Stephenplatz

Back out in the sunlight and clearing our eyes and lungs of the heavy sights and fecund smells of over 800 years liturgy and burial, we are greeted with the world of commerce. Above, you see some of the many horse drawn carriages that wend they way through the central part of the city carrying tourist among the historic sights.

In the square around the cathedral are people, mostly young men, who try to sell you tickets to touristy things...mostly concerts in various churches. One such ticket hawker is resting for a moment against the church while he checks his phone.

We were graced with some nice fluffy clouds to frame the grand edifice of the cathedral. If you look down at the ground level where several tourists are resting their dogs for a few minutes, you'll see the statue of a hand. Turns out that this is made of copper "pennies" to commemorate some fundraising feat.

Other parts of the cathedral exterior house bits of arts that are much less pedestrial. You will not that this gentleman, whose name I do not know, is holding and hourglass to symbolize the passage of time. Whether this is to represent the past or the future, I do not know.

I can only reckon that there must have been thousands laboring on this construction to complete such a magnificent facade in any finite amount of time.

There is more to this enormous  place that we did not see. We did not visit the towers nor the treasury. Yet, I'm sure that you are quite sated with the extensive set of photos I've brought you. It is time to move on to other venues and explore new things.