Dean Christakos« Good Internet Cafés | Main | Today in Interesting Numbers »
July 10, 2006
Visit in Vienna
So I visited Vienna and stayed for a couple of days. The place is as you think it would be-- lots of beautiful buildings and monumental Hapsburg-era architecture. It strikes me that I am pretty much at the frontier, here. After I leave Austria, I am leaving the EU and heading into eastern Europe. Incidently, Vienna marked the north-western most extent of the Ottoman Empire, which laid siege to the city in 1529 and 1683 but failed to capture it. So here it is... this city was Central Europe's last line of defense from the Ottoman Empire. I was hoping to see any remains of the city walls so I could get an idea of what the limits of the siege were like, but all of the walls have been torn down, and a ringed tram line runs along a street where the walls used to be.
I especially liked the tiled roof on St. Stephen's Cathedral in the center of the City:
Here is a nice picture of the city at night from across the canal:
Sunday being the day of the World Cup championship, the Italian fans were out in force celebrating their victory outside a local Italian establishment which was broadcasting the game on their TV screens in their windows:
Posted by Dean at July 10, 2006 12:07 PM
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Comments
Oh, I love Stephansdom! My hotel was the next block over when I went to Vienna.
Posted by: Marleigh at July 10, 2006 8:46 PM
The failure of the Turks to capture Vienna in the 1500s had much to do with the defenses put up by the city of Kőszeg, a lovely spa town just over the Hungarian border: http://www.koszeg.hu/nyelvek/en/history/
Posted by: Amanda at July 13, 2006 12:02 PM