Austrian Sights

[J. A.]

I showed this location in another thread last year, so here' just a short note:

This is Neusiedl am See's landmark - a ruin called Tabor.

It was supposedly built in the 14th century and could have been a watch tower.

Anyway, the view is breathtaking.

Lake Neusiedl

Jois

There's a path, leading from the town's center up to the ruin, sometimes with stairs. So it's possible to walk up there as well.

When I was a child, I used to roam around the area. There were smaller paths around the ruin. I didn't look for them today.

 

[J. A.]

Schloss Rohrau
Castle Rohrau
​

In spite of my intentions, not to leave my district this year, I did so today, to visit three different locations. One of them was Schloss Rohrau.
It's located in Lower Austria, not far away from Burgenland, and belongs to the Harrachs, a former aristocratic family.

The castle, side view

Front view

There's an exhibition in it's rooms - pictures from Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. It's not allowed to take photos of the paintings, but I couldn't resist to take pictures of a few pieces of the furniture.

And here's one of the rooms:

 

[scifan57]

Wonderful views, Johanna! Does the ruin have a roof and floors?

 

[J. A.]

Wonderful views, Johanna! Does the ruin have a roof and floors?

Thank you!
It doesn't have a roof. If you walk inside, you see the sky. There's also not really a floor. There are stairs which lead to the top of the wall - the part with the railing.

 

[J. A.]

My main reason to visit Rohrau today:

Joseph Haydn's birthplace
​

The house where famous composer Haydn was born.

A view from the street

The inner yard
The room where Joseph and Michael Haydn were born:

Of course this is not the original furniture.
Living room:

In 1899, a fire had destroyed almost the entire house. The ceiling of the living room didn't collapse, though.
A pianoforte:

Here's a square piano from 1809:

I was allowed to take pictures, but the use of the flash was not allowed. I used my IXUS to take these pictures, so they might not be as good as usual.

 

[J. A.]

And here's the third location I visited in Lower Austria:

Schloss Hof
Hof palace
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To show it's location:

Google Maps

A plan to show the area:

This castle once was owned by Prince Eugene: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Eugene_of_Savoy, was later purchased by Maria Theresia of Austria, and became part of the imperial estates.

To look at everything that's possible there would take a whole day. I needed two hours, just to walk through the gardens (and take almost 300 pictures ) - and I was walking the whole time.

The castle - two different views

As visible, many people also considered it a very good idea to take a look at the location.

Just a few impressions

There are a few photos that I'd like to show too, but I have to resize them, so I'll post them later.

 

[J. A.]

Here they are:

There was a wedding this afternoon, here comes the bride:

 

[squib]

Thanks for sharing those photos Johanna! What an absolutely gorgeous place! Really really beautiful in every way possible! Diane.

 

[J. A.]

Thanks for sharing those photos Johanna! What an absolutely gorgeous place! Really really beautiful in every way possible! Diane.

Thank you, Diane!

It's a lovely, quiet place, and there are lots of benches, inviting to sit down and enjoy the beauty and silence of the gardens. And it mostly is quiet, although many people visit it.

 

[squib]

It reminds me of the Mission - not far from here! The bells are an exact copy of the ones in London, England! They ring twice a day! It is also a place of serenity and beauty from every angle!

 

[J. A.]

Wonderful views, Johanna! Does the ruin have a roof and floors?

I was there again today, so here's to show what it looks like inside:

It consists of four walls, about 2 m thick, only one "door", something that could be a window, and nothing else.

Here's a different view of the ruin:

And now to the "interior":

The wall to the right of the entrance:

The wall with the entrance:

The wall opposite the door:

And a part of the last wall, with an opening:

The only entrance or way out:

 

[giradman]

Hi Johanna - love all of your Austrian pics, but the Haydn ones piqued my interest. I'm a long time classic music listener & collector - now own over 4000 CDs of classical music (been adding since 1984) - the two MOST represented composers are JS Bach & Joseph Haydn - just looked at my database and have nearly 300 CDs of Papa Joe's music (now there are duplicates, e.g. different performers or more importantly for me, the use of 'period vs. modern' instruments). Thanks for sharing! Dave

 

[J. A.]

Hi Johanna - love all of your Austrian pics, but the Haydn ones piqued my interest. I'm a long time classic music listener & collector - now own over 4000 CDs of classical music (been adding since 1984) - the two MOST represented composers are JS Bach & Joseph Haydn - just looked at my database and have nearly 300 CDs of Papa Joe's music (now there are duplicates, e.g. different performers or more importantly for me, the use of 'period vs. modern' instruments). Thanks for sharing! Dave

Thank you, Dave!
Haydn is one of the Austrian composers which my students get to know, so it was interesting for me as well to see his birthplace.

 

[squib]

Great photos Johanna! A wonderful glimpse into your magic world! Thank you for posting these beautiful photos! And a history lesson on top! An interesting combo! All thumbs up!!!

 

[J. A.]

If you happen to visit Bernstein, you'll also have to stop here to enjoy the view:

That's a resting spot, and here's what the place looks like:

And here's what you can see, from different points of view:

This is a part of Bernstein