After reading the reviews for the Hop On Hop Off buses in Vienna, both companies seemed unattractive and unreliable.

So we saved our €50, and headed off on foot.

We walked along the famous Ringstrasse, supposedly one of Europe’s most famous Boulevards, which is just over 5km in length.

We started our loop at the State Opera House: most nights there is a performance here. It holds 2500 people – 2000 seats, plus two hours before every performance, it is possible to line up to get one of the 500 standing places, at a very cheap price €2-5. Very egalitarian I thought, but Mick reckoned it’s extremely classist; the rich get to have the good seats and the poor have to stand.

The Ringstrasse took more than 50 years to build and comprises all types of architecture, of which I am no expert. But the buildings all seemed very big, and their styles complemented each other to my eye at least. It was built to show off the might and glory of the Habsburg Empire. The old city walls and boundaries were replaced with these palaces built mainly by merchants and the rich middle class, who also helped fund the construction of the many impressive public buildings.

We stopped off in the Stadtpark to see the “most popular photographic subject in Vienna”.…

…Johann Strauss II guilded bronze monument.

On a little further we came upon the (former) Imperial & Royal Ministry of War in Vienna.

What a title?

We have found it particularly tricky walking around Vienna as there are many bike paths, like in Munich, but here there are also tram line to contend with. Usually Mick is the one to cross roads without waiting for the green sign, but you absolutely cannot risk that here. So I got a laugh when this happened as it is usually the other way around. Once the green light flashes (2-3 times only) it then turns red.

In 5 kilometres there were loads of buildings of course, but this one was very impressive.

The Burgtheater was the location for the premier of Beethoven’s First Symphony, along with many other important concerts. There are lots of these horse drawn carriages for hire in Vienna. They really look like they belong here.

A little further on we could hear some band music; it was coming from the Volksgarten.

Can you spot Mick?

He found himself a comfy spot and settled in.

The group also sang and I took a very short video so you too could enjoy it.

Hopefully it is not upside down.

We are staying about 100m from (Karlskirche) Charles Church on Karlsplatz.

This morning as we headed out for our walk we noticed people constructing a dome out of pieces of wood. This afternoon we found out why.

This discussion under the dome was about the future of the European Union.

Last piece of Viennese info for today ……

We noticed loads of these on our walk today. Poor Mick actually had a close encounter with one. 🤕

As there are no newsagents open on Sunday (nor supermarkets or shops for that matter); these stations are set up on Saturday usually, to allow people to buy themselves a newspaper. It runs on an honesty system.

We did see one man select a newspaper from one of them, but honestly can’t say if he paid for it.

I read that most Austrians do not pay anyway.

An interesting concept.

It is our last day in Europe tomorrow. We leave Vienna on a very late flight to Bangkok, almost midnight.

So, Mick and I have booked ourselves a full day. More about that next post.