Conqueror Vienna Virtual Challenge

[Greenbriar]

Completely off topic, but in honor of our very own art witch, @katharina I decided that my next Conqueror Virtual challenge would take me, virtually speaking, to the city of Vienna.

For those that aren’t familiar, the Conqueror challenges allow you to sign up for a challenge and then log your exercise to that challenge - could be walking, cycling, swimming, yoga, gardening, vacuuming (anything that gets you moving). You can either have your Fitbit or Smartwatch synced to post your steps each day, or you can post manually, which is what I do.

When you sign up for a challenge you get a virtual race bib, and then as your miles are logged, either automatically or manually, you can follow your progress on the virtual map. In many places, you can see yourself on street view too. When you finish the challenge, they mail you a real medal.

I’m in my third year of doing these now and have done 1000+ miles on my exercise bike in 2024 and 2025. Aiming to match or possibly beat that for 2026. For someone that can’t walk a half a mile without my rollator, I think that’s pretty impressive.

Here’s my marker on the virtual start line.

And here’s where I got to after the first two miles.

[Feathertip]

That’s so cool!! Congrats on logging so many miles, too - very impressive.

Vienna always looks so beautiful!

[katharina]

Okay, this is so cool! Thank you @Greenbriar! I do feel very honored, indeed.

@Greenbriar

For someone that can’t walk a half a mile without my rollator, I think that’s pretty impressive.

This is absolutely impressive! Keep going, girl!!

So, your starting point is the “Hermes Villa” (named after the god Hermes/Mercur) which is situated in a quite beautiful park, where deer and even wild boars will roam freely.
The mansion was built 1882 (so fairly young) in resemblance of italian and french Renaissance buildings. It was built for and used by Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) as a retreat. She liked to spend there “a few days” in May or June every year.
After the monarchy endend, because people were fed up with rich people building whole mansions just to spend a week of vacation there (amongst other things), the building went through several purposes connected to WW1 (hospital, orphanage, storage facility…) until it eventually became a museum in the 1970ies and the park open to the public.
Today it is one of Viennas most loved parks for people to make picknicks, do sports and take walks.

Here are some pictures of the inside:

The Empress´s Bed

This painting is called “Oberon and Titania”

all pictures taken from the museums webpage.
This is the statue of Hermes (Mercur) that the mansion was named after. Initially it was named “Villa Waldruh” which means something like Forest Peace Mansion.

The Empress had her own gymnastics room, she was an excellent fencer, did gymnastics on rings and barrens, she was known for eight hour long hikes in a very fast pace and she was an excellent horse rider and would participate in hunts throughout Hungary, England and Ireland.
It is said, the she might have suffered an eating disorder - but who wouldnt. She was married at age 16, her children were taken from her pretty much right after she had given birth to them (which wasn´t unusual for that time) and her husband Kaiser Franz Joseph (who was seven years older than her) was of course busy with important political stuff (how can we invade and plunder even more countries).

So, that´s that. Vienna is of course full of history. Some rather boring, some pretty fascinating like the story of Lady Bathory. But I will tell you about that another time…

Love you all! Happy riding your bicycle around virtual Vienna!

[Amethyst]

Very neat! Congrats on the walking! That’s impressive!

[BryWisteria]

@Greenbriar

then as your miles are logged, either automatically or manually, you can follow your progress on the virtual map.

This is so cool! What a fun way to combine a travel adventure with getting good exercise

@Greenbriar

I’m in my third year of doing these now and have done 1000+ miles on my exercise bike

That’s amazing!!! Look at you go, Greenbriar!

I hope you keep having fun - I’m cheering for you!

@katharina

Here are some pictures of the inside

What a beautiful villa - thank you for sharing the pics, Katharina! It’s lovely to see

[michele12]

That is so wonderful. Love the pictures. Thank you for letting me live through your pictures.

[Feathertip]

Gorgeous pictures - thank you!

And I complete agree with your city’s vision to take that silly mansion and turn it into a museum, so the people who enabled its build can access and enjoy the park, too!

[georgia]

@katharina

1882 (so fairly young)

Oi! In America, we’d call that ancient! Were too new!

Thank you for the history and beauty!

I remember places I visited in France where the locals were angry such places ever existed. Yes, building them broke the people. I celebrate that your cultures survived despite all that. Honor to the survivors!

And now we have a goofball who wants to bring all that back!?! May he learn from their mistakes!

@Greenbriar

Conqueror challenges

This sounds wonderful. How many miles to each challenge? The medals sound like a fun and healthy collectable, though it might take me forever. (How dost one count steps through 5 stores in a day without the technology on the wrist? Does jumping into a high truck count as one step, even though it feels like 20 by the end of the day?)

[katharina]

@Greenbriar how does your challenge go? Did you discover any other points of interest or historical buildings in Vienna?

[Greenbriar]

It’s going well, very interesting. Here is my virtual position at the moment.

So far, I learned about Otto Wagner

My recent route has taken me through a lovely park and past the Schönbrunn Palace, where I snagged some images from Google maps for my digital journal of the challenge.

[c11]

WOW. This is really neat. What a great accomplishment!!

Thanks for sharing!

[Feathertip]

So cool!! You’re working out, traveling and learning all at once. Genius!

[Greenbriar]

Yeah - all from the comfort of my own home, lol

[katharina]

Wow! You´re doing so great!!
Yes, Otto Wagner buildings are still breathtakingly beautiful, especially if you have a thing for Art Deco, like I do.
His most stunning building (in my opinion) is a church he designed. It stands on a hill, surrounded by forest.

There are four angels guarding the entrance! They are stunning!

The inside is absolutely breath-taking!

All pictures were found on public internet-sites, none are my own.

I´m not even christian, never was, but I have to say this building is just so beautiful. And the interesting thing is, that there´s never any tourists because it is way off the city center.

So, yeah…Otto Wagner absolutely knew what he was doing in his architecture and designs.

[michele12]

I would love to figure out how to do this type of thing for myself since it is starting to warm up and finally the snow is melting and I can see the wonder grass and flowers that are trying to turn green and grow

[Greenbriar]

How absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for sharing those photos.

@michele12 the challenges have got me moving the past couple of years. I’m in hot and humid Texas so I do my miles indoors on the exercise bike, but if you are able, it’s a great way to get motivated to walk/bike outside and enjoy nature. Check out the Conqueror Virtual Challenge website for more info.

[Feathertip]

Beautiful pictures - thank you so much for sharing!

@katharina

I´m not even christian, never was, but I have to say this building is just so beautiful.

Same here, but I do enjoy the wonderful architecture and statues of old churches - just for what they are and the craftsmanship involved. I haven’t caught fire yet for entering.

[Greenbriar]

@Feathertip

I do enjoy the wonderful architecture and statues of old churches - just for what they are and the craftsmanship involved. I haven’t caught fire yet for entering.

Same here, and neither have I! Or struck by lightening!

[michele12]

Thank you. I will definitely do that.

[Greenbriar]

I’m continuing with this virtual challenge and it’s been really fun to learn about the city of Vienna, and explore. The route has taken me past the Schönbrunn Palace, the Belvedere Palace, Hundertwasserhaus and Prater Park with the ferris wheel. I’ve explored some places in between, via Google maps and learned lots of Vienna history.

But I have to say - are these people insane???