St. Stephen's Cathedral is at the heart of the city, and unquestionably its showpiece. Unfortunately, it's so much at the city's heart that it's tough to take a good photo, since it's massive and the city crowds in on all sides, so you can't get a good vantage point. The roof is the most spectacular feature, a multicolored mosaic that you can see above, with the Hapsburg coat of arms shimmering on the other side. At left is the plaza in front of the church, which becomes a war zone at New Year's Eve. The city does a fantastic job on New Year's. All the various squares around the city are converted into different themes, like waltz, hard rock, 50's music etc. and everyone dances the night away in their favorite era. The streets connecting all these are also lined with booths selling liquor and hearty fatty food as well, so the whole city is just one throbbing party. Then it takes a weird turn as everyone assembles in front of St. Stephen's at midnight, and starts throwing firecrackers at each other, rather than the more traditional target, the sky. That goes on for about an hour until everyone either runs out of firecrackers or fingers and eyes, and returns to the theme dancing. Apart from the risk of losing a limb, it was a very fun way to ring in the new year. I should say that nightlife generally is pretty fun in Vienna. There's an area called the Bermuda Triangle that I think is cool to diss, but it's full of bars and funky restaurants that spill out onto the street. We also had a particularly weird night when we hooked up with someone we knew in Bangkok who moved back to Vienna. We ended up at some Mexican restaurant/Rodeo bar outside the city around 4 am, and lost our friend, and I have no idea how we got back to the hotel.
