With parkrun tomorrow, I’d made the decision that I wouldn’t be going for a run today. I suspected that I’d be spending the majority of the day sitting down too, so would be quite a restful day. I’d not slept that well due to the heat, and the noise of the fan - the only thing keeping us close to a bearable temperature. So lacking sleep, it was probably for the best.

The entire reason for this trip was so that Carmen could watch one of her dance teachers, and some of her dancing friends compete. I wasn’t sure if that meant I’d be stuck indoors for the majority of the first two days, or whether we’d get to explore a little too, or whether I’d be exploring some of it on my own. That was something I thought a lot about in the weeks leading up to this trip. What if Carmen didn’t actually want to do any proper sightseeing? I knew we’d run past a few places for our Sunday morning run, but I hoped we could look around some places properly between Sunday and Monday. It was reassuring to find that she did want to sightsee too, but I didn't want to cover too much without her.

Having no interest in watching people dancing, I’d packed my Kindle so I could at least get some reading done. When we left out at 08:40, I remembered to make sure I’d got this with me, and we walked for around thirty minutes towards Sofiensäle. The building whilst impressive, is not entirely the original from 1826 as that burned down over twenty years ago, and was rebuilt about ten years ago to include accommodation and offices. The name refers to Princess Sophie of Bavaria, and was originally a bathhouse, but was later converted into a music hall that was used by Johann Strauss regularly.

The route to the dance hall passed very close to the Kunsthaus and Hundertwasserhaus, so I thought it’d be a good idea to route us past those. We spotted several supermarkets on our way, realising we’d have quite a choice for getting food for the next few days. The area around the train station though was busy and exposed entirely to the sun which was already getting very warm.

Once we’d crossed the Danube Canal it was easy to find the black and white front of the Kunsthaus, and from there to Hundertwasserhaus. The apartment block was designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and is one of the most unusual buildings in Vienna; looking like a patchwork quilt of designs and shapes. The area around it is known as Hundertwasser village and is full of shops aimed at tourists. It may have been short, but it was nice to initially explore some of this city together.

We reached Sofiensäle around 09:20, and for the next four hours I sat occasionally watching, but mostly either reading or playing games on my phone. A couple of people that Carmen knew were competing in the morning, so I tried to pay attention when they competed. To me everyone was just dancing though, I couldn’t tell any difference between the couples. Well, for the most part. There were a couple that didn’t seem quite so good with their floor craft as one managed to dance right into me with enough force I’d be surprised if it hadn’t hurt them. I also saw another person get hit in the back of the head by an elbow as the leader wasn’t paying attention to where they were steering their partner. It seems like a dangerous sport!

I had no idea what was going on really, but this is one of Carmen’s big interests so wanted to be there to keep her company for as long as I could manage. A lot of the music was recognisable, such as Joe Hisaishi’s One Summer’s Day from the animated movie ‘Spirited Away’.

I ate my lunch whilst the morning competitors were presented with medals, and then at 13:30 I left Carmen behind to wander around the city for a while. One of the first places I saw, although closed, had life-sized Warhammer 40,000 pieces in the window. I then found a bridge over the Wiental Kanal as I started to head in the direction of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, thinking I could pass it, and make it to St. Michael’s Church in time for the 14:00 tour.

On my way I passed Mozart’s house, but decided not to look around, and kept on walking swiftly towards Stephansplatz. There were horses lined up in the shadow of the cathedral, thankfully nobody was taking them into the sun on this scorcher of a day, and instead they were being hosed down with water.

The ‘all-inclusive’ ticket for this cathedral is €25.00 and covers entry to the main part of the cathedral itself, the north and south towers, the crypt, the treasury, and the cathedral museum. Once purchased the ticket can be used once anytime within a year. This cathedral also being the symbol of Vienna, I felt it was worthwhile doing since I was there, and perhaps St. Michael’s could be done another day.

The church part of the ticket was not really worthwhile as you can see it all from the fence anyway. I used it though to look around the crypt where photography isn’t allowed. There’s two sections to this: the older section which was refurbished relatively recently, and is directly under the church, and then the newer bit which is under the square, but looks much older as it wasn’t refurbished at the same time.

In the newer section of the crypt there are mass graves which were used for common people for a time, until the smell became too much, and the numbers too great. In some places the bones had been stripped, and stacked against the walls. The ones that hadn’t been in such good condition had been ground down and used to help provide support between them. I think this is the section that is more interesting as the brick work and rough ground gives it more character. It feels like you’re in a crypt, and can see into the mass graves. Excavations elsewhere under the cathedral suggest that the site of this cathedral was once a grave at least as far back as the 4th Century CE.

The exit for the crypt takes you outside of the church as well, so to do the north tower you have to go back round to the front and go back in. This tower is done using an elevator to the top, and is outdoors with railings around it for protection. The views here are pretty good, and worthwhile going up there. You can see the colourful tiles on the roof of the church, and the large bell inside the tower.

