Two days in Vienna...not enough! Part 1

So after the opera (see our opera pants post), Siena, Florence and Venice, our friends C and J had to go to Austria where J had a professional event to attend.  We opted to go up as well because we wanted to spend more time together and we really also wanted to see some of Austria.  Might I say the trip was great!  We broke up the trip into two parts -- Vienna & Salzburg.  In Vienna, we first visited Stephansplatz square's church.  This impressive Gothic structure reflects some great contrasts as does the surrounding modern architecture.    

Stephenplatz's spires scream gothic

Stephenplatz's contrast are unique...20th-century tiles contrast with its Gothic spires.

Note the modernistic building the ancient Stephansplatz priest now stares at in wonder.

The Net and Deep Thinker pose in the square by the church

Another amazing site to visit is the Schoenbrunn palace.  There are many options for visiting this place...we opted for a ticket that allowed us entrance to the palace, the glorietta (below), the prince's garden, the labyrinth and an apple strudel demonstration.  The tour of the palace itself was quite interesting.  You're provided a small hand-held device that talks you through each room of the palace in brief two to four minute segments.  There was even one room where Mozart played his first concert for the Queen.  Super cool!  Rosa was even able to use the hand-held tour guide and listen.  She did great!

The Glorietta offers stunning views of Vienna

One side of the Prince's garden walkway.

The net had lots of fun with the distortion mirrors that squash you
or make it look like your legs are seven feet long.

The Net's supported our visit to Schonbrunn...
on a side note, we ran up the hill to see the view from the glorietta which was totally worth the sweat.
We were hurrying to make our apple strudel demonstration.

The Net and Deep Thinker tried to imagine having
a driveway this big in front of the house

Pianogurl enjoyed the labyrinth and the views it offered 

Deep Thinker thought this bird swing was pretty cool too.
You really had to move up and down to get the wings going.

Very near Schonbrunn, is the world's oldest zoo, Tiergarten Schonbrunn.  We saw many beautiful animals but the maze of ant displays was unforgettable.  They had ants in mounds, among trees cutting leaves, carrying leaves back to the mound, and lots more encased in plastic so you could see the whole shabang.  The boys were in awe and the girls despite visual disgust were too.

Rosa liked the ostrich bone structure.

Here are some of the ants doing their work...
there were numerous displays like this one spread through out the aquarium area. 

This Southern Red Bishop was patient and allowed me a few close up shots

This red panda was totally sacked out!!
I need a tree like this one.

I'm pretty sure this Panda is smiling...what do you think?

Here's a quick shot of us on Kohlmarket road which leads up to
another massive museum complex...see next post