Our first morning in Vienna was raining and windy as hell. As miserable weather as you could ask for. Within five minutes of walking my socks were soaked.
We were walking towards the Hofburg Palace, which was the main residence of the Habsburg dynasty. The Habsburgs controlled a vast European empire from the 16th century to World War 1, when they were allied with Germany. (It was actually these guys who set off WW1 through their squabbles with Serbia to the south). Vienna was the capital city of this empire.
The height of the Habsburgs' power was probably on September 12, 1683 when they decisively repelled the attacking Ottoman empire's siege on the city. This defeat sent the Ottomans into a long retreat, leaving the Habsburgs as the dominant power.
That makes September 11, 1683 the last day of the advance of the Muslim empires. If you find that date significant, it's because Osama bin Laden also did.
This is the gateway leading to the main palace buildings. Directly behind us are the big Natural History and Fine Arts museums you saw in the last post, as well as the Museumsquartier. Those buildings were all originally built as an expansion of the gigantic Hofburg palace complex. (The Museumsquartier was built as the palace stables.)
Through the gateway is the most impressive building of the palace. It was built as a library and still continues that function, as well as hosting various small museums.
There were various big statues around and across a large park the towering facade of the Rathaus could be seen. I enjoyed juxtaposing these in photos.
We came in search of a highly-recommended set of museums that included the silver collection, a tour of the Imperial Apartments, and a chronology of the life of one of the Habsburgs' eccentric queens, known as Sisi. (Marie Antoinnette was also originally a Habsburg; I guess their women were all crazy).
It took us a while to find the museums amid the myriad of palace buildings.
We finally found the entrance next to some horsies.
The museums were really interesting and thorough, although the silver collection is pretty ridiculous in its extravagance. Oh, to be royalty...
After that it was off to the city centre. The downtown streets are really nice to walk around and amazingly clean. The bourgeois will be happy here; every time you turn around there's a Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Hermes store with a diamond-encrusted cow in its window.
But there's still Burger King and Mcdonalds.
The city centre pivots around St. Stephens Cathedral, a massive church that dominates Vienna's skyline. (As with pretty much everything in Europe, it's undergoing renovations).
We stepped inside to have a look.
After that we set off for the Riesenrad, one of the oldest ferris wheels in the world. It was built in 1897.
And when we got there a sign informed us that it was closed for renovations.
Sigh...
That night was a special treat: I had gotten us tickets to a Mozart and Strauss concert at Schonbrunn palace. Schonbrunn was the summer palace of the Habsburgs. You didn't expect them to live in one palace all year, did you?!
We decided to go a bit early to see the palace grounds, which were said to be quite nice.
When we got there it was completely dark and a little rainy, and there were gale force winds that probably could have taken you off your feet if you weren't careful.
On the edge of the palace grounds is a huge long building that basically acts as a wall, and after emerging from the subway we could see the entrance gate far away down the street. It took us a long time to walk there, leaning directly into the wind.
When we got to the gate a guard barked at us: "We're closed!" I informed him we were there for the concert. He then informed us that we had to pick up our tickets from the Orangery, the door to which was at the other end of the huge long building...right back where we had started from.
So we made our way down the street in the opposite direction. At least the wind was at our backs. When we picked up our tickets, which included dinner, the lady showed us where the restaurant was: through the big palace entrance where the guard was. So we walked all the way back down the street again, into the wind.
This time there was a different guard at the gate. "We're closed!" he barked. He then pointed out the restaurant when we showed him our tickets.
Here's how Schonbrunn looks in the brochure:
That's from the back. From the front, where we were, it's a big, open paved area. I guess it looks likes this in the daylight:
When we got there, it was completely empty. The buildings around us were barely lit, except for the restaurant at the far end which didn't open for fifteen more minutes.
So we stood around in this barren courtyard, the wind blowing dust and gravel into our eyes. There was almost nobody else in sight. If I didn't know better I'd think we were standing in the warehouse district of East Vancouver. I didn't take any pictures because there was nothing to take a picture of.
Eventually we got in for dinner, which was quite tasty. After that we had to walk to the concert hall, which was in the Orangery, which was...all the way back down the street where we started from.
At least the music was good.
[Next Vienna Post]
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