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Along
the Ring Road Some 2 centuries ago, Vienna's
enormous city walls & bastions were replaced by the wide & tree-lined
Ring Road around the historical center. Along the Ring Road are the reminders
of former Austro-Hungarian grandezza, including the Hofburg Palace (now
housing the Spanish Riding School, the Vienna Boys' Choir, the National
Library, seven museums, a butterfly house, the president's office, an
OECD dependance & a conference center), the State Opera, the Burg
Theater, the City Hall, the Parliament Building, the newly restored Museums
quarter, the Karls Church (tell them you just want to pray or you'll pay
an entrance fee), the Votiv Church, the stock exchange, four universities
etc.........................
A
tramway loop around the center (lines 1 & 2) is an absolute must for
every visitor.
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U
may click ur way around using the logos.......
Prater
& Danube Island.
The
Prater fun-fair is a Viennese institution. Its landmark is the 65
meter high Giant Ferris Wheel, towering over the 200 booths, the ghostly
trains (as if u needed another one of those), go-cart's, grotto railways
& the merry-go-rounds & rounds. There's a large dogshit park
behind it. 21 km long & up to 250 m wide, the Danube Island is
a heaven for joggers, cyclists & skaters, sunbathers hang out
on Copa Kagrana Beach. Summer evenings are celebrated with steak,
wine & dance till dawn. Annual highlight is the Donauinselfest
(Austria's biggest open air festival) in 2003: June 19-22, with all
kinds of music performed on countless stages. Free entrance. Beyond
the island, a new commercial area booms up around the Vienna International
Center & the United Nations building. Plenty straight lines for
dull architects..............................
Hundertwasserhaus
http:// www.kunsthauswien.com
Despite architects calling it a "painted barn" (maybe
because Friedensreich Hundertwasser - who hated straight lines - wasn't
an architect himself), this social housing project @ Loweng \ Kegelgasse
is Wien's most popular modern sight Please mind that this is NOT
a museum, regurlar people actually LIVE there, so don't throw
peanuts at them (= behave). If you can't get enough of it, Mr. Wasser
has his own museum with a nice cafe & shop on Weißgerber
Lände (just 5 minutes walk away) Open: 10.oo-19.oo & the
shite processing plant at U4/U6 station Spittelau
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