Monthly Archives: August 2012

It was 99 degrees and humid the day we went to the Schonbrunn Palace! This was the summer palace of Empress Maria Theresa and all those that followed her. The inspiration for this palace was the magnificent Versailles in France, but in MHO as beautiful as Schonbrunn is….nothing compares to Versailles. I think what surprised me most was how formal the “summer” residence was. I guess when you are corseted within an inch of your life and the fashion of the day required layers of crinolines and yards of fabric…..relaxed doesn’t have the same meaning it has today……it must have been torture. The men didn’t have it much easier….with their high button shirts and their leather boots and long frock coats. Unfortunately, photos of the interiors are not allowed in any of the palaces. Like the others, Schonbrunn was very ornate, with lots of damask covered walls, and white and gold furniture. The photos above show the front of the palace and the rear gardens. The small photo, just below the water buffaloes, is a small building at the top of the gardens where Maria Theresa would sometimes have breakfast or lunch. The palace is only a 15 to 20 minute cab ride from down town Vienna, but I guess in the 1800s it took a lot longer by horse and carriage, and I’m sure there must have been much more forest surrounding the palace. You can see in one of the photos just how close Vienna is in the background. On the property of Shonbrunn is located the oldest and largest zoo in Europe. There is a trolley car, which for a small fee, you can take around the acres and acres of property. The good thing is you can get off where ever you like, and when you are ready catch the next trolley. It is a beautiful zoo with many exhibits, but for Jac and myself, zoos are always a little sad. Many of the animals were standing in, sitting in, or lying in what ever water was avail. I have to say I was very jealous of the water buffalo in their deep pool. There were many many tourists and locals at the zoo, and everyone was in T-shirts, tanks, tube tops, shorts and sandals…..all except the Arab women. They were covered from head to toe in Black, while their husbands walked next to them in T-shirts, shorts and sandals. I don’t know how the women didn’t faint. All in all, even with the heat, it was a fun day at the palace.

Anyone who goes to Vienna must stop at…… at least two places. One is the home of the Habsburgs…..The Imperial apartments at the Hofburg. The second is Demels, the “sweetest” little candy shop I have ever been in.

Visiting the Hofburg, you will see the rooms of Empress Elizabeth, “Sisi”, and her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph. Theirs is quite a story. They had one son, Prince Rudolf, who killed himself along with a women at Mayerling……one of the royal country homes. Elizabeth, who loved her husband, contracted an STD from him that changed their lives forever. A true life soap opera.  Elizabeth had a 16 or 18 inch waist. She was know as a great beauty who’s hair grew down to her ankles. It took two hours each day for her hair to be dressed. I think she would have been a happier women if it had been cut to shoulder length! As you walk though the ornately decorated rooms you can start to realize how suffocating court life must have been. She hated it and would leave Vienna for years at a time……leaving her children to her domineering MIL and her husband. She had good reason. Her life ended tragically when she was in her early 40s. She was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist while she was on one of her many trips. There are many books written about this family who ruled much of Europe for centuries…….a very interesting read………………We saw the Imperial silver and gold gilt collection comprising all types of objects and dinner wear, plus the humongous china collection. In the photo above you can see the floral desert plates…..there were 8 cases filled with just these dishes….each one different. There must have been 20 complete dinner sets for 100 to 200 guests…..the mind boggles. They had a staff of hundreds just to maintain the place, and this was where they stayed just in the winter. There were many hunting lodges and of course, Schonbrunn…..the summer place……..photos to come.

Demel’s was founded in 1785, but moved to it’s present location in1888. It is a jewel. The pastry counters and displays of candies and chocolates is truly magical. I don’t think I have ever seen candies and chocolates displayed so beautifully. Of course the ornate interior is just the right setting for all of these marvelous treats. We sat in the back room where you can look through the glass wall and watch them making all of the products. Only one problem…..we found very few places in Vienna to be air conditioned…..so we did not have hot coffee with out sweets.

As you can see from the photos above….around every corner is a statue or marvelous building………. the whole city really is “eye candy”!……next stop Schonbrunn.

