Day 2 - Vienna

We started the day with a walking tour around Vienna old town centre after a short tram ride into the city. We started at The State Opera House, to the Albertina, past the old church, past the mall and then to Blood Lane, then into a little courtyard in the middle of the old town which was really quite and calm, and right in the middle of the old town, just around the corner from Mozart's House, back through the mall past St Peter's, then down past St Michael's, and the back of the Hofburg Palace, and where our walking tour ended. The rest of the day was free time. Matt and I climbed the 354 steps about half way up the main tower (as far as you can go) at St Stephens for some spectacular views of the old town area of Vienna. After that we headed to Kunst Haus Wien which is an interesting house with curves and uneven floors as a reflection that in nature there are no straight lines. We decided not to go into the museum. We wandered back to the old town centre to Albertina to check out the exhibits. The photography exhibits where the best and the Picasso exhibit was interesting. We then wandered the streets trying to decide what to eat for lunch. Until we decided just to get something cheap from a street stall and eat our lunch in the Volksgarden. I had a kebab sandwich and a beer. Yeah walking down the street and sitting in a park drinking a tinny just like any good Aussie overseas. :-) We took a tour of The State Opera House, which we were able to go to the side stage area. About 2/3 of the original Opera House was destroyed by American bombing during the war. The old sections which survived the bombing are are extensively decorated with paintings and 24ct gold gilding. The stage area is huge the side stage and back stage areas are as large as the main stage area. The main stage area is on a hydraulic platform that retracts down 11m to a sub stage area which also has a side stage and back stage area. So for example in a 3 act opera they will have the set for act 1 set up on stage, then they drop the stage and push the set off into either the sub side/back stage area, raise the stage and bring the act 2 set in from the side stage and act 3 from the rear stage area. Came back to the hotel for a short break and to get in some wifi time at a nearby McDonalds, before heading out to dinner. We just decided to head into the city centre and find a place. We decided on a nice Italian restaurant just off the main mall. It was very good and so cheap when compared to home. Stopped by the opera house to catch a couple of minutes of the opera on the big screen on the outside of the theatre. Before heading off to get some ice cream. Heading to Bratislava tomorrow for a day trip.