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~~~

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

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

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

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. Entry to all of these markets is free.

• Maria-Theresien-Platz : A relatively new market between the two museums and en route to/from the MuseumsQuartier (MQ). It is easy to maneuver than some and the quality of the goods is better than most.

extracted from wikitravel…

merry xmas~~~

the opera house~~~

Museums

Museumsquartier (The Museum District) is the new cultural district of Vienna since 2001. Though a lot of museums and cultural institutions are situated there, it is not only a place for art. It is also an urban living space and people go there to spend some time, sitting in one of the cafés or perhaps playing boccia. The Leopold Museum and the MUMOK are situated there.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Vienna

sadly… i 走马看花～～ no time to go in at all~~~

somehow when u r on holiday… even the road seems especially nice

Vienna (pronounced /viˈɛːna/; German: Wien [ˈviːn]) is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria’s primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area, which means more than 25% of Austria’s population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre.

extracted from wikipedia

we set sail at night from bratislava, and arrived at vienna in the morning… the plus of a cruise holiday…

no need to pack n unpack… time spent sleeping = time spent travelling too…

wake up in time for breakfast then time for sightseeing lo~~~

everywhere else was crowded n full of ppl… so i took this ‘lonesome’ shot~~~

have ppl been stealing these benches that they decided to ‘label’ it?

or is it part of the Fixed Assets labelling for Audit purposes? ;p

presenting to you~~~ TA DAR~~~

Schönbrunn Palace (German: Schloss Schönbrunn [ʃøːnˈbʁʊn]) is a former imperial summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.

the gate…

the view directly outside the palace…

sorry no photos allowed in the palace~~~ so… make a trip there yourself!!!

http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/home.html <– check it out!!!

see see see… xmas market rocks… there’s one outside the palace too~~~

we had time to walk around the old town area… of cos we had to check out the xmas fair~~~

the nice nice xmas tree, n the simple lighting decor~~~

plenty of shops, food n hot wine!! n performances~~~ but dun understand tho~~~

finally… a nice pic of the castle while we cruised to the next destination~~~

next stop~~~ wien!!

vandalism~~~

per karlina the tour guide, american ‘embassy’

that’s what i hoped for when i was in japan…

praying for courage, praying for the right decision…

may u find your direction too~~~

despite moving into the new year… i m still going to blog about my eastern europe trip ahahha

where did we stop? budapest?

so… next up is bratislava~~~

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic and, with a population of about 429,000, also the country’s largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries, and it and Vienna are the two European national capitals closest to one another, at less than 60 kilometres apart.

this is where we docked…

n this is one of the lovely building from where we docked… so real yet so unreal~~~

The cityscape of Bratislava is characterized by medieval towers and grandiose 20th-century buildings, but it has undergone profound changes in a construction boom at the start of the 21st century.

One of the most prominent structures in the city is Bratislava Castle, on a plateau 85 metres (279 ft) above the Danube. The castle hill site has been inhabited since the transition period between the Stone and Bronze ages and has been the acropolis of a Celtic town, part of the Roman Limes Romanus, a huge Slavic fortified settlement, and a political, military and religious centre for Great Moravia.

the view of the old town from the castle

The cityscape of Bratislava is characterized by medieval towers and grandiose 20th-century buildings, but it has undergone profound changes in a construction boom at the start of the 21st century.

Most historical buildings are concentrated in the Old Town.

Michael’s Gate is the only gate that has been preserved from the medieval fortifications, and it ranks among the oldest of the town’s buildings.

Other prominent 20th-century structures include the Nový Most (New Bridge) across the Danube featuring a UFO-like tower restaurant.