Gatwick, England ~ Vienna, Austria - II

After tea at Cafe Mozart, we went to this part of the Hofburg Palace and bought tickets for the Mozart and Strauss concert for the next night.

See the rectangular block at the background, it's a memorial  ..... The   'Holocaust'   or 'schoa' Hitler's attempt to wipe out European Jewry was a brutal and systematic act that saw some 65,000 Austrian Jews perished in concentration camps throughout Europe.

Austrian Parliament Building.  In front of the Parliament is a very beautiful white fountain.

This statue in gold armour is Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.

Karlskirche  ~ St. Charles Church located at the Karlsplatz  is a Baroque masterpiece with its distinctive green copper dome flanked by two large columns.

Mozarthaus Vienna ~ Visting Mozart at Domgasse 5, the only surviving apartment in Vienna inhabited by Mozart.  He lived there from 1784 to 1787.

Naschmarkt ~  Fleamarket of  Vienna ..... market of food stuff, raw vegetables, souvenirs, cooked food, etc.

At the Fleamarket  ...........  Austria's famous Pork Knuckle ....... real yummy, aromatic and juicy!

This  huge two towered Votive Church ~  Votivkirche  in German can be seen and within walking distance from our hotel.  It was commissioned by the Emperor Franz Joseph 1 on the spot where he survived an assassination attempt by a Hungarian nationalist Lebenyi in 1853.  This magnificient neo-Gothic building was designed by architect Heinrich Ferstel and built from 1854 and 1879.

I really need to introduce this  Hotel Liechtenstein  where we spent 3 nights there.  This family establishment is very centrally located near the heart of Vienna, close to U-Bahn and D-tram stops, but we were able to explore most of Vienna on foot except for Schonbrunn Palace which we had to take the metro subway ... U-Bahn.  Andy Thai, the owner and his father, whom I shall refer to as Uncle Thai were very warm, helpful and pleasant.  The room we had was big and comfortable, and rates were reasonable because of the strategic location.  Their surname, 'Thai'  is actually 'Chai' in Mandarin.

This is the breakfast place where we had our morning breakfast, opens from 8.00 am to 9.30 am and Uncle Thai will be there to lend a helping hand.

Nice continental breakfast.

Oops!  Can you catch a glimpse of Uncle Thai ...... only a small portion of his head is visible, right at the top.

We were so touched by Uncle Thai's kind and sincere generosity.  He bought us mooncakes!!  Gosh, I asked him whether he made them himself, he replied 'No', he bought them ...... imported only from China, and there's no Chinatown in Vienna because of the relatively small Chinese population.

And since today is the Mid-Autumn Mooncake festival, I'm taking this opportunity to wish each and everyone who celebrates this occasion  ........'A Very Happy Mooncake  ~  Lantern festival' and to you as well, the Thai family of  Pension Liechtenstein, Vienna.  Thank you Andy and Uncle Thai and oh, not forgetting Mrs. Andy Thai who helped to make sure that we got onto the taxi to fetch us to take delivery of our  hired car.