Falling in love with Vienna

Decided on a little surprise for Nate today.  When we were in Berlin he saw people in a horse drawn carriage and was fascinated with it.  We had originally planned to do a Hop On and Off bus tour today, but last night I had a brainwave and thought we should do Horse and Carriage instead.  They're called Fiaker and quite unique to Vienna.

To do that we needed to go to Stephansplatz which was in old town Vienna - time for a taxi.  Right near where we were dropped was the most amazing Cathedral we've ever seen.  Being Sunday there was a service on, but they allowed tourists to wander inside anyway.  It was simply breathtaking.  We walked in to the choir singing and it was heavenly.  We stopped for a few minutes there and then wandered off to find where to get on the horsey ride.  

St Stephans Cathedral - 1339

Romanesque and Gothic style

Inside the Cathedral

Stephansplatz square

Plague Statue - celebrating the end of the plague

Nate and his mates

We wandered the streets a bit and found another big church.  We poked our heads in there too and again it was amazing.  We decided to light candles for our family not with us anymore and shed a couple of tears.  It was an unexpected moment to treasure.

St Peters Church

Full of light - serene

Inside the dome

We then took off again and I could suddenly smell horse poop so I knew we must have been close.  Turned another corner and there was a magnificent carriage waiting for us. We hadn't told Nate that we were doing this today - he was not really looking forward to the bus so was suddenly super excited.  We got in our carriage and took off for what was a fantastic way to see this beautiful city.  Vienna is by far the most impressive city so far - it has the mix of old and new just right.

Michaelerplatz

Our Fiaker

Emperor Franz

Archduke Charles of Austria

Statue out front of the imperial palace 

Hofburg Palace

Buildings were built to last here

The 40 minute trip flew by and before we knew it we were back on our feet again wandering the streets.  A while back I saw a program a with Anthony Bourdain that went to a cafe called Demel where the original Sacher Torte was born.  I had hoped to see it but had thought it was probably not where we would be.  A couple of minutes later I said to Tony - how bout I buy you a coffee at the next cafe we see, and then before my eyes was Demel.  Its a pastry shop, combined with a Tea House and Museum.  We walked right through it and saw them making the Apple Strudel out back.  I only bought a mini Sacher Tore which was yum, but was very tempted to buy more!

mini Sacher Torte - about the size of a frog cake