Europe River/Bus trip 2018: Vienna, again.

October 24 we arrived in Vienna and stayed at the Renaissance Imperial Riding school hotel.  We had a nice room and after checking in we walked to the Belvedere Palace to see how close it was and it was very close.  

Belvedere palace front

Belvedere palace view of the city

Oct. 25. Since we had already spend a day and a half here at the beginning of this trip, we slept in and didn't leave the hotel until around 10.  We had two objectives in mind:  the Belvedere palace and a tour of the Opera House.  

The Belvedere palace was only about a 15 minute walk from our hotel.  This palace is one of the best examples of baroque architecture in Europe.  The upper palace is more visited than the lower palace and hosts mainly Austrian artists, namely Gustav Klimt, whose famous painting 'the Kiss' was on display.  

Lower palace- we did not go through.  Egon Schiele works were on display here.

Ellen in front of the beautiful fountain

Standing in front of the entry

It started out a little cold but soon warmed up

The Kiss by Klimt-

And my favorite of Klimt's - Judith

Another great view looking out the windows of the palace.

A bronze 'The Simpleton' by Messerschmidt

Another Van Gogh and Monet

After this museum we walked to the Opera House and took a guided tour.  This concert hall holds 2200 people, has an opera or ballet class every night, and prices range from €3 to over €200 (euros).  There is a different opera every night because the opera singers cannot sing two or three nights in a row.  There are no microphones in the concert hall.

Entry

Kings lounge

Stage hands getting ready for next concert 

While we were there they brought up the orchestra pit.  Some concerts have over 90 musicians. 

When we returned to the hotel this cool band was playing in the bar area.

As a group, we went to a private Viennese concert in a small auditorium.  There were 8 musicians and 2 singers. This was held in the Theater Museum.

We were served a glass of champagne and outside the reception area was this old swing set.

Our friends Negash and Gladys from Perth, Australia 

It may look like a small group but their sound was wonderful. 

This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

The two singers taking a bow.

Tomorrow - Bratislava and then Budapest