Vienna, Austria Part II

I found while in Vienna I was always wearing my hoods, a heavy scarf and mittens. The region felt plunged in winter yet was so gorgeous. We continued to take the trams, subways and buses to our destinations.

The following day we explored the Imperial Palace. The palace is a bit outside the city and was once used as the main hunting palace for the Hapsburgs (the royal family that ruled Austria for over three hundred years) but today is the main palace and open to tourists. I think we were there and on the grounds for over five hours. A large Easter Market was taking place outside the Palace, and it was so, so central/Eastern European. Vendors with crafts and handmade toys came from Austria, Germany, Poland, Italy and Romania and the diversity of available goods and locally made foods was wide.

myself and Lydia.

 

 

After a pretzel lunch (I chose the pizzabretzel…) we walked around the grounds where we found beautiful views of the city.

The palace itself was wonderful. It was enormous and at one time housed roughly fifteen hundred people. I didn’t know too much about the Austrian Royal Family, and was struck again at the realization that the U.K. is one of the last remaining nations to have a sitting monarchy. As much as I may love and respect the Queen, I also fully understand and somewhat agree with those who argue that the U.K. has an unnecessary royal family as official matters of state and governance are dealt with by Parliament.

Austria's monarchy ended around the time of the First World War and all rulers descended from one family. I was surprised to hear France's Marie Antoinette and Mexico's Maximillian descended from the Habsburgs. The lives of many of the rulers were fascinating to me, one emperor reigned for 68 years and worked sixteen-hour days everyday to ensure the best Austria possible, while another's wife gave birth to sixteen children (in the eighteenth century) to provide the strongest ascension. From her eleven daughters, (one of which was Marie Antoinette) only one was allowed to marry for love while the other ten were married to various European monarchs to solidify political ties to Austria. The setting of the palace too, for modern history was fascinating. The enormous 'Great Gallery' which was a large ballroom with crystal mirrors, golden chandeliers, gold-plated and ruby encrusted walls overlooking the expansive gardens and bath house provided the setting for the historic meeting of Kennedy and Khruschev in 1961. Additionally, Mozart's first performance was for the Empress in the Imperial Palace. He was six years old. The paintings too, depicting Royal weddings, court life and celebration were enormous, taking decades to complete, and were showcased around the palace.

I took this photo for my friend Casey. We both loved the song 'Vienna' by Matt Costa. The song begins, 'Vienna can you hear me? Lazing in the afternoon. Cathedral bells are ringing, ringing, ringing...ringing in the sound...'

The Imperial Palace.

That evening, we attended the opera. We had packed simple dresses and appropriate shoes in bags that we brought with us that day as we toured the palace and around 5:30pm, lined up outside the opera house in the center of Vienna for the standing-room only tickets. After about an hour (in which I mostly read my book and moved along with the line) we bought each of our tickets for 3 euros a piece. We found a bathroom where we peeled off our jackets and layers of clothing. We had a bit of difficulty locating our section and were turned away at several coat checks where we tried to deposit our jackets. Later, after climbing six flights of stairs and Lydia and Kristin asking various opera workers, we had located our area. The three euros was a seriously good price, but we were at the back of the back of the back.

We had a bit more difficulty finding standing room, and when Lydia and Kristin found a nice area with scarves tied around the railings, we never thought the scarves might mean a reservation until an aging male usher physically grabbed us, pushed us out and yelled a few phrases in German at us. The area we did soon find though, was sufficient and the Viennese man we stood next to - who was around our age - spoke of working for the operas and taking advantage of the three euro tickets to attend the Viennese opera whenever possible. The opera was Aida and it was sung in Italian. We couldn’t see much of the stage, but the singing was beautiful and so, so impressive. I tired a bit and struggled standing throughout the three and a half hour opera, and found myself doing some serious leaning, but the surrounding and performance was gorgeous and so worth it. Once it ended, we were out on the chilly streets and into the subway station.