On this trip I learned that the emperor, instead of being like the president, was more like the king of all the lands. This meant that any traditions that the king would normally be present at, the emperor had to be present at. 

This is a photo of St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna. The part of this cathedral that stuck out to me differently from the others that we have seen was the patterned roof outside.

The next day, we had a choice between visiting three different museums: an ancient one, a natural history one, and a modern art one. I really enjoy modern art so I chose to go with that one and later on, was very happy with my choice because I found a new favorite artist- Gustav Klimt. The museum had a special showcase for his work and I fell in love with the detailing and the colors used. Below, I have photos that I took of the two they were displaying. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to cross the city to see the museum that housed most of his work, including his most famous, The Kiss. 

Our museum was smaller than the rest, so we had some extra time following our visit. There was a courtyard outside of the museum with these wonderful blue chairs. They were large enough to comfortably fit four people, but that didn't stops some people from piling six onto one! 

After an hour long nap on those glorious chairs, we went to the famous outdoor market in Vienna where I finally tried Weinerschnitzel. It mostly just tasted like chicken-fried pork, but it was really good with the lemon on top!

After this, we visited one of the museums centered around Empress Sissi, but no photos were allowed so I have nothing to show. The museum displayed the royal tableware and the imperial apartments. It was interesting to learn about her life, but I got the impression that after her death she was idolized as a great and wonderful empress when in reality, she had not been praised as much during her reign.

We found the Mozart statue and took a couple photos in front of it. The statue is quite large- you can barely even see me!