Austria Trip - Stephansplatz at Night

Opera House

As I mentioned in my last post, the deacons wanted us to go and get a hotel to stay at in between our time with the Hudsons and the Sheltons. We were able to procure that through one of the many online discount websites. I believe, if I remember correctly, I was able to get the hotel room for a third of what it normally goes for! I love a good bargain and enjoy the thrill of hunting up coupon codes. It was a comfortable hotel that was near the public transportation so our plan was to check in, and then go exploring. Sarah was gracious enough to write down directions and stops that we were to take along the way. For two non-subway/tram/bus/train people, we were embarking upon something completely foreign (literally) to us.

Museum

Well, our first attempt was a failure. We got on the tram, but unfortunately it was headed in the wrong direction (we were supposed to get on the one across the street) . It ended up at the end of the line a couple of stops down from where we got on, but that was enough of a delay for us to miss visiting the majority of the shops due to the fact that they close at 8. That's okay. We were enjoying the beautiful old buildings and loved walking down the Stephansplatz. We decided on our way in on the tram that we would walk the stops back to the main depot so that we could get some pictures of the buildings that we missed as we rode into the heart of the city.

Theatre

We had discussed our plan of attack: First, we needed to get in as many shops as possible before 8 o'clock so that we could find some souvenirs for friends and family. This might be our only time to do this type of shopping since we knew our schedule was at the "mercy" of the missionaries (I say that carefully. Not that they are demanding, but we wanted to emphasize that we were not there for vacation or tourism. We were there to help in any way possible, not make our own demands.). For a second goal, we needed to get pictures of buildings on our way back to the hotel, so we wanted to be headed back toward the hotel on foot while it was yet daylight. Thirdly, food. At some point we wanted to get dinner. We were excited to try and find something to eat that we could only get while we were there (remember this...I'll mention it later on in this post).

Stephansdom (St. Stephen's)

It was 7:55 when we arrived at the Stephansplatz. We walked as fast as we could but only found a few shops open. Swarovski Crystal stores were open, but we thought that was a little out of our price range. So, we quickly eliminated the shopping aspect of our journey. We moved on to our second agenda: pictures.

Taigen at Stephansdom

First of all and most importantly was the Stephansdom (or as we would call it: St. Stephen's Cathedral). We had to snap up pictures of this marvel. It is an impressive (that's an understatement) building that is huge, ginormous, bigantic, hugeongeous. Did I say it was rather large? You could get a neck-ache just looking at it. One thing we did notice were the scrims that were on the exterior. We were informed that because it is made of sandstone, it is in constant need of repair. They put up the scrims with the image of the cathedral printed over it so that you can still tell what it is supposed to look like. Pretty interesting! We were in awe as we approached it and then thrilled when we found out we could go in without paying.

Inside the Stephansdom

The first thing we noticed when we went in is that it was SO dark. Of course, the light was waning, but still, the lights inside were kept very low. It was hushed inside with an attitude of reverence. People were paying to purchase candles so that they might pray (A fact I found very sobering...pay to pray? Really?). We were allowed to use cameras inside so I tried to capture a bit of what I saw. The beauty is amazing, but I found myself so thankful for my little white church in Dover, NH. Within our beautiful & bright church we have a small, lone, wooden cross hanging above the baptistry, and guess what? Christ is no longer there! He has died, was buried and rose again. Our church is filled with joy, hope and great rejoicing!!!

We started our way back toward the hotel and snapped up pictures all the way. We thought we would keep an eye out for a little place to eat as we went along. We walked and walked, and by this time, my left little toe was developing a lovely blister. I had brought excellent walking shoes, but had not worn them this night because I didn't realize we would be doing this much walking. (Note to self: always wear walking shoes in Vienna. Just count on the fact that you WILL walk everywhere. I think we did more walking on this trip than I have in my life!) The blister didn't hinder my joy at discovering all of the wonderful sights.

Parliament Building

By the time we reached the main depot (Stottentor), it was very late. Even the shops in the depot were closing up. We purchased some water to wet our parched lips and got on the tram headed toward the hotel. Both of us were tired and hungry. We figured that we would find something to eat near the hotel. What we really wanted was another Kebab, but by the time we got back to the hotel is was even later. We walked around a bit (with my screaming baby toe) and didn't find anything. Remember me saying that we wanted to eat something that we could only get there in Austria? Well, by the time we got back to the hotel, nothing was open...except McDonald's. Yes, you know what I'm going to say. We had to eat at McDonald's. Alas, we had a night out by ourselves and ended up at McDonald's. Isn't that romantic? Isn't that just reeking of culture? We thought of the ribbing we would get from the Sheltons and Hudsons, but we swallowed our pride as we swallowed our sandwiches. When it's almost 10, you're hot and sweaty, you've been hiking hills to visit castle ruins, navigating public transportation in German, and walking a large city on foot, pride isn't really a factor any more.

We got our showers in, fell into bed and went quickly to sleep. It had been an exciting day of seeing this beautiful city! AND...I was excited for tomorrow!!!