First Days in Vienna

Hey--I finally put aside some time to set up this blog!

I spent my first few days here in Vienna. Definitely a bit of culture shock...and it took a few days to get used to the 6-hour time difference. It's a beautiful city, but completely different from cities in the U.S. The first thing I learned is that there are no superstores here--no Costcos, Wal-Marts, or even supermarkets. I'm spoiled by going to one store and doing all my shopping. I had to go to different parts of the city just to track down everything I needed here. Everything is in much smaller portions, so I can't do all of my grocery shopping for the entire month. And be sure to bring your own shopping bag--I learned that lesson the hard way.

I'm not big on doing all the tourist traps, but I figured I should check out some of the major spots in Vienna to find my way around the city. The two places I checked out on my first day were St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Belvedere Palace. The Cathedral was built in the 12th century, and there can be no building taller than it inside the city.

The part I was most interested in seeing were the catacombs under the cathedral. Basically it's where they kept the tombs of the cardinals and royalty, as well as people who died from the plague in the 17th century. About 20 rooms underneath the building itself--no pictures allowed though.

I also checked out the Belvedere Palace as well. Basically Vienna has enough palaces that you could visit a different one every day of the week, but I had always wanted to check this place out. The gardens and the architecture were amazing, but I was most interested in seeing the art collection there. The Belvedere has the largest collection of Gustav Klimt paintings in the world...although I believe they lost five of them a couple years ago in a lawsuit over paintings that were stolen by the Nazis. You have to see these paintings in person to appreciate the detail. You could probably spend an hour looking at each one. No pictures there, but I bought some cards that I'll put up tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from the Belvedere:

They had plenty of other great pieces--Monet, Renoir, Degas. There was a special exhibition of Austrian Fantastic Realist painters that was great. I wasn't very familiar with the work beforehand, but the style is similar to surrealism. I'll try to put up some images of the pieces I liked best tomorrow.