Our Days in Vienna Palaces

We continued to have lots of fun together during our last two days in Vienna. On wednesday we made it down to the breakfast buffet at our hotel and then we were off on the trolley to see Schonbrunn-the summer palace of the Habsburg family- who ruled Austria and Hungary and several other territories at different times through the last 600 years- until work war I.  Riding the trolleys was a great way to see the town- above ground-as we journeyed about 5 miles in the suburbs of modern Vienna. It was half raining and half sunny so we needed our umbrellas.  The palace was one of the buildings where they didn't allow photographs, but the rooms were quite spectacular- similar to Versailles- and we did buy a collection of photos on a disk. We enjoyed lunch at one of several cafes on the palace grounds, with some traditional Vienna food including apple struddle. After lunch it was still wet and dreary so we rode the tram around the gardens- which include a zoo and woods and a hedge-maze.

We had an idea that we wanted to buy more gifts for the grandkids; specifically wooden toys (traditional European look) from a toystore that was across from our Hotel.  But our suitcases were full and near the weight limits.  Judy had the good idea of buying an inexpensive carryon bag and using it to hold my backpack along with several toys and our other gifts.  On the trolley line in the morning I had spotted a discount store with some sports bags in the window.  So on the ride back we got off the trolley near where I remembered the store and were able to find a sports bag- just like we imagined.  We arrived back at our hotel at about 4 pm with an hour to shop in the toystore.  What a fun hour we had selecting tops and pull toys (a horse, a sheep, a double-snail, and an alligator), a small music box and koo-koo whistle, a wooden Noah's Ark mobile for Brooke, and a rubber-band powered wooden race car.  By five we were ready to make our purchases and walk across the street with our new treasures.

For dinner we had reservations at a music show in the basement of the town hall- Rathaus.  The string ensemble and piano played Austrian folk music and some singers sang a few light opera pieces, that were probably humorous if you understood German, but were enjoyable for us anyway.  The architecture of the building circa 1890? was very decorative and the basement 'banquet halls" were each decorated differently with painted walls and wine barrel designs.

Thursday morning was our last day for touring Vienna.  We were a little late and missed our Hotel breakfast, so we went acros the street to a French Cafe next the toy store and had a delicious breakfast; fresh squeezed orange juice, omelets, and chocolate croissants. My coffee came in what looked like a soup bowl! We found out from the waitress that the dough is from Paris (frozen) and baked each morning.  So this was our Paris connection in Vienna.

We knew there was a museum of folk art just down the street so we went by and looked in the windows and saw old wooden chests and a reconstructed kitchen from an early Austrian house.  So we went in for a closer look and were again surprised to be surrounded by wooden carved and painted furniture and tools and other artifacts from the rural life of Austria.  The signs were only in German, but we enjoyed looking at the artifacts- quite a collections of chests and cupboards.  Just the sort of things that we like!

    

     

Also in the neighborhood was a catholic church- still functioning with a congregation and school.  And one more stop at an old bakery building that was turned into a restaurant, with the baking ovens and breadmaking utensils decorating the dining rooms.  It looked like a good place for lunch, but we had places to go and things to do... maybe on our next visit.

We took the trolley to the Hofburg Palace to tour the rooms-imperial apartments- and see the kitchen utensils and silver and porcelain plates, bowls, and decorative wares.  This was another chance to see the furniture and beautiful rooms of Maria Teresa and her husband circa 1750 and Emperor Franz Joseph and Elizabeth circa 1850.  They apparently enjoyed new buildings (palaces) and redecorating rooms in existing palaces.  No pictures were allowed of the rooms,but we took a hundred of all the dining room plates and settings.

As we walked through one of the passageways at the Hofburg palace, we saw costumed men selling tickets for a Bach and Mozart and Strauss concert in the evening in one of the palace ballrooms; so we decided that a third night at a concert would be a perfect way to end our days in Vienna.  After the tour of the palace rooms we walked through the downtown shopping pedestrian streets looking for St Stephen's Cathedral, but on the way we saw the Central Cafe- where many of the Vienna authors and artists congregated (maybe they still do).  It still looks like it must have 100 years ago- very decorative- and our table was next to the piano- so we enjoyed beautiful music while we had dinner and very fancy and mouth watering pastry deserts.

This was turning out to be a delightful day, but I had lost track of the river.  We had time before the concert, so we bought tickets for the hop-on-hop-off double deck bus tour around the City and the Ringstrasse.  And sure enough, this narrated (head phone) tour goes along the old river channel- which now looks like a canal and is about 30 feet below the street level- so not quite as acccessible as the Seine in Paris, but I was reassured that Vienna is a river city!

Time to stroll back through the downtown pedestrian street to the concert hall in the Hofburg buildings and up the grand staircase to the ballroom.  It was very decorative with large chandeliers and colorful walls and ceilings.  This was a full orchestra and several opera singers inn beautiful dresses and tuxedos-so it was a very nice setting for our last night in Vienna.  

We rode the trolley one last time past the city lights along Ringstrasse and to our hotel.  We enjoyed our hotel because it was like visiting as the city was 100 years ago-in a time machine.  Here are the stairs around the elevator.

We packed most of our clothes and were ready for an early rise and taxi ride to the Airport, where we had a breakfast before our first flight back to Amsterdam.  This was a little funny, because the flight was an hour and twenty minutes, but we had just spent 12 days cruising from Amsterdam to Vienna.  It was a wonderful and enchanting cruise together and we are very gald we had this chance to see all of the places and the river views along the way.  If you have the time, always choose the river cruise!