This document provides a summary of sights and experiences in Vienna, Austria from October 2009. It describes landmarks like St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Opera House, and Schönbrunn Palace. It discusses exploring the Ringstrasse boulevard and neighborhoods like Leopoldstadt. Important aspects of Viennese culture are also summarized, such as café culture centered around places like the Sacher Café and wine gardens in Grinzing.

1. Vienna, AustriaOctober 2009

2. MariahilferStrasse, the main shopping street

3. St. Stephen’s Cathedral

4. Opera House

6. The Gothic St. Stephan’s Cathedral

8. Exploring the Ringstrasse, the street and tram lines circling central Vienna

10. A 1945 monument built by the Soviets in honor of their role in liberating Austria in WW2 – not particularly liked by the Viennese.

15. A Neo-Gothic votive church, built to thank God for the failed assassination attempt on Emperor Franz Josef I in 1853.

16. All that is left of Vienna’s medieval city wall

17. Neo-Gothic City Hall

18. Austrian Parliament

19. The Hofburg – palace of the Hapsburgs, once the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

24. Mass at the Augustinian Church in the palace. Site of royal weddings under the Hapsburgs.

25. A tranquil afternoon – Augustinian Church

26. Inside the Imperial Apartments

28. The New Palace

29. Opera House

31. Viennese café cultureSacher Café and Stube, home of the Sachertorte

32. The Sachertorte

33. Café Tirolerhof

34. Landtmann Cafe

36. An afternoon out with Grandpa…

37. Café Central

38. Schönbrunn Palace – summer residence of the Hapsburgs

40. Palace Gardens

47. Back in central Vienna….Kohlmarkt, an elegant shopping street, looking towards the Hofburg.

48. The Graben, once the moat of a Roman military post

49. A plague monument

50. Monument Against War and Fascism

53. Grinzing – suburb with lots of Heurigen (wine gardens)

54. New friends Sylvia and Ola at the heurigen

55. With Sylvia

56. Naschmarkt, Vienna’s daily market.(Wish we had something like this at home!)

61. Karlskirche, a votive church from 1713

66. Detail of the Jugendstil style S-bahn station in Karlsplatz, designed by Otto Wagner

67. Kunstgeschichte Museum (Art history)

72. Leopoldstadt neighborhood

73. A flakstürme, a WW2 flak tower in the Augarten, Leopoldstadt

75. The Reisenrad in Vienna’s amusement park, the Prater. Made famous by the dreary Orson Welles film The Third Man (which I wrote a history paper on in college!)

77. My last meal in Europe:Wiener Schnitzel drenched in fresh-squeezed lemon.