Vienna #2

Our 2^nd full day in Vienna we decided to brave the tourist rush at the Schloss Schonbrunn – the summer residences of, who else but the Hapsburgs of Austria. Our usual morning train ran right past it making it perfect to hop off a few stops before the centre of the city.

The Schloss was originally built as a hunting lodge in a heavily wooded area on Vienna’s outskirts. The lodge was given to the future famed Austrian Empress Maria Theresia by her father. Maria Theresia quickly went about expanding and renovating the lodge making it the palace that exists today with extravagant interiors of her favoured rococo style.

SOME garden!

We booked in for a 1:30pm English tour and while we waited we decided to explore the backyard and when I say backyard I mean immaculately sculpted flowerbeds crisply mowed grass and monumental water features and gardens, If this is what Vienna had we couldn’t imagine what Versailles would be like. It even had its own zoo, which just happens to be the world’s oldest Tiergarten , guess that’s the Kaiser’s version of a dog or cat run.

The front driveway

Welcome to my humble abode

Looking out from the back verandah

What a horrible view

Dave at one of the numerous water features

Once it was 1:30 and time to explore the inside of the summer retreat boasting no less than 1441 rooms. We got to see 44 of them each one seeming to try to outdo the last. Of course no pictures were allowed (our English guide from Shetland was very firm on this) so you will just have to use your imagination for the rosewood (from Brasil, now extinct), paneling, elaborate parquet floors, extensive stuccos and portraits and my favourite the several tonne Bohemian chandeliers in EVERY room.

We finished the tour just in time to catch the palace bakery’s Apple strudel making demo. I now have the recipe used by the chefs of the AustroHungarian emperor and empresses and at some stage plan to give it a go (no pressure or anything).

Making strudels

After sending some postcards at the Schloss we returned to the train bound for the city centre once more. We arrived to meet Potter (aka Trav Potter), another uni friend who has been living and teaching in Vienna for the past 3 years.

We headed to the banks of the Anube river for a catch up and some early evening drinks. We were introduced to sturm – the new wine from the seasons grape harvest. It is only available for a month or 2 and is a nice sweet (but highly alcoholic) drink on a late autumn afternoon.

Finally it was time fro us to sample yet another Viennese delight – the Weiner Schnitzel! We went for dinner at a bar called Centimeter where you can buy your beer by the centimeter and the king sized schnitzels come in wheelbarrows. We opted for a tamer version being only 3 of us but it was a great all the same.

After what felt like such a short catchup it was time to head home for a much earlier night than the previous 2am finish.

Thanks to Trav for a great evening!

Vienna

Day 1

This morning it was time to leave the Czech Republic and return to beautiful Austria, one of, if not our favourite countries on the trip.

We had another little surprise from Kemp Nove Spoli in store for us though. The showers were all 1 room, like a footy change room (or concentration camp as Dave originally explained to me – bad taste but true). To top it off there was a paneless window (aka hole in the wall) looking straight in from the street above. We did manage to have a rather quick shower and were ready to hit the road. (For the record yes I did tough it out and go nude – all part of the experience).

The drive south from Cesky to Linz was quite beautiful folling with twists and turns of the Vitava. From Linz it was Autobahn all the way to the Autrian capital Vienna.

We checked in to Camping Wein West a fairly basic and grubby campground filled with the end of summer Contiki tours.

Contiki City! - Yay (she says sarcastically)

Welcome to Vienna

We headed straight into the city centre to start getting the lay of the land. We did this with the help of numbers 1 and 2 trams which together do a circle of the ringstrasse so we could admire the Baroque and Gothic buildings of the museums (ex palace buildings) the Parliament complete with its big breast cancer ribbon and the Rathaus (town hall). We finished the day by visiting a favourite haunt – The Augustiner Keller – cellar of the Viennese Augustine Monastery for “Zwei Mass Birre Bitte” the only German phrase I know and yes it has come in handy (although nearly all Austrians and Germans speak really good English. 

Waiting for the beers Augustiner Keller

Here hey are!

Day 2

Finally the European weather seemed to be favoring us – sunny and warm with not a hint of rain! Time for another washing catchup!

On today’s agenda was a walking tour through district 1 – the centre of Vienna. Our guide took us to the war memorial for the Viennese who died in WWII. Vienna had a 200,000 strong Jewish population pre-WWII, ½ of these managed to escape before being taken to the concentration camps, the remaining ½ mostly perishing. Now days there are only 5000 Jewish people living in Vienna most of whom are not from the old Austrian families but moved to Vienna from Soviet controlled countries in the years that followed.

Sculpture at the Jewish war memorial

More sculpture at the Jewish monument

We also learned that like Berlin much of the old city of Vienna with its magnificent palaces and buildings is a reconstruction, restored as closely as possible after the Allied bombs leveled them.

Next we hit the Burg or main winter Palace/s of the AustroHungarian empire, most belonging to and built by the Hapsburg dynasties. We went inside the Burgkapelle – the marriage chapel of the Hapsburgs with the organ that Beethoven used to play on as well as a beautiful shrine made by Albert after his beloved Christina (together the couple’s name is responsible for he Albertina Palace which houses an art exhibition by Picasso and Monet – who says Brangelina and Tom Cat were the first ones to get combined names, the Austrian’s were doing it centuries ago!) 

Christina's shrine

Beethoven's organ

Albert's really sad shrine to his beloved wife - Christina

Just a little further along was yet another chapel, this one was the home of the famed Vienna Boys Choir, which we unfortunately could not see as tickets were well and truly sold out for their first performance since the July summer break.

 Deeper into the Palace complex we saw more palaces and the Kaiser Apartments as well as the one housing the famous exhibition on Empress Elizabeth (or Sissi as she was nicknamed) who sported an 18inch waistline and hair nearly to the floor which took 2hours ro do every morning and had to be hung across wires in her dressing room to dry after it was washed with egg and conic.

Near the main entrance (and where we would exit) of the Palace was the Spanish Horse-riding School surrounded by at least 10 horse and carriages for tourist rides.

Old Roman ruins outside the palace

The Palace gates

The Kolnmarkt

We left the Palace walking down the Kolnmarkt – the elite shopping street of Vienna with some businesses along the way being the original shops hat supplied the Kaisers and Emperors.

We finished the tour at Stephansplatz outside the Stephansdom (cathedral), another large gothic style cathedral. Inside in the crypt were some of the Hapsburgs internal organs in vessels and jars of preserving fluids, the Hapsburg’s preferred form of burial being mummification. Their hearts were kept at the marriage chapel – the place of love, the bodies are at the Kaisergruft – yet another church.

Stephansdom

Vienna had a range of interesting sounding museums and galleries but being all museum out we ended up with the next best alternative for an afternoon in Vienna –cakes at a Viennese coffee house. This was a much more refined affair that Amsterdam, where coffee house means coffee house. We chose hot chocolates and tortes at the famous café at the Sacher Hotel. They claim to be the ones who invented the Sacher Torte – chocolate cake with a layer of jam under the choloate icing, A chocolate cake war has been raging in Vienna since the Torte’s conception with Sacher beating Damel for the rights to be able to use the name the “Original” Sacher Torte.

so many choices...

but it has to be the sac her torte

We rolled our way back to district 14 where we were staying for a short interlude. Short turned out to be several hours and we ended up cooking dinner in the communal kitchen at 11:30pm. Luckily we were not alone, fellow late diners, a couple from Poland kept us entertained until nearly 2am! I know we have been operating on European hours but this was quite ridiculous.