Vienna, Austria
48° 12' N 16° 22' E
Mar 28, 2008 16:43
Distance 218km

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Text written in: English

The Austrian Empire

Vienna.  Friday, March 28th to Monday, March 31st.

Left Budapest and got to Vienna early in the afternoon. So neat to be able to go to another country without going through customs or passport control. The idea of the EU has a lot of merit.

Vienna is totally different from Budapest. The city is extremely sophisticated and chic. The touring style here is to look well dressed and to drink coffee in sidewalk cafes. We stayed very near the centre of the old part of the city; you could walk to Saint Stephen's dom, or Church, in a few minutes from the hotel. Doing Vienna means visiting the royal palaces of the Hapsburg's, who ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The empire ran much of central and eastern Europe from the 1700's until 1918, and the end of WWI. After doing that, it is all about Mozart and high culture like opera, concerts and art galleries.

On Friday, we walked around and took a horse carriage ride around part of the old city. The carriage driver looked down his nose when we requested the 20 minute ride (for 40 Euros or $60), rather than the 60 minute ride for 90 Euros. Part of me does not get carriage rides, after 5 minutes you basically have it figured out. None-the-less, glad I did it as it seems to be a required part of doing Vienna. After the ride, we just wandered around in the old part of the city. Very easy to know when you are outside this part ,as there is either the Danube River or tram tracks marking the edges.

On Saturday, we climbed to the top of the tower of Saint Stephen's dom. 343 steps and a superb view from that height. Took the audio guided tour of the Royal, or Hapsburg, palace and the Sisi Museum. The first part was painful, about 15 rooms full of plates and dishes and china and silver flatware, and there was no obvious way to get out quickly. These royals sure have weird obsessions, but so be it. Then you get to see the inside of the palace as it was at the time of Franz Joseph, who ran the Austrian Empire from about 1850 to 1910. He was married to a rather strange lady, Sisi (second cousin), who definitely needed a lot of counselling and never likely got enough of it. Freud was from Vienna - perhaps she was a regular. The story line is similar to the Lady Di mis-adventure. Pretty young girl/lady marries a king and is overwhelmed by the role and expectations that come with the job. Sisi had so many issues from excessive dieting (had a 51 CM waist), to a cocaine drug habit, to doing extremely dangerous sports, to having a death obsession, to having her hair washed which took most of a day. She was murdered at the age of 61 by a demented anarchist. Sad story, but part of the Hapsburg myth and legend. After that, we went to the Albertini Art Gallery. It had an exhibition of 19th and 20th Century paintings, so it was actually interesting. I have seen enough overweight half naked people on horses or goddesses to last a lifetime; at least the more modern painters had more interesting things to paint.

On Sunday, we went to the summer palace just outside of the old part of Vienna. Vienna has such a great metro you can get almost anywhere so easily. Schonbrunn is an extremely large palace, where the public can tour with an audio headphone. You get a good idea of what royal life was like back then. This palace was extensively the home of Maria Theresa, who ruled the empire in the mid 18th Century. This queen, on top of running the empire, had 16 children: wow!! The palace is in the middle of a large garden estate, so a big part of seeing  the summer palace is walking about the gardens and forests. Great way to spend the day.

My children from their mother's side have an Austrian influence. These roots are very impressive. The Austrians are a proud and able nation. As I toured about Vienna, I could see parts of this tradition being a part of them. Vanessa and Zachary, be proud of your Austrian and Dutch and Canadian roots -  makes for a nice combination.

Hopefuly the photos capture the grandeur of Vienna. Nice city to visit for two or three days.

Photos / videos of "The Austrian Empire":

Wind power. There must have been over one hundred fans in this wind farm. Horse and carriage ride. When in Vienna, do as the tourists do. The Viennese opera house. Was fortunate and did not actually go to the opera. There were hucksters everywhere trying to sell you tickets to cultural events. I said I had tickets, which was true, but they were for the tram. Shut them up immediately. One of the countless statues in Vienna. Enjoyed fantasising about setting one up of myself in the middle of the night, just to see how the Viennese would react. This statue was outside the Hapsburg palace. Entrance to the Hapsburg palace. Very spectacular and impressive. Not often you get to go into an almost functioning palace. The front portion of the interior of Saint Stephen's Cathedral in the centre of the old part of Vienna. Interior of the Cathedral. There is impressive and detailed carving throughout almost the entire inside of the church. In that regard, it is different from other cathedrals I have visited, in the extent of the carvings. Exterior of the cathedral. More carvings and mini spires. The roof of the cathedral, as seen from the top of 343 steps. You see this in Eastern and Central Europe, the use of coloured tiles on the roof. Went for a tour of the Hapsburg palace. After you finish seeing all the pots, pans and plates they used, the tour is actually interesting. This is the private quarters of Sisi, the strange wife of Emperor Franz Joseph. Must of the tour focuses on Franz and Sisi, as it makes a good story. A wide angle view of a part of the palace. This is the first part, there are several more wings and buildings other than this. This building is behind the one on the prior page. These Hapsburgs know how to live and make huge houses for themselves. One last photo of the Saint Stephen's Cathedral. The church makes a lasting impression, as it dwarfs everything around it and dominates the centre of the old part of Vienna. The summer palace at Schionbrunn. In the background you can see Vienna, it is only about 4.5 K away from the Hapsburg palace. I am standing at the far end of the gardens at the back of the palace. As it is spring, the flowers are not in bloom in the various gardens. The water fountains were not shooting water yet, but the crowds were also relatively absent. The Schionbrunn palace. It has at least 1,300 rooms. The monument at the top of the hill, where I took the earlier photo. It was a wonderful day to wander around the palace garden, as the weather was so agreeable.
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