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An early morning breakfast we walked through the Stadtpark park and along the canal down the center were ivy-covered walkways. Beautiful park and a nice walk every morning.
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We dined for breakfast at the very popular Restaurant Steirereck which has a great hot chocolate - if in Vienna you must go here and try the hot chocolate. Hot milk is served with chocolate on a stick which you stir until it dissolves in the milk. Wonderful.
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A train ride out to the Schonbrunn Palace where we spent several hours exploring the grounds and touring the palace.

Schonbrunn Palace was the Baroque palace used as the Imperial summer residence with 1,441 rooms.
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Some construction underway in front of the palace - still a nice view.

The Schonbrunn Palace in its present form was built and remodeled in 1740-50s during the reign of empress Maria Theresa who received the estate as a wedding gift.
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The palace gardens are very extensive with beautiful parks and fountains.

One of the fountains with the "Roman Ruins" in the background.
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Very pretty walkways with trees trained to gracefully arch
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Cal and Virginia Ann under the trees.
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Beautiful flowers covered the palace grounds
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Quite a hike up the hill behind the palace but what a great view
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At the top of the 200-foot hill is this 1775 Gloriette. Fischer von Erlach had initially planned to erect the main palace on the top of this hill.

The Gloriette was destroyed in the Second World War, and the structure was restored by 1947.
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Detail of the statues on top of the Gloriette.

Maria Theresa decided Gloriette should be designed to glorify Habsburg power.
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Small garden next to the palace
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Towering obelisks with eagles on top guard the entrance to the palace
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We briefly stopped by the Secession museum. The motto that adorns its facade - "To every time its art. To art its freedom." The Secession is a forum for young experimental art.

A remarkable gold dome on top of the museum. The laurel leaf is the dominant symbol in the building with 3000 gilt leaves and 700 berries on the dome.
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Entrance to the Secession is decorated by the masks of the three Gorgons, which symbolize the arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting.
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Outside the Albertina is a statue of Archduke Albrecht.

Under his command as Field Marshal, the Austrian army defeated the Italians in the Battle of Custozza in 1866. In honour of that victory, in 1899 Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830-1916) erected the monumental equestrian statue of the late Archduke in front of today's Albertina.
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With some time to walk the city The front of the Vienna State Opera house
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Mozart monument with a bed of red flowers in the shape of a clef

An air raid on March 12, 1945 damaged the monument - it was restored on 5 June 1953 in its current location is in the castle gardens.
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Just behind Monzart is the Neue Burg, an incomplete 19th century palace wing.
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The Volksgarten (People's Garden) is a public park. The garden, which is part of the Hofburg Palace, was laid out in 1821. The park was built over the city fortifications that were destroyed by Napoleon in 1809.
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A rose in the Volksgarten in the setting sunlight

The park is famous for its beautiful rose gardens with over 3,000 rose bushes of more than 200 different types of roses.
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The Burgtheater (Imperial) Court Theatre built in 1741.

The theatre is the creation of the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa of Austria who wanted a theatre next to her palace. Her son, Emperor Joseph II, called it the "German National Theatre" and in 1776 three Mozart operas premiered there.
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Detail of the statues over the main entrance to the Burgtheater.
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Statue to Andreas von Liebenberg the Mayor of Vienna, 1680-83. In the second Turkish siege of Vienna, he oversaw the preparations for the defense and the entrenchments and organized militia. He died two days before the victory of the relief army.
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Vienna church - with a beer commercial

The Votive Church is a neo-Gothic church located on the Ringstrase. Following the attempted assassination of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853, the Emperor's brother Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian inaugurated a campaign to create a church to thank God for saving the Emperor's life. Funds for construction were solicited from throughout the Empire. The church was dedicated in 1879 on the silver wedding anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Empress Elisabeth.
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The roof line of the University of Vienna.

The University of Vienna is a public university. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is one of the oldest universities in the German-speaking world.
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The Athena Fountain in front of the Parliament was erected between 1893 and 1902.
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Johann Strauss monument

Located in the Vienna City Park it was in commemoration of the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss.
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In the evening we went to the opera in the Vienna Opera House. Playing this night was Madame Butterfly.

The Vienna State Opera is an opera house - and opera company - with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera. In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian Republic, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera.
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Vienna Opera House from the floor looking up at the box seats
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Towards the end of World War II, on March 12, 1945, the opera was set alight by an American bombardment. The front section, which had been walled off as a precaution, remained intact including the foyer, the main stairways, the vestibule and the tearoom.
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The music score for Madame Butterfly


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