Been There, Done That

Showing posts with label movie location. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie location. Show all posts

Monday, December 22, 2014

Chasing the Third Man

After leaving Prater, I took a stroll around the Ringstrasse.  It was pretty cold and windy today.

St. Stephen's Cathedral is the symbol of Vienna. Construction commenced in the 12th century. Today, it is one of the most important Gothic structures in Austria.

St. Stephen's Cathedral is 107.2 meters long and 34.2 meters wide. It has four towers. The tallest of these is the south tower at 136.44 meters. The tower room, from which there is a gigantic view across Vienna, is reached via 343 steps. A total of 13 bells hang here. However, the best-known bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Pummerin, is located in the 68.3 meter-tall north tower. It is the second-biggest free-swinging chimed church bell in Europe. On the roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral, colorful roof tiles were laid to create the Royal and Imperial double-headed eagle and the coat of arms of the city of Vienna. The interior of St. Stephen's Cathedral was changed again and again over the centuries, right through to the Baroque period.




At 4pm, there was a Third Man walking tour lead by a woman that wrote a book about inside information about the film and it's historical significance to Vienna.  There were only about 1/2 dozen people in our group.  It was still windy and cold, and didn't make for a very pleasant walk, but the woman was really knowledgeable and I'm glad I went on it.
This is the Wien River at Sradtpark where some of the sewer scenes were shot.  Orson Welles refused to go in the sewers because he was afraid of rats, so his scenes had to be shot on a sound stage in London.

This is one of the exits used for the sewers.


Akademisches Gymnasium high school in Vienna.  It is the second oldest secondary school in Vienn.  Erwin Schroedinger and Franz Schubert studied here.






The front of Harry Lime's apartment - 2014
The front of Harry Lime's apartment - 1949
This is a Russian stamp from WWII indicating that building was cleared of any unexploded bombs.

The horse stalls from the Spanish Riding School.

Another Christmas Market






The doorway where Harry Lime was hiding. -  2014
The doorway where Harry Lime was hiding. -  1949
Our tour ended at the lovely Schubert Restaurant, where a zither player was waiting for us.  I stayed and had some dinner. It was so cold and windy, I just wanted a break and planned to go straight back to my hotel afterward.  To my surprise, after I left the restaurant, the wind had died down and the temperature had climbed about 10 degrees.  I ended up wandering around town until I killed the batteries in my camera.
Christmas Market at the town hall.


Apple punch.

Live sheepies and piggies and goaties at the Christmas Market at St. Charles Church.  This was it for my camera batteries.  I was dead tired anyway and was going to have to head to the airport at 5am anyway, so it was time to say goodnight.  Gute nacht Wien!

Riesenrad

Today, my last day in Vienna promised to be an action packed Third Man day.  I had planned to go to Prater first thing in the morning to attempt to fulfill the challenge I had accepted from a friend of recreating an iconic movie scene from The Third Man: the Riesenrad scene.

It was cold and windy and the grass was wet.  I had to use my gorilla tripod and timer and essentially do a selfie...but I think it came out pretty good considering the tight parameters I had to work with.

The Third Man -1949
The Third Man -2014
The Third Man -2014 From the other side of the Ferris wheel.
The Riesenrad is 64.7m or 212 feet high.  It was built in 1897 and was the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985.  It was built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Franz Josef I, and was one of the earliest Ferris wheels ever built. 

The famous "cuckoo clock" speech.

Holly and Harry speak of the dots.

Entrance to the small museum and the ride itself.  Notice the pictures from the movie in the corners.
Diorama of the Ferris wheel.
Of course, I had to go up for a ride!
Oooohhhh!!
Aaaahhhh!
The door out....like in the movie.
Will Harry Lime throw Holly out the door?  Oooh the suspense!