The south tower however, which you access from near the rear of the church, requires you to go up many stairs, and at the top is a gift shop with windows you can look out of - it’s nowhere near as good, for far more effort. As I climbed the steps up, I did wonder what it’d have been like to have visited here with Carmen.

Having exerted that much effort, I was now hot and sweaty, so wanted to keep to the shade as much as I could. I did think about visiting the Cathedral museum, or the treasury, but instead I walked to the Wiener Pestsäule (in English: Column of Pest); which was built to commemorate the 9,000 victims of the plague. Not the coronavirus, but one from the 17th century. With the number of tourists trying to get photos with it, I didn’t feel like hanging around until it was clear as I’d be back here later in the week.

I thought maybe the next best place to go was St. Michael’s Church as I felt that was another place that Carmen might not want to visit. When I got there though, I was distracted by the Hofburg, and walked through that instead. It was useful though as it meant I could see where the different parts of it were, and would know where to go when I was back here as Carmen had been recommended the Sissi museum. This is dedicated to Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I - a person I’d seen mention of frequently whilst in Budapest.

Out the other side of the Hofbug is the Volkstheatre, which I passed on my way to the Rathaus. A random stranger commented that it was too bright for taking photographs, and asked which version of the 5D I was shooting with, even though my strap is a non-Canon one they’d identified it - clearly a fellow Canon user. With careful preparation though, it wasn’t really too bright for the majority of the shots I wanted.

Photographing the Rathaus wasn’t so easy. The sun was behind it, and in front of it was a large screen and chairs for a film festival. There were food stalls here too, and I thought I should make a mental note of their existence to tell Carmen in case we wanted to try them one evening. I photographed what I could, and moved on down the road towards the Votive Church. The name of this comes from it being built by the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian to give thanks for Emperor Franz Joseph surviving an assassination attempt.

Outside this Neo-Gothic church is Sigmund Freud Park, which was filled with students from the nearby University. I went inside the church and found it’s interior to be nothing special, but there was some singing taking place at the time. I considered recording some of it, but realised I would likely never watch the recording anyway, so moved on.

Rather than visit Sigmund Freud’s house whilst in the relative area, I decided I should start heading back towards Sofiensäle. I hadn’t got far before I stopped for a pot of white chocolate and berry ice cream. In this heat it wasn’t taking long to melt, but it was nice to have.

I realised I wasn’t far from the Hofburg again, so considered heading over to it to see what more I could find. I found myself crossing a square surrounded by the Minoritenkirche, and a couple of government ministry buildings. I should really have had a proper look inside the church, due to the mosaic they have, but did not.

I carried on past the front of the Hofburg, this time finding it to be far quieter. I realised St. Michael’s Church was outside it, so had a look inside there, but again found it looks better on the outside than the inside so was quick. In my eyes it didn’t matter that I’d missed the guided tour as it didn’t seem worth it.

As the Imperial Crypt was nearby, I decided I’d head there next, and took a shortcut down an alleyway alongside the church, and thought it might be the sort of place Carmen would like to see. Outside the Capuchin Crypt is the 18th Century ‘Thunder Fountain’ which I stopped at briefly, almost tripped over the steps to, and then walked over to the Capuchin church as if the stumble was deliberate. I peered inside the church but decided it wasn’t worth going in, so paid the €8.50 to go around the crypt. There are many metal ornate coffins, but the focal point of all these Hapsburg remains is the large coffin of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, with the tomb of Emperor Joseph II in front of it.

It doesn’t take long to look around the crypt at all, and can be done in less than half an hour. The last tombs are the wooden coffins of the most recent Habsburgs from after the First World War.

I walked to Stadt Park, not intentionally, but as something I happened to pass on my way back to Sofiensäle. When I saw there was a statue in the park it tempted me in, and I sat and waited to get a photo of what turned out to be a tribute to Johan Strauss. At this point, Carmen let me know that the last dances were happening, so I headed straight back from there, to arrive at around 16:40. I’d somehow managed to cover quite a bit in only three hours!

We left at 17:30, and wandered around the Hundertwasser village. I bought a bottle of Coke Zero for €3, realising I was in need of fluids having had very little whilst I’d been out in the sun. Sometimes remembering to stay hydrated inadvertently comes second to tourism.

On our way back to the apartment we stopped by Lidl to get some snacks for tomorrow. Our route took us past the Weiner Schnitzel Kitchen, so we decided we’d get our food from there on the way back. For €17.60 we got two pieces of pork schnitzel each, and a very large amount of fries. It really was a bargain. We could probably have done with some sauces though as the schnitzel by itself was quite dry. This could be specific to where we got it from though, or it being pork, it's entirely possible a different type or going elsewhere may have produced different results.

For the remainder of the day we relaxed at the apartment the best we could.