Day 123 of international places giving smiles – Remembering the classy cultured city of Vienna in Austria
As we entered the city of Vienna, our tour guide Janos made us aware of the 3 waterways of Vienna on the Wien river, the Danube river and the Danube canal. I was surprised to know that the Danube river flows through 10 different countries. He said that Vienna was one of the most elegant and imperial cities of Europe. It is also one of the States of the Federal Republic of Austria, some other states being Carinthia, Tirol, etc.
Most of the sightseeing attractions like the City square, the cathedrals, etc. are located in a compact area -on the semi circular tree lined ring road called the Ringstrasse. We drove past many buildings- my first impression was that every buiding has something unique about it. There were art nouveau impressions on the walls, the roofs are different, the colour used were unusual… there is something really special about this city. In fact we saw one weird building that was extremely colourful and very oddly shaped- I remarked to son Sid that the architects of most buildings in Vienna have given full expression to their creativity.
There are over 100 art museums in Vienna. Obviously we had no time to enter any of them. One building with a golden leaf covered dome caught my attention, it is locally called the ‘golden cabbage’ building. I saw a lot of anti-Bush graffiti written on many walls. Also there were many advertisements for the Euro2008 football tournament to be held later this year. The tram network here is the third largest in the world.
We saw a white board with a blue U sign- this means that a Metro station was around. Emperor Franz Joseph promoted the use of carriages for transport and was initially not comfortable with the idea of people travelling in an underground train. He wanted the construction of the Metro to be tried first in Hungary. Later when the Metro system was introduced in Vienna, most of its trains had to run above the ground! One
Austrian form of greeting that we learnt was called ‘Grusgot’ which roughly translated means ‘with the greetings of God’.
Janos asked us to try out the local non- veg speciality – the Wiener Schnitzel and also sausage wursters sold in small sausage stands. The popular sea food fast food chain is called Norze. There are over 400 coffee shops in Vienna. The Viennese cafes claim to have invented the process of filtering coffee, from the bounty captured after the second Turkish seige in 1683.
Vienna has a long tradition of cakes and deserts. The hot apple strudel is a traditional favourite. (Remember these are a few of my favourite things?). He said that their national cake was the Sacher cake made with dark chocolate and apricot jam. He also told us to look out for the famous bakery chains like Aida, Anker or Dermann and to try out these delicious bakery products!
Most of the people prefer to drink wine in the small Viennese pubs called ‘Heuriger’ which are found in the middle of the wine growing woods. Beer is next in importance and the national beer is called ‘Gosser’ . Barely a handful of people like me will like soft drinks. The national soft drink is a carbonated grape drink called Almdudler.
The importance of art and culture to the people of Vienna is amazing. Everyday there are at least 3 dozen concerts held at different places. The people who attend formal shows like the Opera Ball have to look very posh and proper. These events are held in magnificent theatres. The man who first played on the violin, noted composer Yohan Strautross was from Vienna. He also showed us the street where Sigmond Freud lived.
This evening there was an optional tour to the Kursalon Waltz classical music concert. I did not want to go because I thought that I would not enjoy it as I do not have much knowledge of western classical music. Later my friend Natalia told me it was an elegant evening, I felt that I should have gone with her to get some hi fi society experience of the Viennese people!
Instead we sat at our Cavalier hotel, after dinner we reorganised our suitcases, mobiles, cameras, took a relaxing long hot water shower. After spending every night in a different country it was nice to spend 2 nights at the same hotel. Superb bonding time with family, we decided to give our physical body some rest and actually enjoyed doing nothing that evening!
Wednesday, 9th April 2008 was a complete day to be spent in Vienna. First we went on a long coach drive around the city. We saw many artistic different buildings. We drove along the Ringstrasse, our local tour guide pointed out many grand buildings like the State Opera House, the University buildings, the City hall, etc.
We saw an impressive white church with many spires under renovation, usually they paint a similar shape on the scaffolding, this time there was a huge football advertisement on it…just didn’t match! We saw Greek influence and the statue of Athena in front of the Austrian Parliament. In spite of being such an impressive structure, the architect of the Parliament building had to hear a lot of criticism and ultimately he committed suicide…!
We then went to the other side of the Danube river which has the modern buildings. We saw the amusement park called the Prater, the Danube Tower and the United Nations building. The United Nations affairs are handled at the 3 main centres located at New York, Geneva and at Vienna. The OPEC headquarters are also located at Vienna.
We drove back to the historical part of the city. We passed by Vienna’s famous giant Ferris Wheel(the Riesenrad). We drove by the streets where famous composers like Beethovan and Mozart lived. We looked at the golden statue of Mozart who has a memorial grave at the Hapsburg gardens.
We begin our walking tour at the Maria Teresa square. We looked at the imposing stautue of Queen Maria Teresa with the twin museums on either side- The Natural History Museum and the Kunsthithor museum. Behind that was the museum quarter which has a whole lot of other museums and are part of the Hofsburg palace. Numerous architects worked on the Hofsburg area. The Hofburg Imperial palace once housed the powerful rulers of Austria.
The Hofsburg has been expanded over the centuries to include the various residences, the chappels, museums, imperial library, the treasury, National theatre and the royal stables. With over 2700 rooms it was known as the winter residence, while Schonbrunn palace with over 1300 rooms was the preferred summer residence of the Hapsburgs! It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria.
We stared at the Hofburg palace from the Heldenplatz-the heroes square. In 1938 Hitler announced the annexure of Austria into the third Reich from the balcony of the New Castle overlooking the heroes square. We see the equestrian statues of the 2 most important Austrian field marshalls- Prince Eugene of Savoy and Archduke Charles.
