Advertisement
Office building door
Fancy going to work through that every day!Geo: 48.22, 16.37
It was much colder today than it has been, with a brisk wind as well. Our walking tour with Gerhard started in Stephansplatz by the cathedral. Unfortunately, nearly the entire thing is under scaffolding for restoration of the limestone walls, so I couldn't really get a good photo of it. The roof, however, was mostly visible, and it's really lovely. All colored tiles depicting a double-headed eagle, the family symbol of the Habsburgs; it reminds me of the roofs in Beaune.
I can't remember the order in which we saw stuff, but here's what we saw. The plague column was put up by one or other of the Habsburg emperors after he begged God to save the city from the bubonic plague in the late 17th century. The "plague" itself is depicted as a hideously ugly and decrepit woman, and there's also a statue of the emperor himself on the column that shows his distinctive underbite. Due to marriage between first cousins, the Habsburgs were so hopelessly inbred that their jaws were distorted. The joke was that this particular emperor had to hold his hand flat below his nose when it rained so that he wouldn't drown.
We walked by Demel,
Gerhard and the Plague Column
The figure kneeling above and to the right of his head is the emperor with the massive underbite. a famous patisserie. And I just realized that I totally meant to get us back there to have some pastry but I forgot. Dang.
We stopped for a quick coffee/bathroom break, then had a look at the anti-fascism monument. It's not much to look at really. Initially, there was a plan to put up a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, but all the political parties were against it because it would only commemorate the Jews who were killed by the Nazi regime and not any other groups. So this monument against war and fascism was erected instead. Gerhard offered the interesting tidbit that when he was at school (he's around 50), World War II simply wasn't taught. It was simply unthinkable to teach that Austrians collaborated with the Nazis and were partially responsible for what happened. Today, the Holocaust is taught to students, but WWII is still a touchy subject. On the rare occasion that Austria's role in the war
is taught, headmasters end up with angry parents demanding to know why their kids are being taught that their grandparents did these terrible things.
We walked through the Hofburg Palace complex and stopped for a moment to see the Vienna Opera building. The Opera puts on a different show every night, often with world-famous singers, and the set builders work 24/7. We walked by the stables of the Spanish Riding School and caught a glimpse of one of the Lipizzaner stallions being brushed. Well, mostly we saw its rump … from a distance.
And then we ended up at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where Gerhard took us on a whirlwind tour of some of the more famous pieces. We saw Canaletto, Bruegel, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Velazquez and Raphael, including
Madonna of the Meadow (Raphael), Ecce Homo (Titian), David with the Head of Goliath (Caravaggio), and The Tower of Babel (Bruegel). Once the tour was over, John and I found Hans Holbein's portrait of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife. We found the portrait of Anne of Cleves in the Musee d'Orsay in 2008, so I was pleased to find her predecessor today.
We got a couple of ham-and-cheese croissants for lunch, and then we took the U-Bahn to Schoenbrunn Palace on the outskirts of the city. This was intended to be the Habsburgs' hunting lodge, and it's modeled on Versailles. We only planned to see the gardens, not the palace itself. It was raining pretty persistently though, and we nearly did decide to pay to go into the palace. In the end, though, we walked around the gardens and up to the Gloriette, an imposing structure at the end of the gardens that sits on a hill overlooking the whole complex. Then we found the maze and labyrinth, so we spent an hour or so getting lost and playing the games. And then we made our way out and took the U-Bahn back to the plaza near our hotel. We've been resting and packing up a little bit before our final dinner tonight.
LATER: Dinner was a block away at one of the oldest restaurants in Vienna. The building was three or four stories and consisted of a series of dining rooms. We had a room on the third level decorated like a library. We had boiled beef with two sauces: a yogurt-chive sauce, and an apple-horseradish sauce. They were both good, but for me they really couldn't disguise just how bland boiled beef is. Dessert was a sort of layered crepe, and Daniela had ordered bottles of Austrian wine for us.
Afterward, Daniela made a little speech about how wonderful the group has been,
and she gave us all cookie hearts that are traditionally worn during Oktoberfest. Mine says “Suesse” (sweet) and John's says “Schatz” (treasure). And then we all crammed into one end of the room and got the waiter to take our group photo.
The tour officially ends after breakfast tomorrow, but Daniela has a super-early flight to Avignon so we won't see her. We all waited in the hotel lobby to say goodbye. Hugs all 'round! You get so used to these people and then suddenly they're not a part of your life anymore. It's always a bit sad, but I think John and I will both be glad to get home to our own pillows, our shower (water pressure!), and our kitty (even though she's usually a pain in the wotsit).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.22s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0666s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
What wonderful times and memories you've gathered together. I'll be happy to know you're home again! I guess there's no problem with your flight to Seattle.