Monday I drove to the Klagenfurt airport for a flight to Vienna. I stayed the Monday night in Vienna before flying to Mallorca

I checked into my hotel after landing, and then bought a train ticket into the city to look around for the day. It was a Sunday so shops weren’t open other than restaurants, tourist shops, souvenir shops, flower shops, and a few shops in the airport and train stations.

I walked to Stephanplatz first. That’s the center of the old town of Vienna. The walk wasn’t too crowded but when I got to Stephanplatz, it was packed with tourists. I took a picture in front of the Stephansdom, a lovely gothic/romanesque church dating from the 12th century. I have been inside and up the tower of the church before so I just took a peek inside (it was packed) and left the area. I walked towards Prater Park and passed by the church of the Jesuits which was gorgeous inside (the three bottom photos below), and not so crowded.

I continued towards Prater Park, the largest amusement park in Vienna, to ride the Giant Ferris wheel, which I was given to understand would give a good views of the city. The views were decent with the lighting was not very good. I didn’t realize it was in the middle of an amusement park as well as in the middle of the very large Hauptallee-Prater (park). The park itself is really nice, and the area includes many sports venues. There were many families enjoying the day.

After leaving the Prater, I took the subway towards the Opera House. From there I took tram part way around the Ringstrasse (laid out in the 19th century), stopping off at the Stadtpark which is even busier than the Prater, and quite pretty. The statue below is of Johann Strauss. The Stadtpark is the biggest directly in the city and landscaped in the English garden style. I rode the tram a bit further and switched to the 2 tram. Next I stopped at the Rathaus, the Vienna City Hall. A lot of events are held there in the summer and they were clearly just cleaning up after one. The building is quite beautiful and has extensive grounds around it.

I walked from there to the parliament, building, another gorgeous building, and from there walked towards the Hofburg castle. On the way, I saw the History Museum and Museum of Modern Art buildings . Both are ornate and lovely.

The Hofburg Castle is very large, and has beautiful grounds around it right in the middle of the city. It dates to the 14th century. The museums were closed by the time I got there but I had seen some on previous visits. The Spanish Riding school is located on the grounds too, as well as the treasury, library and other institutions. It’s well worth a visit.

By that time the light was fading and so was I so I returned to the airport hotel, and got ready to fly to Mallorca. It was a quick but very nice visit to one of the world’s most beautiful cities.