just thought i could share some general shots so that u can relate to the cruise experience i had~~

part view of the cruise; the view from the cabin~~

the everchanging view from the sundeck or your v own cabin~~

the ‘dunno-what’ road; road signs~~~

a visit to the captain’s room~~ cool!!

totally relaxing~~~

Christmas Markets

Open from Nov 15s or 20s to Dec 23th or 24th, most Viennese Christmas Markets (”Christkindlmarkt”, “Adventmarkt” or simply “Weihnachtsmarkt”) are not so much for shopping as for eating and drinking. From midday until the late hours of the night, people gather at Christmas markets to drink mulled wine, punch, and chat to one another and the occasional stranger.

More of a fairground than a Christmas market, this is Vienna’s largest and busiest incarnation. Located on the large town square, the Wiener Christkindlmarkt is by far the largest and probably best known christmas market in Vienna. Large christmas tree in front of the townhall, skating possibility, adorned trees in the park, often crowded!

[yes, it's not even 6pm]

n the stalls~~~ WOW!!!

i bought none of the above~~~ too fragile n nowhere to display at home~~~

i merely ‘ate n drank’~~~

and the parliament house is almost just next to this xmas market~~

btw one of the famous people from vienna is~~~

Johann Strauss II (October 25, 1825, St. Ulrich – June 3, 1899, Vienna) was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music andoperettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as “The Waltz King”, and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century.

IMHO,  Johann Strauss’s most famous works is The Blue Danube.

A statue of the Waltz King in Stadtpark, Vienna

NEXT STOP –> Melk, Austria

Belvedere in Italian literally means beautiful view.

It is used as a generic architectural term, and has been used to name many things.

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The Belvedere is a baroque palace complex built by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the 3rd district of Vienna, south-east of the city centre. It houses the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum.

美景宫（德语：Schloss Belvedere）是位于奥地利首都维也纳的一个巴洛克建筑风格的宫殿。美景宫曾是哈布斯堡家族成员欧根亲王的宫殿。在欧根亲王去世后，美景宫于1752年被卖给玛丽-泰蕾莎。现在的美景宫是奥地利美景宫美术馆的所在地。

extracted from wikipedia.org

This palace is divided into Upper Belvedere and Lower Belvedere.  I think i was here long long time ago when i was on my 33days graduation tour.

The view of Upper Belvedere from the garden~~~

The view of the garden; n the view of Lower Belvedere from the garden~~~

the most ‘popular’ [molested] statue~~~

i told u… xmas markets were EVERYWHERE~~~ ;p

KunstHausWien (Vienna House of the Arts)

Even an avowed hater of modern art can appreciate the KunstHausWien, Hundertwasser’s (born Friedrich Stowasser in 1928) major contribution to the Viennese art world. In a time when artists often try to shock the public or merely impress other members of the rarefied gallery subculture, Hundertwasser’s manifesto rings out as an utterly reasonable plea: The architecture of KunstHausWien would be a bastion against the dictatorship of the straight line, the ruler and T-square, a bridgehead against the grid system and the chaos of the absurd. Starting with the façade of the building, adapted from its prior life as a furniture factory, there is a Gaudi-in-Barcelona feel to the place. Windows peek out like eyes from curvy, rounded plaster and colorful paint. It’s a Disneyland for grownups! Do not miss the Hundertwasserhaus and the shopping village situated about 300m from KunstHausWien. Very similar to Gaudi.

extracted from wikitravel~~~

as u can see… the architecture is really different…

even the pavement is not even… breaking most if not all the rules that we are so accustomed to…

according to the tour guide, even the floor in some of the apartments are like that!!!

every part seems unique~~~

n if u r curious about the man behind this~~~

we share the same birth date~~~~ only he was born 15/12/1928

just directly opposite the apartments is this ‘village’… ie souvenir shops

and since we cannot go into the apartments…

the next best thing is to go into this building to ‘experience’ the similar design…

this is a souvenir cup n notebook

if u are interested… check out the ‘happening’ toilet too…

btw it’s euro 0.60… automated~~ plse have exact change~~

but i think it’s overrated~~~ hahaha