Vienna Trip

Day 1: 
Our trip to Vienna started out with a tour of the Vienna City Center. We started our day walking down Vienna's main pedestrian street. It was on this street that we got to see David Chipperfield Architect's department store along with a postmodern building by Hans Hollein. Making our way down the street we stopped at Stephansplatz to see St. Steven's Cathedral, a beautiful Gothic Cathedral. We continued our day by visiting Adolf Loos' house on Michaeler Platz and then on to the Hofburg palace complex where we stopped at the Palmenhaus to get our first taste of Austrian food as well as spend some time in the Schmetterling House (butterfly house). After lunch we spent time in two of the art museums in the city center.  After warming up in the art museums we went to the Danube Canal and saw Jean Nouvel's Design Tower PS1 and the Shipping Pier. We ended our long day with attending a contemporary dance at Vienna's Opera House. Although we had seats with very limited views it was a wonderful evening that ended in the worlds best chocolate cake and wine!

Day 2: 
On our second day in Vienna we had a guided tour of multiple housing complexes throughout Vienna. Aside from seeing all different types of housing complexes we also found various playgrounds in Vienna and had a blast playing on all of them. After a long morning we visited the Sezession building by Joseph Olbrich and got to see the paintings by Gustav Klimt. After, we made our way to St Charles's Church where not only did we get to climb scaffolding to the top of the dome but we also got the rare pleasure of meeting Marina's brother, sister-in-law and two twin nieces. To end our day we made our way over to Otto Wagner's famous Metro Pavilion. 

Day 2 and 3:
On the third day in Vienna we continued to see housing complexes. We started at the Gasometer. Four gas tanks that have been converted into commercial spaces and housing complexes. Each converted gas tank was completed by a different architect. After the Gasometer we went to the Karl-Marx-Hof housing complex and then to see a passive housing complex with a wonderful rooftop view of Vienna. We also got to see the outside of one of Zaha Hadid's housing complexes. After finishing our housing tour we all got the afternoon off to experience Vienna on our own. Some of the group went on to see the Belvedere Museum and other various art museums while others explored the city on foot. On our final day in Vienna we explored Schonbrunn Palace. We took an audio tour of the imperial apartments and then explored the vast gardens. 

Our trip to Vienna, though very tiring, was filled with inspiring architecture, playgrounds and great experiences. Aside from the frigid temperatures and wind, Vienna ended up being, for most of us, our favorite city.  
Posted by Ladas Joanna + Rickert Anna