Vienna

It would have been a little odd to spend nearly six weeks in Austria and not visit Vienna at least once. I seriously considered going on Saturday but decided the round-trip train fare at 68 euros (= $100) was too steep for a one-day excursion. When one of the faculty organized a group to travel together, qualifying for the discounted group rate (bringing the fare down by half), I felt I couldn't pass up the opportunity. We took an early (7:30 AM) train from Graz. The downside with the arrangement was that I was stuck on the train in the company of lively and LOUD young Americans. We went our separate ways once we arrived at the Südbahnhof in Vienna. I decided on what I wanted to see and made my plan for the day.
I have been to Vienna a number of times, the first time was as a high school kid on the Grand Tour with my mother in 1962. The last time I visited was twenty-four years ago, in 1984. That's quite a long time. Walking into the center of the city one passes the Belvedere Palace (now an art museum) with its beautiful grounds. The photo is from the gardens looking towards the city center. The house where Anton Bruckner died is in a house on the palace grounds. You can't swing a dead soprano in Vienna without hitting a place where some famous composer lived or died. The heart of the city is the famous Sankt Stephans Dom (cathedral) with its distinctive tile roof. It is a large Gothic church, and very beautiful. Unfortunately, Vienna is such a tourist magnet that the inner city is swarming with people, all jostling to get the best camera angles. It makes you wonder whether it is worth the effort to visit such places. The Dom was like the proverbial sardine can.