Welcome One And All!
Welcome To The Magical Mystery Virtual Tour Edition of the 2nd District
By: Irina Bobrik & Marina Oldfin
Leopoldstadt is the name of the 2nd district, which is originally named after the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I. Leopoldstadt is also known as the "island district", for the entire district does not actually border Ringstrasse - it lies on an "island" between the Donau Canal and the Donau River. This district is known for its large Jewish community, therefore this district has yet another name: Mazzeinsel (Matzo Island). There are many kosher restaurants and grocery stores in the district, as well as synagogues. Due to the lower real estate prices, the district attracts many immigrants and students. During the 17th century through 1940's came from the Jewish community in the 2nd district, famous people like Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, and Theodor Herzl. The 2nd district is also home to Vienna's most famous boarding school: the Vienna Boys Choir!
The district land used to be used as the imperial hunting grounds, consisting of woods, meadows, as well as an amusement park. The reformist Emperor Joseph II opened this district to the public in the 18th century. Now the district hold the amusement park, a golf course, 2 horse racing courses ( the Trabrennbahn Krieau and the Galopprennbahn Freudenau). There are also a lot of parks for walking, jogging, and strolling with pets/people!
The site that we chose to give you all a virtual tour on is the lovely Prater Amusement Park!
The Riesenrad at the Prater Amusement Park!
One of the biggest attractions at the park, located at its entrance, is the historical Wiener Riesenrad, built in 1897 by Walter Bassett Bassett. This Riesenrad was built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Josef I. It towers over the park at 64.75m (212ft) tall and weighing over 430 tons! In the year 1916 there was a permit drafted for the demolition of the wheel but due to lack of funding, they ended up letting it stand. Originally, the wheel had 30 gondolas but after WWII and reconstruction, the wheel only has 15 gondolas remaining. This famous Ferris Wheel has been featured in big blockbuster films such as The Third Man(1949), Scorpio(1973), and the James Bond film: The Living Daylights(1987)!
It is only 9 euros to ride the Riesenrad and to enjoy a beautiful view of the city of Vienna! However if you are feeling romantic, you can rent out a gondola for a magical romantic candlelight dinner starting at only 210 euros/hour!!! The Riesenrad features two main Luxuswaggons: the Kaiserwaggon, andloclocated. f you look hard enoughbilaeumswaggon for your dining pleasure! You can choose to eat from a variety of delicacies in your Luxuswaggons, such as Schinkenplatte with Austrian Cheeses, Praline aus Gemuese and Kraetersalat on Zwiebelmarmelade, Rindfleischsuppe, and more!!
A wonderful sign welcoming us to the Prater Amusement Park!!
As we ventured out of the U-bahn station, we were greeted into the park by this lovely sign (as shown above)!
This is EXACTLY where the 2nd District is located in the world!!!
To the right of the entrance of the Prater Amusement Park is the Vienna Zeiss Planetarium! Outside the building was a giant globe, so we decided that this was our chance to really show everyone where exactly this amusement park is located. If you look hard enough you can probably even see the Riesenrad!! It is only 8 euros to get into the planetarium and to view the stars!!!!
The classical colorful carousel!!!!
Throughout the amusement park there are many rides to go on. Above you see a quaint carousel made for little children to ride. They had another carousel in the park for adults and children, however it was run by real horses/ponies!!
The daunting dangerous delightful dinosaurs!!!!!
Here we have a dinosaur themed roller coaster (they made real dinosaur noises too!!!)
The magical dreamy mystical disorienting Magic Dreamland!!!!!! (Fun house)
We found the giant house elves and a mini dementor playing a flute!!!!!!! (Closed when we were there...not exactly sure what kind of ride it is...)
The Praterturm!!!!!!!!
This is the other main attraction here at the Prater Amusement Park: the Praterturm!! It it the tallest swing carousel ride IN THE WORLD!!! It towers over the world at 117m (383ft) and weighs over 200tons! This turm was a recent addition to the park on May 1st, 2010. Irina was brave enough to actually go on this ride!! It offers a glorious view of the city of Vienna as well, and does not go as fast as on might fear!
The mini swing carousel in motion!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for taking this magical mystery virtual tour with us!! We had an amazing experience in our district. Hope you all have a chance to visit the Prater Amusement Park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You did such an intriguing blog! The content is organized and the pictures are well related to the words. The history and origin of the district are clearly indicated, so are the main attractions nowadays.
ReplyDeleteWe have been to the amusement park. It was fun to walk around. Suzanne and I both rode the Praterturm. The city looked so pretty from the view up there. It was not too fast, so we were able to enjoy the time on the ride without being scared to scream.(I was really scared before I took the ride.) I did not know that it was the tallest swing carousel ride in the world before, so we are even prouder of ourselves for not backing up and taking the ride instead. Also, it is so exciting that we will have the chance to have dinner on the ferris wheel. We would watch the movie The Third Man before the dinner. It would be interesting to feel the differences between seeing it in a famous movie and actually eating and enjoying the time on it. By the way, it does not make it less romantic to have the dinner with the whole program and professor Brandl..;)
We truly believe that you had a great time exploring your district, as we can feel your passion and the excitement through your words and pictures. As the district is the biggest one around the city, we hope we will have a chance to explore more of it later together.
Xin and Suzanne