We are very relaxed here. Perhaps it is because, although there are impressively ornate buildings and monuments, the city is one of wide open boulevards. As such, it lacks the intimacy to tempt us with long strolls after the day’s sightseeing goal, which today was St Stephen’s Carhedral.
St Stephen’s is built on the foundations of a Roman temple. It was partially burned in the final days of WWII but is now restored. It is very light inside adding to the gothic features & soaring feeling. Mozart was married here & two of his children Christened. Only the original glass in the nave remains from the bombings. The side lights are simple panes of colored glass, which probably accounts for the light. Wayne was struck by the egotism of the master builder who had his face sculpted below the callyx.
After, we found ourselves on a very wide pedestrian-only street with plenty of shopping & eating places. There was the best hat shop I’ve ever seen. It was two floors of hats, hats, and more hats of every color and shape you could desire. There is now one less hat in that shop, Oberwalder! We stopped for coffee at the Cafe Hawleka not realizing until later that it has been the gathering place for artists over the last century. The picture below shows where we sat against the center wall. The cafe only serves coffees and a few pastries. There are only male waiters all of whom are attired in black tie, a long way from Starbucks. Before heading back to the hotel, we bought tickets for Ariadne & Aufnaxus, a Ricard Strauss opera, we will see tomorrow night.
Wow, I just caught up on your travels, reading through the blog. It all sounds great, and you two sound like the most relaxed and yet energetic of art tourists. And now you are in German-speaking country. Are you still on schedule more or less and expecting to arrive in Berlin next Wednesday or so? I’m very excited about your coming, will probably be trailing you more than you’d like. Are you off to Prague before you come back this way to Berlin?
