I took the train from the airport to the city center, and then a taxi from the station to my hotel. My taxi driver was also very nice, and funny. He helped me with my backpack (which at this point was probably around 20kg, because I combined it with my carry-on backpack which contained 3 books, a magazine and a bottle of water). After lifting my backpack (and almost dropping it) he asked me if all Canadian girls were this strong? Strong enough to carry this huge and heavy backpack throughout Europe!
It was cold and rainy in Vienna, but that didn’t take away from my excitement of seeing my Mom at the hotel! I quickly got changed and we went together to the IPOS opening ceremony.
IPOS stands for International Psycho-Oncology Society, and this is the 11th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology, discussing issues related to the multi-disciplinary perspectives in psycho-oncology. My mom was here in Vienna for the conference. She was presenting 4 posters and was also making an oral presentation.
The ceremony was nice. They had a violin quartet performance.
After the quartet, the Austrian Minister of Health spoke. Unfortunately his speech wasn’t in English…
They also had a few other musical performances before opening the buffet. At this point I had been awake for 28 hours straight and was eating for the first time in many many hours (my last flight only fed me a cookie!). Since I was about to crash, we went back to the hotel early so I could sleep.
We awoke the next day to more rain. My mom went to her conference and I set off to explore the city armed with my map, camera and umbrella. I walked past the University and made my way over to the Stadtpark, which is a large, beautiful, park right downtown. The park has many small walking paths, winding around ponds, trees, sculptures and flowers.
Even though it was severely raining, the park was still beautiful, enjoyable and incredibly peaceful.
After visiting the park I took a walk over to the Hofburg Palace (The Imperial Palace). The area consists of various buildings, built in different periods, as each ruler wished to “leave their mark” on the palace. It started as a small fortress in 1275 and kept growing until 1918, when the Habsburgs fell from power. It was the seat of Austrian power for over 6 centuries.
I walked past the Statue of Joseph II (1806), past the Winter Riding School (where horses are trained and give performances), to the Michaelertor, which is the entrance gate to the vast number of palace buildings. Below is a photo of the entrance:
I then went inside the palace complex, and found the Neue Burg, which is the main Imperial Palace building. As you can see from the photo, the rain had subsided a bit, and umbrellas were more scarce.
From there I went to see the outside of the Museum of the History of Art, and walked around the Museums Quartier, which is a collection of museums, film venues and other cultural centers.
During that time, a very loud protest was taking place in the streets of Vienna. A very kind police man explained the situation to me. The people were protesting the current economic situation in Vienna. They are all former employees of Siemens, who were recently let go. They all congregated around Parliament, and joining hand in hand, they proceeded to form a large circle around the building.
At this point I was very wet from the rain, so I started walking back towards the hotel. I walked down some pedestrian shopping streets leading me in the direction of my hotel. Along the way I stopped at St. Peter’s Church.
This is a photo of the ceiling paintings:
Finally, I visited St. Stephen’s church, which has a glazed tile roof, and has stood here for over 800 years.
After a full day of exploring I made my way back to my hotel to rest before dinner.
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