Advertisement
Published: January 10th 2014
State Opera House
Who wouldn't go to the opera in this magnificent building!Upon our arrival in Vienna, our dock was an old goods freighter – excellent recycling. The skyline of Vienna didn’t resonate with any of my ideas. There is a communications tower (
Danube Tower) and a cluster of smallish high-rises.
Once we drove into the old, central part of town, the great baroque palaces take over the city’s personality. We drove around the
ring-road (“Ringstrasse”), seeing all the establishments fashionable at the time of the
Hapsburg Empire. Then, we walked for a short time, the history drowning us. The highlight was our arrival at the
Spanish Riding School just when some grooms were leading a few
Lipanzzer horses through the courtyard. Got one good photo!
Overwhelmed by too short a time with too many historic sites, when we stopped for free time, we (and many fellow travelers) opted for coffee and cake at the nearby Mozart Café. (Perhaps a chain, because I think I have seen others.) Although warned by our Cruise director, Yvonne, that Viennese waiters were rude, ours was polite and friendly. None of us were hungry, but I insisted on ordering a piece of cake to share, just to taste. Good decision. The plum cake was tender, moist, flavourful and covered
Ringstrasse
A glimpse of the ring road that bounds the imperial city centre. in lightly cooked prune plums.
Back on the bus, we took the “Ringstrasse” back to the boat. The guide did a good job of pointing out different things along the way. However, I was too slow with the cameras to catch the beautiful art deco subway stations.
After lunch and a rest, Ian, Deirdre and I walked across the dock and a major road to the nearby large church. When we opened the large metal handle in the big wooden door, we stepped into a reverential silence punctuated by footsteps and a few whispering voices. I was interested to know if this were completely reconstructed since the war, because as Ian noted, everything fit together: the simplicity of the walls painted a dark cream right up to the barrel vaulted ceiling; the wood structural beams outlining the church’s design; the few almost stark statues; and the many painted panels hung all around the walls depicting the stories of Jesus’ life. (After-note: named
Jubilee Church)
We remembered our guide’s instructions to go up and to the left to find the Sisi Chapel. What a contrast! The whole was covered in gold and jeweled mosaics! The lights shone to make
Sisi Chapel
The guilded Chapel sings of love for Empress Elizabeth. the mosaic angels shimmer – all leading the eye to a great mosaic of
Empress Elizabeth, nicknamed Sisi. A few people were seated and seemed to be worshipping so we were very quiet and moved about only at the back. But perhaps they were early for a celebration, because I went back about ten minutes later (my camera had been set wrong) and more people were gathering in their nice clothes, looking rather festive.
We returned to our ship in the same light rain as when we started.
Dinner was early, so we would be ready for the buses to a special Viennese concert. The sky had cleared off, so the soft evening sun lit the Ringstrasse buildings. At the
Liechtenstein Museum the entire façade was facing the sunset, and some people later told us there was a complete rainbow.
Inside, the décor was white plaster baroque, highlighting some spectacular art and focusing the attention up to the ceiling frescoes. Most spectacular, though, was a full baroque carriage – golden and painted. Made me think of the many novels in which people drove up in their carriages for balls. As we looked around and chatted, we were served champagne
Fairy tale carriage
This is how the princess arrived at Liechtenstein Palace. – a great way to feel the special character of the evening.
Which only got better! At 8:00 they opened the way to the stairs to the second floor, and we were ushered into a beautiful, red and gilt decorated room set up for a small orchestral group (about ten musicians). To our real surprise, we were the only ones to be members of the audience.
The music was delightful and professional – the acoustics were excellent because of the high rounded ceiling. The master of ceremonies was costumed as a sort of Pan character – he was both refined and humorous at the same time. Two dancers from the ballet danced three pieces, including the Blue Danube waltz – a ten minute piece. Two opera singers sang two songs. The music was by Strauss, Beethoven and two brothers of Strauss, local geniuses. By the end I was thrilled to the core by the beauty – and I didn’t sleep well due to being over-stimulated! Fine trade-off!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0497s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Stunning
Beautiful.