Friday, March 23, 2012

Vienna (Day Four)

Our last day in Vienna was a short one, and the weather was not great as it had been on Friday and Saturday. We got up really early, ate breakfast and headed to the center along with two other girls from our hostel room. I had a little map I'd copied from the internet, and we followed it to the chapel where the Vienna Boys' Choir sings at mass every Sunday. You can purchase tickets, but there is also standing room at the back of the chapel, and if you show up early and get in line, it's free. When we arrived at 8:30 there was already a long line at the door. We waited for about 45 minutes before the mass started and we were allowed to go inside. Marissa pointed out as we were waiting that almost all of the people waiting were Asian - I looked around and realized she was right. When the mass began, we realized why - that day was the one year anniversary of the earthquakes in Japan, and it was a special mass to remember those who were killed or wounded in the disaster. I'm glad we got to see the Boys' Choir, it was really lovely.


The line






After the service, we took a tram to the Belvedere, a palace/art museum which houses the Habsburgs' personal collection of art work. We had lunch in a little Greek restaurant, then toured the museum. The Belvedere has a large collection of art from various historical periods. I really liked the medieval art in their collection. Also, I got to see Klimt's The Kiss in person, which was very cool - I've used the image in my jewelry several times, so it's awesome to actually see the original. We spent a couple of hours at the Belvedere, then had to head back to the hostel and get our bags. By the time we got on the train headed back to Prague, we were exhausted. We covered a lot of ground in four days. I was proud of us.







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