Museums in Vienna

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Today we stayed in Vienna and went through the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Treasury of the Hofburg. I cannot way enough about this museum as it is just too much for words. During the Hapsburg empire, the were many sub-kingdoms including Slovinia, Hungary, Poland, Chez Republic, and others. Each had royalty which was subservient to the Hapsburg ruler. This museum starts with the vestments and crowns from many of these kingdoms. It include man

y royal garments, including, at the end of the tour, rooms full of vestments from the Order of the Golden Fleece. Some of the relics date back to the 600's AD. In the Ecclesiastical section, I, as a Cristian, was simply overwhelmed by the relics, which included pieces of the cross, parts of the crown of thorns, and a nail used to crucify Jesus. One of the relics is a cloth reportedly used to wipe the face of Jesus as he came from the cross, which has the face of Jesus on the cloth. These have been certified as actual by the catholic church. Whether these were real or not, I cannot say, but just to think they may be real makes me feel weak.

In the evening we attempted to see the Wiener States Opera presentation of Rigoletto by purchasing standing room tickets. Without going into detail, it was just a catastrophe. We did get a selfie in the opera hall and then left.

Tomorrow we head back into Germany to Nuremberg.

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