Vienna, my Affair with Mozart. Part 2

"The hills are alive with the sound of music

With songs they have sung for a thousand years

The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears"

My favourite musical, with Julie Andrews was based in Austria. Little did I know that Vienna, the only Austrian city I was visiting, had nothing to do with the film, The Sound of Music, but everything to do with the sound of music...

Our adventure to find St Marx Cemetery.
The streets were empty. Vienna was beyond quiet

Many great composers lived, breathed and performed their immortalised masterpieces, such as Mozart, Beethoven and Johann Strauss among others, but I found that I somehow connected with only one of these magnificent men. His name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

My affair with Mozart

I have an affinity for cemeteries and cathedrals. I think it's the silence within them that I find absolute peace. So when I found a tourist map that showed the cemetery of where Mozart was buried, I jumped at the opportunity to find it.

Mozart's grave stands alone in the middle of the park

It's quite far from the city centre but Amanda and I found it with a hop, skip and a jump on a tram; we were not disappointed. St Marx Cemetery was used from 1784 to 1874. Mozart lies within an unmarked grave but years later a gravestone was erected to where he is thought to be buried. The grounds are old and show signs of decay but it was an amazing experience walking through it and looking at some of the beautiful grave sites.

You can see how old this place is

I wonder what the cemetery looks like in spring

My next encounter with Mozart was at the Vienna State Opera. A beautiful building with a long history. I didn't go inside but its architectural structure was obviously impressive, even from the outside.

I like the statue at the top of the opera house

My last affair with him was by pure chance. Our tour guide mentioned that there is a bit of local secret: Vienna boasts of having the last cafe Mozart played in. After our tour, Amanda, Mike and I hunted for the said secret. The Frauenhuber is a beautiful cafe that has kept the interior cosy and quaint from when it first opened. We enjoyed a delicious cup of hot chocolate.

Best cup of hot chocolate ever!

That sums up my whole liaison with a dead guy :) And it was by all means fun and memorable.

Here is Part 1 of my Vienna post

Wien. Historical Gem. Part 1.

After Prague, our third stop in February was Vienna. To be honest, it was never a city I thought of visiting while touring Europe and yet I am so grateful we went there during our eurotrip. It is a beautiful metropolis that has a classic elegance to it that I think other cities don't have.

The buildings are so grand that the city has a romantic feel to it

I fell in love with the history of the city and that's what stole my heart; the people throughout history that made Wien the city it is today. It is so complex with so many important historical figures that it was a little hard to keep up.

Because it was off season, there were no free walking tours in the city, so Amanda and I decided we'd be willing to pay for a guided tour. 12 Euros later, and accomapanied by Mike, a Chinese American businessman and the tourguide, we went galavanting around the city.


The city is situated on the Danube River and dates back as far as Roman times. In the city there are ruins preserved from when the city was still a part of the Roman Empire. It is situated near the Hoher Markt Square. You don't really expect to see the ruins. They were a nice surprise.

The Pestsäule is a statue in one of the main streets of inner city Vienna. It is a tribute to the epidemic of the Black Plague. The emperor promised God he would erect it if the plague ended in the same year it began, 1679. 

Vienna was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was ruled by the Habsburg dynasty. The Augustinian Church, next to the Hofburg palace in Vienna., holds 52 hearts of the imperial Habsburg family. What caught my interest about this little church was the cenotaph (an empty tomb that is meant to honor the person whose remains are elsewhere) of Marie Christine, sister of Marie Antionette.

The lion and angel lie at the entrance of the tomb.

The cenotaph in the St Augustine Church

Marie Christine was the only child of 16 that was allowed to marry for love and not political gain. Maria Theresa, her mother, favoured her above all her other children. Knowing this, Marie Christine would manipulate her parents. She married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxony and they lived their own version of happily ever after. The Albertina building is the combination of their names that is now a museum of art.

Another famous woman of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is Empress Sisi. Beloved by Hungary, and thought a non-conformist in Austria; she became a historical icon. She is most famous for her long locks that took 3 hours to brush each day. She was known to be a little eccentric and yet the more I learnt of her, the more I liked her.





A main attraction of the city is the gothic St Stephen's Cathedral. As a lover of cathedrals, this one did not disappoint. Building started in 1147 and today it is a world famous, cultural heritage site.

The inside of the cathedral was beautiful.

To be continued in Part 2