One thing we learned from the tour guide yesterday was about the buildings in Vienna. Because of the bombing during the war, 20% of the homes were destroyed and in the 1950s they were rebuilt in a really ugly plain cement functional style. The guide (an art history scholar) called those buildings “scars.” Today I took a few pics of some of the scars. You’ll have a beautiful row of tall stately apartment/homes, then an ugly one where the space was rebuilt. The colors are usually bad and there is no adornment on the façades. Just flat cement. Ugly.
Wikipedia: What happened in Vienna during World War II?
The city of Vienna in Austria was bombed 52 times during World War II, and 37,000 residences of the city were lost, 20% of the city’s housing stock. Only 41 civilian vehicles survived the raids, and more than 3,000 bomb craters were counted.city was bombed.
Compare this to Salzburg: Fifteen air strikes destroyed 46 percent of the city’s buildings, especially those around Salzburg railway station. Although the town’s bridges and the dome of the cathedral were destroyed, much of its Baroque architecture remained intact.
Across from our Marriott Hotel is a park called City Park. It’s a peaceful place with memorials to musicians and famous people who lived in Vienna.
This man is doing what I’d like to be doing 10 years from now.
Strauss is Vienna’s son, the composer of so many Viennese walzes.
There is a small Christmas Market in this City Park. Today they were resting. The bigger markets stay open all weekend.
This is where we stayed this week:
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 