Austria and a Side Trip to Slovenia

Continuing with our photo workshop, we've had a busy itinerary. From our hotel in Felsoszolnok, we took a few more day trips to Graz, Austria, and Maribor, Slovenia which was one of the highlights on the trip for me. Graz is the second largest city in Austria after Vienna. A busy university city with many students, buildings and architecture styles in the Old Town are beautiful. We took the funicular (tram) to the top of Graz, Castle Mountain and wandered around the Old Town. Our next day trip was an hour and a half ride over the border to Slovenia. We visited Maribor and enjoyed it immensely. Another university town, the streets are busy and people are friendly. Red tile roofs contrast with the blue of the sky and earth tones of the buildings. Again we visited the old town section, smaller than Graz but beautifully located along the River Drava. We've now been in Vienna for three days, leaving this afternoon. One of the highlights of this city has been the Klimt exhibits. The city is celebrating 150 years of Gustav Klimt's work in several exhibits around the city. I will write about what I've seen in the next blog entry as I am heading out to see one more today.

 Hofsburg Palace gates with fascinating skies.

 Old Town Graz Austria

 Roman ruins sculptured at the Hofsburg Summer Palace

 Just outside of Maribor, Slovenia we stopped to photograph the landscape and wonderful skies.

 St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna

 One of the many beautiful domes in Vienna

 A main street in Vienna

We traveled just outside of the city of Vienna to dine at one of the heurigers, wine gardens where wine from local wineries is served with a variety of buffet style or kitchen cooked Viennese foods. There is live music, background music is not permitted! The balsam branches hanging under the sign means guests are welcome. We had a really fun dinner and I enjoyed the area so much.