A trip to Wien (aka Vienna)

Today we went to downtown Vienna, which is a wonderful, old city filled with history and beauty. We left the Kartause at 7:30 am after the usual breakfast of granola/cereal in yogurt and a buttered zimmel with water. Then after stopping at a rest stop we went to the Kapuzinerkirche for Mass (we celebrated the Mass for Peace and Justice as the March for Life in the US is on Monday.) It was beautiful Franciscan church where the hearts of the Hapsburg family are contained in urns in the crypt.

We then continued to go on a walking tour of Vienna. Our first stop was the Hapsburg Winter Palace grounds where we saw the balcony where Hitler made his speech announcing the unification of Austria and Germany, Pope John Paul II read the Gospel during his visit, and FUS students led praise and worship during a World Youth Day. We also saw the church of the royal family and the church of the royal servants, who had to worship in another place. From there we walked to St. Peter’s Church—another gorgeous church in the baroque style. Julie and I got a picture by the image of the Immaculate Heart. We continued on to what is my favorite church right now: St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Built in the gothic style (which is meant to lead you up to Heaven, as opposed to the baroque which brings the heavenly to you), we just walked in and out, but some of us came back later.

Then we went to eat lunch which was a deliciously filling meal of soup, chicken, potatoes, and a strudel for dessert.

Afterwards, we had free time, so Julie, Claire, Markita, Tim and I adventured out to the city of Wien.

Our first stop: The Imperial Treasury, which could deserve a blog post of its own, but I’ll just include it in this one anyway. If you ever go there, (which I highly recommend) get the Audio Book!! It’s only 4€ and you can share it! There we saw Napoleon’s son’s crib throne (not actually used—it was just a piece of furniture) and many royal robes, crowns, and swords. They also had a unicorn’s horn on display (which was very large). Finally they had a display of religious items (side note: Austria is a CATHOLIC country which is very prevalent in their history, so it is not unusual for them to have a large collection of religious items), which included a relic of the true cross, Veronica’s veil which had the image of Christ’s face, the nail from Jesus’ right hand, two thorns from His Crown of Thorns, and relics from the 12 Apostles, other early saints, St. Francis, and St. Teresa of Avila. This was my favorite part of the excursion. It was worth paying the 3€ more than I would have if I had brought my student ID. (Contrary to what they tell you, you do need your student ID—not for school functions, but to get a student discount.)

Afterwards, we went back to St. Stephen’s Cathedral to spend some quiet time in prayer. Plus, we found the side adoration chapel, which was beautiful (but, no pictures were allowed to be taken). Another side note: They had an image of St. Thérèse of Lisieux in all of the churches we went to today.

Then we had to find a café since I guess Vienna is known for its coffee. But first, Claire decided to go up to a mime-statue person street performer and say hi to him, so he reached out to shake her hand, and she took it. And he pulled her into his act! It was harmless and she just stood there for a minute and we were on our way down a side street to a café. On our way, we saw a sad sight of a crowd of people purposely blocking the road so that the police (who were on their way to stop them I think) couldn’t get through, and they were speaking German, so I wasn’t positive, but it seemed like they were mocking the police—something we don’t have in the States. Well, we finally found a café to go into and shared a coffee and a hot chocolate. And it’s nothing like fast-food at all. Europeans like to take their time—especially for food. But we finally finished, paid and walked back to the bus area to find food, but didn’t find too much (as far as something quick), so I got some potato wedges at a “walk-through” (and the tax is already included in the price!). Then we got on the bus and headed back!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go in the opera house, but the treasury definitely made up for it, and if I get back to Vienna, I will definitely want to go to St. Stephen’s again.

And rumor has it that brunch includes juice, eggs, and ham!! Yay! Warm breakfast!

Pictures to follow soon!