We then walked to the inner castle court and look at the statue of Emperor Joseph II at the centre of the Joseph square. Here we have a local bank building that is absolutely unique in Vienna-it is plain and has simple straight lined doors and windows!
Suddenly, one of our bus team member announced that somebody had stolen his wallet…we all got upset and worried. (later he realised that his wallet had fallen in the coach itself…Thank You God for taking care of all of us).
We then walked on the cobblestoned streets and I wondered at the many stylish looking Viennese ladies who effortlessly seem to glide on the roads with their high heeled, pointed shoes and with so much of elegance. We stroll through the Micheal square, we walk past the St. Peters church and admire the 2 beautifully sculpted fountains called Power at Sea and Power on Land.
Our walking tour endsed at the St. Stevens Cathedral, who is supposed to be the first Christian martyr. As usual the interior of this church was really beautiful. Son Sid paid money to climb up 600 steps to the top of the bell tower, he said he got a breathtaking complete view of Vienna city from up there.
We decided to walk around the place. We strolled on the fashionable shopping area called Karnthner street and reached the state Opera house. I saw people moving around on what seemed like a motorized version of the kiddy scooter on which we used to play on as kids. These are called Segways and I had not yet seen them in India.
We went to the predominantly pink coloured Aida bakery to try out the coffee. We packed some Sacher cake and apple streudals to be had later with son. By now we were getting sick of sweet bakery items and looked out for a decent normal sandwich. We paid 4.20 Euros for a piece of dry bread and 4 pieces of cucumber and zucchini- an expensive closest alternative to the non existent veg sandwich!
We had to pay in Euros to use the public restrooms at the Metro station, we found it odd to pay so much just for a routine job! With a lot of difficulty we managed to get a suitable souvenir of Vienna to add to our showcase collection. We ran back to catch our coach in time for our next sightseeing tour.
Just before we enter the Schonbrunn Palace we made sure that we ate as much of the knick-knacks that we had. After all the bland or sweet food that Europe offers to vegetarians, we really cherished the variety of spicy farsan that we had carried all the way from India!
We entered through the main gate and look at the impressive palace in front of us, wondering how anybody could stay in a place with over 1300 rooms, and that too for part of the year! This palace miraculously survived the bombings of the World wars. Most of the exhibits here are originals, not replicas.
On the right side of the courtyard is access to Kindermuseum- the childrens museum and further to Wagenburg-on the Carraige museum. On the left side of the courtyard is the Strudelshaw bakery and access to Kronprinzengarten-the privy gardens.
We instead walked straight ahead and enter the main Schonbrunn Palace. We followed our local guide wearing our whisper handsets. She need not scream to us over the crowds, we just whispers into her mike and we can hear her on our individual ear phones. Besides we need not even stay next to her, we can admire each place at our own pace.
In the year 1568, the Holy Roman Emperor MaximilanII purchased the Katterburg castle and created the garden arrangement and the zoo. It was later called Schonbrunn (‘beautiful well’) becauseof a water well which was used by the Royal family. Later Emperor Leopold I ordered the middle part to be redesigned. However it was Empress Maria Theresa got the palace reshaped in the style of the Rococo era.
We first enter the guards room. Next we take a tour of the State Rooms where Emperor Franz Joseph met his distinguished guests. We noted that the fire places were usually at the corner of the rooms so that the servants need not disturb the privacy needed by the royalty! We even saw dining room where the centre flooring and table can be descended directly into the kitchen below it! The table napkins were folded in a particular way and I was amazed to know that the napkin was around 6 metres long! The king had a single bed at the corner of his office room and this was where he died in 1918. There were rooms displaying riches from around the world like Japanese room, Indian room etc. The Grand Ball room with its mirrors and chandeliers was awe inspiring. We got an idea about the stylistic era of the Austrian Imperial monarchy.
We next got to see the private apartments of the imperial couple. The tapestry of the rooms were full of intricate embroidery. The furniture was not too impressive. The large paintings on the wall gave some idea of life in that era, especially the one with Maria Theresa seemingly portraying that she was the boss! They had to climb six steps to sleep on their double bed. But what fascinated me were the rooms belonging to Queen Sisi, it was in her time that the concept of an attached western toilet was introduced for the first time in Austria. She had a huge bathroom where she spent one full day getting her long hair washed. She had a seperate dressing room where we saw her collection of exotic combs. Because Janos had told us so much about this Royal couple, we felt as if we were transported to another era!
Next we saw precious 18th century interiors from the time of Maria Teresa. Every royal child had to compulsorily learn some kind of art or craft, we saw exhibits of this in some of these rooms. Before we even realised it, our Grand Tour of 40 rooms was over.
We then went into the Great parterre– this is the sculpted garden space between the palace and the hill that has many equidistant statues of different Gods. On one side was the Irgarten-the Maze and the Wustenhaus- the desert experience house. Further was the Tiergeten zoo. It is said that Maria Theresa would like to have her breakfast here and as she weighed over 100 kgs, she had to be carried on s platform by 4 men inorder to move around the palace!
In the middle of the garden axis lies a high hill. Son Sid went upto the many arched structure on top of the hill called the Gloriette built to commemorate the so-called just wars. The view of the city from there was just superb. We instead chose to enjoy the sun and also some food, as we relaxed on a park bench. This place is the location for many State Agreements as well as for movie shootings.
There is also a Roman connection through marriage. Joseph II, one of the sons of Maria Theresa was married to a Roman princess. There are also some Roman ruins that are integrated into the parkland surroundings but the place is too huge to see in just one afternoon. Later in the evening we passed by the nurseries of the Schonbrunn palace.
As we bid goodbye to the palace, we felt sad for the erstwhile Royal family for relinquishing all this. Now the Austrian government is the owner of the Schonbrunn Palace.
So what place made you smile today?
Be thankful for the places that make you smile!
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