Vienna, Austria
I began my stay in Vienna with a city tour. The tourguide says that although German is spoken in Austria, it’s a slightly different German with a definitely different accent. Such as the difference between British English and American English.
The tour began on Ring Straße [Strasse], with the Kartner Ring and the Opera House. Here, this street replaced the city walls. All the palaces along this strip go back to the second half of the 19th century.
Next I saw the Mozart statue, the Museum of Fine Arts and National History, the 200 year old town gate, and the Hofburg (Hapsburg) Imperial Palace. The palace has 18 wings and 40 courtyards. Each subsequent emporer went ahead and added on another wing or entire building. At one time, the Hapsburgs also ruled Belgium and Hungary.
I also saw the Heldenplatz, or Heroes Square. It’s been 60 years since WWII and the people plant potatoes there in remembrance.
Next I went by the theater, followed by the Kafe Landtmann, which is 150 years old and a favorite of Sigmund Freud, who lived nearby. Then I saw the university, which was founded in 1365. Vienna has over 100,000 university students. Then I saw the Vienna woods. How could I miss it? The Vienna woods is a forest three times the size of Vienna, the city. And in case you’re wondering, Vienna is not exactly on the Danube, but the canal does run through the city.
Then I went by Vienna’s oldest church, which is a thousand years old, and the St Stephen’s cathedral, which is 800 years old, the oldest gothic building in Austria, and the center of the city. There are 300-some churches and most are Roman Catholic. Some 85% of the population is Catholic.
Vienna also has an amusement park on an island between the canal and the Danube. Its giant ferris wheel was built in 1900 by the same person who designed the ones in London and Chicago.
Vienna has famous coffee houses and a funny coffee history. At first, it was unclear whether coffee was dangerous, so only men were allowed to drink it. Once they were certain that no ill effects were to come of it, women were granted permission to drink coffee as well.
I saw the houses of many famous composers that were born elsewhere, but lived here, such as Beethoven and Mozart. The Hapsburgs were patrons of music and made Vienna the city of music with their generosity.
Next I saw the St Charles church, which is the biggest baroque church and is 300 years old. Then I saw the art temple, in an art nouveau style with a large gold leaf dome.
Vienna, as I’m sure you know, is 400 square kilometers, or 150 square miles. There are 800 parks and 1.7 million inhapitants. 2000 years ago, it was a Roman settlement, and before this, Celtic. The Celts named the river, and the Romans named the city after the river. Nowadays, the city has 23 districts.
I also visited the Schonbrunn Palace, which means beautiful fountain. It was built 300 years ago, and was the favorite residence of Maria Teresa and also Franz Josef. Maria got the palace as a wedding gift, and lived there with her 16 children. (16 children in 20 years! Wow. I hope to stop at a nice, round 2.) The palace ceilings were decorated with boroque frescoes, done by Gregorio Guglielini in the 15th century. There is a rococo gallery with two 23 carat gold plated chandeliers. There are also two chinese rooms, which were trendy in the time of baroque palaces. During WWII, a bomb fell into the palace but didn’t explode. It destroyed a fresco, obviously, but the palace itself was otherwise fine. The original fresco was created in 1761 and restored in 1947, and it was easy to see the difference. JFK met with Russian representatives in this room as part of the first steps toward ending the cold war.
Another room in the palace is the carousel room. At the time, carousel was not a ride, but rather a game much resembling a congo line, but using horse and carriages. There is a painting in this room of the carousel line, with a ball being tossed around–but the ball is actually the head of a Turkish soldier. (It’s fun for the whole family.)
Interesting fact: Emporers and their successors wore red-heeled shoes. No one else was allowed to do so.
Charles I was the last Austrian emporer from 1916-1918. The monarchy collapsed after the end of WWII. He abdicated the throne but refused to renounce the title, because God himself had made him Emporer. (The people didn’t buy this claptrap, so they sent him into exile.)
Napoleon married into the Hapsburg family and his son, Napoleon II, died in this palace.
Another interesting fact: Everyone wore wigs at this time, even the kids and babies. Besides keeping the lice away, it was also a symbol of nobility.