Vienna in the Spring
Exiting the inner courtyard of the Emperor's palace to the west, you are in a large park that is more-or-less enclosed on three sides but open to the north, where you can see the Rathaus over the trees.
On the south is one of the many, many museums in Vienna.
And on the west there is again another arched entranceway leading to the Ring Road. Vienna, like many older European cities is arranged in concentric circles. In Vienna's case there was a fortified wall all the way around the city that was torn down at the height of the Austrian Empire and this land was used to make a ring road and grand buildings circling the city.
Here is one of two more large museum buildings that are just past the ring road. This one is the Natural History Museum and there is an identical building facing it across a large square which houses the Art History Museum.
Moving counterclockwise around the ring road we come to the City Opera on the inner side of the ring.
On the outside of the ring at this point is the Technical University. This is not so grand as the University of Vienna, but I appreciate it as one of the world leading centers for open source statistical software development. The quant students may recognize that this is where much of worldwide R statistical software project is coordinated.
Next to the Technical University is Karl's Church. This has the odd feature of what appear to be two minarets. There is a great deal of Turkish influence in Vienna. Even though the Viennese were blockaded twice by the Turks, the city never fell. Legend has it that when the Turks were routed the second time they left their supplies behind and beat a hasty retreat. Among those supplies were great bags of brown, good smelling roasted beans. The Viennese thought, "Hey, maybe we can grind these up and soak them in hot water and they'll be good to drink." You know, I doubt I ever would have thought of that.
Moving back in to the ring road we see the Russian WWII memorial. This section of town was in the Russian quarter when it was divided after the war.
Continuing counterclockwise around the ring road, we come to the Stadtpark, City Park. In it is a statue to The King. No, not Elvis. The Waltz King, Johann Strauss.
A little further along the ring road is the KonzertHaus which is home to a Music Academy.
We're now heading for the Danube Canal and pass a really ornate clock (yes, that's really a clock) which still has moving figures that come out on the hour. Speaking of the hour, it's about time for me to get back to writing, so we'll leave the next part of the Vienna Walks for another day