Long-delayed update! (Part 3)

Well, here we go on our walk through Vienna! We begin (as every good tourist does) at Stephansdom, the garishly Gothic cathedral in the center of Vienna's First District. Its tower is actually the point from which all distances to and from Vienna are measured, so any Google Maps-ing from, say, Prague to Vienna will use this as the reference point. At least, this is what I have been told.

As you can see, they're doing some construction work, so they've cleverly put up a screen to disguise it from the public...I can't tell at all! (Mostly.)

Here's a view of the pedestrian area at Stephansplatz.

Our intrepid crew!

So here we are at the Spanish Riding School - I haven't actually seen any horses inside yet, but I may yet take the time do to so.

Ah, the Hofburg Palace!

It's very much an "I can because I'm emperor" piece of architecture...

Recently excavated ruins in front - you can see the various walls throughout the city's evolution.

The next few images are all from the Hofburg palace - enjoy!

Now we're actually looking out on the Austrian National Library on the southern end of the palace grounds.

This is the Austrian Parliament Building, where we walked afterwards

Apparently punching horses was the cool thing to do.

Here's the crew on the steps of the Parliament Building!

Watching over Vienna

As we continued around the Ringstrasse, Mike found his favorite Dr. Karl.

Here is the Viennese Rathaus, where there is an ongoing film festival in the summer.

Mike, no! The view is behind you! Turn around!!

Well, that was the walking afternoon through the Hofburg quarter. Mike and I then made plans to meet up at the Donaufestival that evening, but those pictures will be for yet another long-delayed update.