Vienna: Museums and more!

We liked Hundertwasser's work so much we decided we had to visit his art gallery- KunstHausWien. We had no trouble finding our way there; have to say that public transport in Vienna is superb! The art gallery turned out to be quite interesting, even for one who is hopeless at art appreciation like me, heh. It was modern art though, and not easy to errrm, understand.

Leaving the museum, we moved on to take a closer look at the Rathaus (City Hall), the Burgtheatre and the Parliament. The space in front of the Rathaus was being cleaned up after an event held the previous day (launching the start of the winter season), so there was a huge heap of artificial snow left out in the sun to melt! It was so cool; people were posing for photographs and having snowball fights! :D

The Greek Revival-style Parliament

We walked through the pretty Volksgarten, where all the lovely roses were in bloom. From there it was a short walk to the Hofburg, and then on to Kohlmarkt (where the famous Cafe Demel is), down Graben, and finally ending up at Stephensplatz (where St Stephen's Cathedral stands). Grabbing a quick lunch on Karntner Strasse, we walked back to the Hofburg and finally decided on which museum to visit (there are lots to choose from so it was quite a tough decision!)

Skipping the popular ones like the Kaiserappartements & 'Sissi' Museum (one hears about the beloved Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) EVERYWHERE in Vienna), we opted instead for one museum that had 3 exhibitions in one place- the Ephesus Museum, a Collection of Arms and Armour, and a Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments. It obviously wasn't a popular choice amongst visitors- there were only a few people wandering around, but we really enjoyed ourselves there. We ended up spending the whole afternoon in the museum- checking out the armours (which had sensors that sounded an alarm when hubby got too close), and admiring/laughing at the weird and wonderful musical instruments that people came up with!

Bizarre, no?

We then went in search of the Mozart statue (which we knew was somewhere in the Burggarten), and were pleasantly surprised to stumble upon it right next to the Hofburg! It was a little too early for dinner at that time, so we contemplated hopping on Tram 1 that goes on the Ringstrasse, giving us another view of the sights (yet) again. In the end we decided to wander around a bit (in and out of chocolate shops!) until it was time for an early dinner.

Love the treble clef! :)

Dinner was at this lovely restaurant named Hinterholz, where I ordered a schnitzel; a must-have in Vienna! It was delicious, eaten with a squeeze of lemon and some cranberry sauce.