Vienna for a Day

As you probably know, I spent the vast majority of yesterday in Vienna.  It was a big city with a lot of sights to take in.  I guess it is just best for me to show the pictures and try my best to explain them for now.

This was a statue outside of the Kapuzinerkloster where we started the day off with Mass.

I don't remember who this guy was exactly, but I am pretty sure he is the guy who actually shut down the Kartause as a monastery.  

I think this is the inside of the Augustiner Kirche.  Basically it is the church where the hearts of the Hapsburg family members are kept.  A little disturbing, but it is tradition.

This is a carving inside that same church.  

This was the cafe where the book Bambi was written.  I ended up eating dinner there later that evening, it is a classy place.  

This is a carving of St. Michael that resided above the entrance to St. Michael's Church. 

The town hall from some distance.  Unfortunately I didn't get to pay it a real visit.  

This is the Heldenplatz, or "Heroes' Square"

This is a closeup of the balcony in the Heldenplatz.  Hitler and Pope John Paul II both gave speeches from this platform, which I find interesting considering the large differences in character between the two.  On top of that, Franciscan University's very own Father Denny apparently led some sort of praise and worship thing here too...

St. Stephen's Cathedral.  The areas where it is damaged have been covered with scaffolding and painted to demonstrate what the building would look like if it were still intact.  

One of the most talented men I have ever seen.  

The sword of Karl der Große AKA Charlemagne. This picture was taken in the Schatzkammer museum in the Hofburg Palace.  The museum was incredible, and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Vienna, especially if you are interested in seeing historical Catholic objects.  

This is one emerald.  It is about the size of a softball.  

According to tradition and lots of records, this is one of the nails from the cross of Christ.  

This is a portrait of St. Anthony of Padua, it may also contain a relic, but I couldn't figure that out for sure.  

Relics of six of the Twelve Apostles.  

Relics of the other six.  

This is a fragment of Veronica's robe (the one that has the image of Jesus' face on it, because he used it to wipe his face while he was carrying the cross).  You can still see the face, but probably not through the picture, it was very faint even in person.  I believe that there are three more fragments of this robe around here somewhere, I think at least one if not both of them reside in the Vatican.  

The spearhead on the left is a reconstruction of the spear of St. Longinus.  He was the one who stabbed the side of Jesus to make sure that he was dead.  The small cross on the right contains a piece of wood from the cross that Jesus was crucified on.  

This was the most awesome sword that I have ever seen, unfortunately I didn't get enough time to figure out what its significance was.  

The Heldenplatz after dark.  

Town hall after dark.