On our very first day in Vienna, after our carriage ride we strolled and toured, just to get our bearings. We went to St Stephans [above], which is truly the “soul” of the city. Just out side they were selling tickets for the Mozart concert to take place that evening…..I told you the “ticket story in my first post]. As you can see from the photos, it is a magnificent ornate cathedral…..and the photos do not do it any justice. The upper left photo was taken that evening during the concert, and the picture below of Jac was taken in one of the sitting rooms of the Sacher Hotel after the concert. The hotel is known for the “Sacher Torte”……delicious! You can see from that room the Viennese style….very elaborate…..very ornate…..very beautiful. The picture below that is of Jac standing in front of the cathedral before we discovered we didn’t have the tickets! All ended well….the concert was lovely and the Sacher Torte….well, nothing needs to be said about that…..just thinking about it makes me want to go back to Vienna.

Since Jac nor I had ever been to Vienna, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. It’s a short flight from London, but there is a time change…..Vienna is one hour ahead. We arrived at  the Hotel Imperial and it is very beautiful. We stayed in the Elizabeth Suite. It had wall panels of pale blue damask framed in Baroque gold. It had wonderful huge windows and a huge bathroom…..a must for Jac…….we have changed rooms in hotels because the bathroom was too small….that….thank God was not the case this time. We unpacked and started our exploration of Vienna. We took Barbara’s advice and took a horse and carriage ride through the city. My immediate reaction was the buildings looked like marvelous, butter cream, ornate wedding cakes…..good enough to eat. Some of the buildings were in a wonderful yellow color that was Empress Maria Theresa’s favorite color. Each day Jac had an itinerary of where we would go and what we would see. Since we would only be there 4 days we didn’t want to wander aimlessly thought the city, though we did do a lot of walking. The city was packed with tourists speaking many languages…..where is the economic crisis??? The restaurants and cafes were packed…..the museums and concerts were packed, but I must say the stores were empty. Does anyone really need to buy Chanel in Vienna….unless you live there. The very first night we purchased tickets to hear a Mozart concert at St Stephan Cathedral. The concierge made reservations at a lovely restaurant near the cathedral so we would not have to rush dinner.. We saw many things that day and then made our way back to the hotel. We rested, then dressed and  had a leisurely walk to the restaurant, had dinner and headed over to the church 20 minutes before the concert. I asked Jac to give me the tickets and she looked at me with HORROR!!! She forgot the tickets!!!! I really thought she was kidding, but no……she had totally forgot about them. Since there are no cabs in this part of the city we had to run back to the hotel…..get the tickets….and run back. Oh, did I say it was 86 degrees and extremely humid! We arrived at the Cathedral …..dripping….about 8 minutes late and had to slink to the very front where our seats were…..I thought I was going to melt…..Jac somehow looked cool!?…as I always say “Men make plans and God laughs!”. The concert was marvelous! From then on we always made sure we had our tickets with us.

HELLO EVERYONE!

We are home at last and couldn’t be happier!! We had a great trip…..London was wonderful as always and Vienna was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

…………..First stop London. We  had a uneventful flight [just the way I like it], landed, got our bags….no problems, and off to the Dorchester Hotel. We were shown to our lovely room, and as we always do on a cross Atlantic trip, took showers and headed out. We find we overcome jet lag better if we don’t nap and just make a full day of it, have an early dinner and go to bed. We took a walk along the Thames, on the side where the giant Ferris wheel is. There is a promenade that goes on for miles, and along the promenade are restaurants, performers of all kinds and the Tate Modern, which is the famous modern art museum……we stopped in and took a look…….some of the exhibits were wonderful….and some left me scratching my head! The city was quite full with lots of tourists speaking many different languages, but the most were Chinese. They travel in hordes with their interpreter, who usually speaks extremely LOUD…..in the museums it can become very distracting. Our hotel was surprisingly empty. We were told they were fully booked for the Olympics with people coming in from corporations who are donors to the Olympic teams. The hotel has a huge Arab clientele, but it was  Ramadan, so no Arab guests….yet. They were expecting to be fully booked again when we returned for out last few days. We always try to see a show or two and on this trip we decided to see “Phantom of the Opera” again. It has been over 10 years since we had seen it in NYC and we thought it would be fun to see the London production…..it was wonderful. The second show we decided to see was “MATILDA”. Bob, as in “Mackie”, had seen it and highly recommended it. There are pictures above of the set [I got reprimanded for taking a picture inside the theater, but I knew you all would enjoy seeing this wonderful and creative set], the Marquee and Jac standing in front of the Theater….as a man steps in front of her! The show was terrific and we heard it was coming to Broadway……we highly recommend it………………….NEXT STOP……….VIENNA!