My flight home wasn't till the evening, so after checking out of the apartment I got the U-bahn to Wien Mitte station and put my case in a locker at the City Airport Terminal, where the fast train to the airport goes from. Then I got back on the U-bahn and found my way to the Albertina museum where the 11am walking tour I was booked onto would start. I always like to do a free group walking tour (the guides rely on tips) on a city break, usually at the start of the trip so I can get my bearings and see places I might like to visit, but it didn't work out this time so my last day it had to be!
It was good. The starting point was just in front of the Albertina, a former royal residence and now an art museum, and the guide took us up to a public terrace there, where as she pointed out you can clearly see a triangle of three buildings representing the three things integral to Viennese culture. The Albertina itself for art, the Opera House for classical music, and the Hotel Sacher for the café culture (the hotel was established by the son of the person who created the Sachertorte, and the café there sells "The Original Sacher Torte").
From there we were taken just round the corner to the Burggarten, a former garden of the Hofburg Palace and now a public park. There's a statue of Emperor Franz Joseph, and the guide told us some of his story, which was quite sad; the poor man lost everyone he loved. A bit further along the path is a statue of Mozart, who built his career and died in Vienna. Here the guide stopped and told us more about the city's classical music scene; as I said in a previous post, I didn't realise just how big it was here. Loads of famous composers made their name in this city.
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| Statue of Mozart |
One part of the sprawling Hofburg Palace adjoined the park, so we went there next through an archway into a large courtyard, where the guide pointed out the different architectural styles showing additions to the palace over the centuries. Walking through another archway in the wing opposite to that which we arrived through, we went through a passage and eventually came to the Sisi Museum. Sisi was the Empress Elisabeth, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and came to be a very popular figure. Franz Joseph was originally meant to marry her older sister, but he fell in love with Sisi instead and they married when she was just 16. Her childhood had been unstructured and informal so she found the formality and rigidity of life at the royal court stifling, her mother-in-law thoroughly disliked her and forcibly took control of her children's upbringing and education, and she struggled to figure out her identify in the midst of the expectations set upon her. She suffered from repeated bouts of depression for the rest of her life, became obsessed with her physical appearance - the only part of her life she could control - and became a bit of a rebel, taking up smoking and getting a tattoo. To escape, she travelled as much as she could, without her husband and children and usually using pseudonyms to hide her identity. She had a palace built for herself in Corfu, but once it was completed she lost interest in it. Her only son and heir to the throne, Rudolf, had a character similar to hers - introverted, liberal, and not suited to court life - and ended up committing suicide aged 30, which of course devastated Sisi. She herself was assassinated in Italy in 1898 aged 61. Apart from her vanity, I really liked the sound of her, a free-spirited independent woman who wouldn't conform, but I did feel bad for her, she obviously found it very difficult and was miserable for a lot of her adult life.
In relation to wider European and early 20th century history, Rudolf's death meant that Franz Joseph's brother became heir to the throne, but after he died in 1896 his son became heir - Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in 1914 effectively started World War I. Emperor Franz Joseph died in late 1916 and was succeeded by his great-nephew, who in November 1918 was forced to give up involvement in state affairs, meaning the Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist and a republic was created.
Heldenplatz, the square in front of the palace I'd been to a couple of times without knowing what it was, means "Heroes' Square" and is named for the equestrian statues of two of the most renowned military generals in Austrian history: one who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in battle and one from a century and a half earlier who fought against the Ottoman Empire. It's also the place where, in March 1938, thousands of people gathered to witness Hitler announce the annexation of Austria into Germany.
After all that, and three weeks later, to be honest I can't really remember much else about the other points on the tour, though it was interesting. Our last stop was Stephansdom just before 1pm, where the guide finished up with the story of Augustin, a famous street musician at the time of a bubonic plague epidemic in 1679. According to the legend, Augustin got so utterly drunk one night that he passed out in the street, was assumed dead by the next morning's cadaver collectors, and was thrown into a mass grave filled with the bodies of plague victims. When he woke up and couldn't get out of the pit, he started playing his bagpipes which the gravediggers had thrown in there with him, presuming them to be infected too; people heard the music and came to rescue him. Remarkably, despite having spent the night surrounded by infected bodies, Augustin remained healthy.
It's all fascinating stuff! :) I love history.
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| Stephansdom |
For lunch I headed to Naschmarkt, the city's most well-known food market, which was cool. The market is basically in two halves - one side is restaurants and eateries, the other side market stalls selling everything from dried fruit to cheese to spices to fish and of course fresh fruit and vegetables. Every time I go to any kind of food market where they sell fresh produce and a wide array of ingredients, I always wish I was a better and more instinctual cook, that I could just go to one of these places and confidently pick things to buy and know what I could create with them. Maybe that kind of thing just comes with practice. Anyway, after wandering around the entire complex twice looking at all the choices I eventually decided to get a borek - a triangle of pastry filled with spiced minced beef, similar to a samosa but of Eastern Europe/Western Asia origin. The filling was tasty but the thing was huge and the pastry was a bit tough in places, so I didn't enjoy it very much sadly, and I wished I had just got some delicious fresh falafel and hummus.
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| Naschmarkt |
I'd decided to finish my time in Vienna at a café, so headed back to the city centre and found the Café Mozart, where I sat outside in the sunshine and had another slice of yummy apple strudel and a lovely refreshing melon, cucumber and basil "lemonade" (not lemonade at all, happily, just a thirst-quenching still water and juice drink). I think I spent about an hour and a half there before it was time to leave and head to the airport. On the way to the U-bahn station I stopped off at a Konditorei L'Heiner store and bought a couple of mini Sachertortes (chocolate sponge cake with a layer of apricot jam and covered in smooth, solid chocolate icing) to take home and eat the next day (one for me, one for my sister), to tick one more off my to-eat list!
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| Sachertorte, at home the next day |
I'm so glad that I had a nice time on this trip. As I said in my post about the Friday, before going I had been a bit worried that it would be like my previous trip to Amsterdam and I'd feel down and lonely and bored. But that wasn't the case at all and I really enjoyed it. Vienna is a lovely city and I do recommend it. Indeed I'd happily go there again, and maybe I will one day. There are things I didn't have time to do that I would have liked - such as visit the pretty Wachau Valley - and of course there are things I would like to do again or more of - like eat the delicious cakes and go to more classical music concerts! :)
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