We met Jacob and Maya after breakfast on the second day that the river boat was docked in Vienna. Our fellow Viking passengers were preparing to board the usual tour buses for their day's events, but we were excited to meet our grandchildren for more of our own special time on this second day in the City. (Vienna Part One is here).
Statue of Empress Maria Theresa in front of Natural History Museum
We visited Maria Theresien Platz. A monument to the Empress is the center point of the huge plaza which includes two almost identical buildings that house the Vienna Museum of Natural History and the Art Museum. There are also four fountains, other sculptures, and lovely landscaping. Our 'guides' told us that at Christmas the whole plaza is transformed into a world-famous Christmas Market — it sounded amazing!
The Empress Maria Theresa governed Austria from 1740 to 1780. What I remembered was that she was the last of the Hapsburg line of rulers of the Austrian empire, that she led major educational reforms, and that she was the ruler in actuality rather than (as would have been expected at the time) ceding complete rule to her husband Francis,who was a royal in his own right from another line …. And I remembered that she had 16 children! I went to Wiki to check my memory, which was not wrong (but certainly not complete) — she definitely deserves to be commemorated. Here is the link to the wikipedia page.
This World Heritage monument is huge! The entire monument is over 60 feet in height; her statue alone is 19 feet. At the corners are statues of four of her Generals on horseback and carvings of other notables are around the bottom of the monument.
The upper left and lower right pictures in the collage are two of the corners of the Museum of Natural History. They were meant to represent the continents as they were imagined at the time … the one on the top left is America.
We got around the City underground — on the subway/tube ….. our private guides were experts on the system (and the language!) We had fun pretending like we were locals rather than tourists on a bus. This picture is where we're exiting the Schonbrunn Station to return to the City Center.
These pictures are of the grounds at the Schonbrunn Palace. ( (There is a picture of the Palace on the previous post.) It was hard to get pictures of the buildings without a lot of people — we were in Vienna on Ascension Thursday, a Holiday for schools and many businesses were closed. We certainly weren't the only ones who were enjoying this beautiful place.
The center photo is (the top of ) The Gloriette which was built in 1775 during the reign of the same Empress Maria Theresa and Joseph. It was meant as a place for the royals and visitors to take in the views. Now it is open to the public .. the Gloriette Cafe is housed on the lower level.
Many elaborate sculptures and garden buildings grace the grounds of the Schonbrunn, which was once the summer residence of the Hapsburg royalty. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Even with our private guides and a one-on-one tour, our one evening plus one full day gave us time for only an overview of the wonders of Vienna. But we loved every moment of it — and we learned so much. What great memories!
We are grateful to have had such a special time with our grandchildren in this beautiful city. At the end of our day, Jacob and Maya went to board a train to Slovakia, where they would visit her family before flying to Finland (where they now live). We headed back to the Skirnir in time for its departure to the next port of call — Melk, Austria.
Linking to the following:
ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; TUESDAY TREASURES ; SAY CHEESE; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY.
Thank you to all of the hosts.
We appreciate all visitors and commenters! Thank you.