Mike Kraus: Donau

Showing posts with label Donau. Show all posts

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Danube Reflection - Český Krumlov, Czech Republic and a Little Bit of Linz, Austria

Vítejte v České republice! Europe may no longer have border checks, but you are required to pull over to a duty free shop and take a shot of Becherovka when entering the Czech Republic. Here's our guide, Michael, passing out our obligatory drink at 9am. The liquor is commonly drank at all time of the day for digestive health, contains a variety of herbs, and is 38% alcohol.

VÍTEJTE do Českého Krumlova! Cesky Krumlov was settled by mostly Germans when building started in 1240. Various monarchs and their nobility owned the town and castle until 1945. Since the fall of the Communist government in 1989, the town has been under restoration.

View of Castle and town

Kostel Sv. Vita (Saint Vitus Church) steeple.

Náměstí Svornosti (Square) - Is that another plague column I see?

Walking down Soukenická Street

The building to the right housing Jakub restaurant was constructed in the 14th century and the exterior was painted by Josef Palouda

"Mirror, mirror tell me who is the most beautiful in the world?" Just a bit of street art.

Strolling down Široká Street

Castle Tower - While parts of the structure were started in the 13th century, it's current state was built in the 1590s to update the castle to a Renaissance style.

Another view of the tower.

Latrán Street

More Latrán Street

Arch over the street for the monarchs. It was a skyway for royalty so they didn't have to mingle with regular people.

Sv. Jošt (St Jobst) Church steeple, which is now the home to the Marionette Museum

Courtyard of the castle.

Another courtyard

There's Dick checking out the souvenir shop.

Castle Theater - We were fortunate enough to view this Baroque theater. Constructed in 1680, it's so delicate that it's only used 3 times a year and only a handful of people are allowed to view it for tours each week. Everything in here is original. They even have the special effects equipment and costumes. Only the candles have been replaced with candlelight simulated electric lights because of fire hazard. This is someone else's photo I found on the internet.

View of Cesky Krumlov on the banks of the Vltava River from the castle.

One last look at a remarkably beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site.

WILLKOMMEN IN LINZ, ÖSTERREICH! This is the Hauptplatz (Main Square) in Linz, Austria. I'm not positive, but I'm guessing that's another "thank you for letting us survive the plague" momument.

Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom (Mariendom Linz, St. Mary's Cathedral, The New Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception) - Construction lasted from 1854 to 1935

Front door of the cathedral

Strolling down Altstadt Street

View of church steeple down Hofgasse Street

Possible Plague Pillar in Hauptplatz with Alter Dom (Old Cathedral) in the background.

Video of the ARS Electronica Center changing colors. Unfortunately, the cruise took off before I could capture the other shapes and designs of the building.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Danube Reflection - Grein, Austria

WELCOME TO GREIN, AUSTRIA! A small village of about 2,900 people on the Danube River. Grein roughly translates into "shriek" or "scream" in old German. The Danube use to be very treacherous here and the city was named after shipwrecked sailors yelling and their widow's cries.

Stadttheater Grein. Notice the three dates on the building. 1468 was the year it was constructed as a granery. 1563 is when it became a rathhaus (city hall). 1791 is when it installed a theater. Emperor Josef II encouraged the construction of theaters so the proceeds could be used to fund poor houses. A cause that was really supported by citizens after a major flood.

Inside Stadttheater Grein, the oldest theater in Austria. Lots of funny and interesting facts about this theater. The first couple of rows had an early form of season ticket holders. To guarantee your seat, you were given a key. When you weren't at the show, you'd fold your seat to the back and lock it so there was no place for a person to sit.

Shows use to be very, very long. So, there's a small bathroom located stage right for the audience. The only barrier was a small curtain. This meant if an exciting, funny, or climatic scene was about to happen you could peek out the curtain and not miss a thing. "It didn't smell nice near the bathroom, so these seats were cheaper..."

This building also had a small jail that was located stage left. To keep the prisoners entertained, they gnawed a hole in the wall so they could watch from their cell. The audience was very kind to the prisoners bringing them food and drinks during the show. A somewhat selfish gesture though because this was to prevent them from yelling and disrupting the show.

I think this is my favorite theater.

Volksbank Niederösterreich Building

St. Giles Church - Saint Giles was a hermit living in the woods of Septimania and Provence. He foraged for food and drank the milk from a deer. Because of this, St. Giles is the patron saint of lactating mothers.

Looking toward the Danube from Böhmergasse

View of the Wachau Valley from the Grein cemetery.

View of the Danube from the grounds of Schloss Greinburg

View of old town with mist rising of the mountains in the background.

DANCE PARTY ON THE CRUISE!

And yes, Marianne is to the far left dancing with her tiny hands... YEAH!!!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Danube Reflection - Vienna, Austria

HELLO EUROPE! Megan and I went took a river cruise that started in Vienna, Austria recently. So, you'll see a few blogs coming up about all the places we saw. Enjoy.

Megan loves duty free shopping at Toronto Pearson International Airport

Look at this enormous Airbus A380. It's so big as a double-decker plane that it needs two sky ramps. Makes me want to fly Emirates Airlines just to see what it's like to ride in one.

This is our home for the next few days at the Grand Hotel Wien

St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom). Construction started in 1137 and completed in 1160. This tower itself took 65 years to build.

This tower was suppose to look like the other tower. But, it was very expensive and Gothic architecture was falling out of favor. So, they just capped it off instead.

Capistran Chancel

Stephansplaz

Capistran Chancel

230,000+ tiles were used on the roof. This portion of the roof was rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire after bombing in World War II.

A view of Stephansplatz city square and the Graben pedestrian only shopping district

St Peter's Church (Peterskirche) was erected to thank god for letting a few people live through the plague. I guess that happens when a third of the population dies (about 76,000 people).

A sunny afternoon of wonderful architecture.

Hofburg Palace at the end of the Kohlmarkt. This is the street you visit to see all the material objects you cannot afford.

Hofburg Palace was home to the Habsburg monarchs, who used it as their winter residence. Today, a portion is used as the residence and executive offices of the Austrian president.

The four sculptures at the base are Hurcules facing his great challenges, which Emperor Franz Josef seemed to have some empathy.

Roman ruins in the center of Michaelerplatz

More Roman ruins

Panorama of Michaelerplatz.

Rotunda of Hofburg Palace

In der Burg of Hofburg Palace.

Sculpture of Habsburg Emperor Franz II

Gateway over former moat to the Swiss Court (Schweizerhof).

The New Palace (Neue Burg) was another residence for the Habsburgs. There was suppose to be a matching structure, but it wasn't build because Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. This started World War I and ended the Habsburg Dynasty.

Today, this palace is a museum full of a wide range of items.

The Austrian Parliament Building on the Ringstrasße (Ring Road).

The Volksgarten in the center of Vienna. This is the rose garden that features over 13,000 varieties of roses.

A random church we came across.

Interior of random church

Backdoor of the Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek).

Bitzinger Wurstelstand. There is always a line a block long to get sausage and beer here. And the rabbit on top is to celebrate Albrecht Dürer's Young Hare watercolor at the Albertina Museum.

The world famous Vienna State Opera House (Wiener Staatsoper). Since 1869, if you played classical music or sang opera here, you knew you made it.

The Albertina Museum with the contemporary "diving board" additions. According to our guide "We Viennese hate it. But, we hate everything new. In 3-400 years, we may start to tolerate it."