Sorry I fell down on the job and didn’t update yesterday. I woke up early and it was FREEZING. Around 45 degrees to be exact. (Which, by the way, they all do not understand. Everything here is in Celsius and it makes things difficult. I do not like seeing single digits in September). I checked the weather forecast and it said it would be up to 65 by noon, so I chose to wear some fairly warm clothes but not take my jacket. Big mistake. Big. I was so cold all day long. Luckily, I had already seen most of the sights ‘inside of the ring’ so I didn’t have to cover much ground. I went and saw the Lipizzaner Stallions. I went late and am a student so I got the fee reduced from 12 euros to 3!! Very impressive and it make it worth it. It was just their morning practice, but still really fun to see. They are the all white horses whose bloodlines can be traced back to the original stallions brought from Spain. They are trained to do ‘tricks’ that are actually moves to help them in battle like quick turns, rearing on their hind legs to protect their rider, and kicking.
Then, I met Sarah to try and get tickets to the Opera. She had already been talking to one of the street vendors by the time I got there and he was offering her a special deal. I felt like we were being swindled and said so, but it was a great deal and so we went for it. It was over at the Schonbrunn Palace and would include dancing, opera, and the orchestra. We went that night and got there early so we could see the Palace. The grounds were spectacular. It seriously felt like I was in Pride and Prejudice looking out over my gardens before I went for a ride to town in my buggy :). Haha. It is really cool to see the perfectly manicured bushes and carefully arranged flowers. There were pathways everywhere with tree that lined them and touched overhead. There was a huge pond with another gorgeous building at the end of it and tonnns of beautiful marble statues. Amazing. It was evening and a ton of people were running around the grounds. I think I could convince myself to run more if I had that pretty of a setting to do it in. We eventually made our way to the concert and I’m not going to lie, I was disappointed. It was just in a long room with chairs set up and the small stage toward the front. Only about a 150 ish people were there. I wanted to whole feel of the opera and the old opera house and all of that. But, overall, it was a very nice performance. The orchestra was great and played works from both Mozart and Strauss. It truly is incredible that they wrote those pieces. I can’t imagine having a gift like that.
During the day, I also went to tour the Hofburg Palace. (Partly because I thought it would be cool and partly because I wanted out of the cold). I am so glad I did- it was well worth the time and money. I had wanted to see the treasury, but it was closed so I chose to do the Imperial Apartments. The Hofburg Palace was built in the 16th century I think and has a long history. Random trivia fact: Hitler gave one of his speeches from the from balcony. The Imperial Apartments focused on Emperor Franz Josef and his wife Sisi. First, I toured rooms of the tableware they used during their empire. It sounds dull, I know, but it was really cool. The tour came with an audioguide and my guidebook has great notes so I really learned a lot. There are dining sets of full gold, bronze, and silver, plus painted china. There are specific linens that can only be used for royalty and there is a special way to fold the napkins (the secret of how to fold it is only known by two living people at a time). They had lots of tables laid out like it would have been if they were going to have guests over or if they were just dining alone. I also thought it was neat to see how they transported the settings from place to place. They only had a set at a time, so they literally had to box it alllll up and put it on buggies or boats to take it to the next place the emperor would be eating. Then, I went up to the actual apartments first touring the emperor’s rooms and then Sisi’s. It was very intricate and kind of reminded me of the white house if you’ve ever been. The walls are upholstered in the same fabric as the furniture in each room and everything is very lavishly decorated. The museum really focused on Sisi who was actually a very depressing woman. She grew up in the German countryside and did not like being the Emperor’s wife. She loved him, but did not like being in the public eye at all. She often wrote poetry about how her freedom had been stripped from her. Then, her son committed suicide and she went into a full depression- only wearing black and talking openly about death. She did love to travel though and was very concerned with her health. So, she traveled a lot to escape the public eye and to stay fit. She had ankle length hair and was regarded as a true beauty. She spent 2-3 hours a day getting her hair done and worked out everyday too. She was 5’8” and weighed 99 pounds with a 20 inch waist. RIDICULOUS. They had lots of her clothes and jewels, recipes that she used for beauty products, her workout equipment, a dental kit used on her, etc. Always neat to see. In the end, she was murdered by an anarchist. Her daughter said ‘her one true wish was finally granted’. Sad. The people of Austria didn’t really like her that much because she was never there, but they did love Franz Josef so the media sympathized with him for his loss and she was, in the end, remembered as being a beautiful and beloved empress.
We caught the early train this morning and are about to be at our stop. I’ll post this when I get some internet. Love to you all!!
*mullets are still big here
* weiner schitzel is GOOD
*Austria countryside is gorgeous
*I want to live in a castle
*It should not be 40 degrees in September
*my feet are feeling a little better
*Vienna was expensive
*if you feel like you are being swindled, you probably are- walk. Away.
No comments:
Post a Comment