Coffee, cake, and classical music...

...are the best things in Vienna.  We've been enjoying all three.  This morning we took the metro back to Old Town.  Judy was a good sport and let Helen drag her to the Freud Museum...not the best museum but still a thrill to be standing in the spot where Freud's patients were lying down!

We also went back for a closer look at Town Hall, the Rathaus, an impressive-looking neo-Gothic structure.

We wandered back through Old Town for a little shopping, then home for a rest.  One thing that strikes us as funny is the proliferation of people in period costumes who come sidling up to you:

They are not selling drugs or tickets to strip shows in Vegas, but classical music concerts...hey lady, do you want some Mozart?

Lots of pedestrian shopping areas in Old Town

...and lots and lots of sweets shops

After a rest at "home," we walked a few blocks to the Belvedere Palace (talk about a walkable neighborhood!), where, among other things, there is a permanent collection of Klimt's work (except the "Woman in Gold," which is in New York).  We weren't allowed to take photos, but this was there:

Klimt's The Kiss

The grounds of the Belvedere were beautiful, as was the structure itself, again built for the rich and powerful of Vienna.

 

The piece de resistance for the day was a concert at St. Charles Church, again walking distance from our apartment.  We were treated to a string octet playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons along with a soloist singing arias from Mozart.  The acoustics in this baroque church were incredible and the musicians extremely talented.  Wow...along with the coffee (for Helen) and the cake (for Judy), the music is definitely a highlight here.

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Our last stop before leaving Vienna was the Schonbrunn Palace, the former imperial summer residence.  The palace and grounds have a long history, beginning with construction of the palace in the 1600's.  We weren't allowed to take photos of the inside, but here are a few outside shots and a few sneaked photos.

The grounds and palace rooms were quite sumptuous, reflecting the taste of Marie Theresa, the only female head of the Hapsburg Dynasty.  Franz Josef, the longest reigning emperor of Austria, was born and died in this palace.   

After all the palace tours, we were left wondering what the lives of the average Viennese were like during the reign of the Hapsburgs, and today.  As one blogger writes, "Austria without the Hapsburgs?  Does that even exist?"  Today, Austria is a republic, having done away with their aristocracy, yet it's hard to find any sites to visit other than those related to the royals.  We know there was a large peasant class and periodic uprisings, but we have much more to learn here.

It's been raining the last few days, which we have tried to ignore, but we are looking forward to some sun in our next and last city, Berlin!