Saturday, 17th January 2015
It's day 2 of the trip.
We got our breakfast from a place called Ströck, which appears to be a chain of Tim Hortons type Cafe in Vienna. They had a large variety of croissants. For the ignorant (I know I was one before I researched about Vienna), croissants are not French delicacies; they are originally Viennese!
Getting away from the food conversation, the first thing on our itinerary was the majestic Schönbrunn Palace. This palace is an example of the Baroque style architecture, very prevalent among Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. The palace just looked like a huge yellow colored building from the outside. We got our tickets for the imperial tour, which also came with an audio guide. As part of the imperial tour, we could go through 22 rooms out of the 1400+ rooms this palace had. Each room had a number, and when inside a room, the audio guide would inform us about the various artifacts in the room. The palace had had many inhabitants, but the section of the palace we went through was particularly related to the longest ruling emperor of Austria - Franz Joseph and his wife Elizabeth. The walls and the architecture on the ceilings were very elaborate, and so were the paintings that adorned the beautiful mansion. A security room, reception, bedrooms, bathrooms, informal dining room, grand ball rooms, the list was never ending. There was also a grand tour, which covered some 40 rooms. But we thought 40 rooms would probably be too boring, and hence opted for the imperial tour. I am happy to say we were wrong :)! I am not sure how much we missed,
but one thing is sure, and that is that I wouldn't have been bored. One would certainly wonder what one can do in 1400 rooms in a house!! Taking pictures wasn't allowed inside the palace, and understandably so.
When we walked out of the palace, there was a gentleman who was selling tickets to see a Strauss and Mozart concert that was happening at the Mozart Concert House that was very close to the Palace. Now seeing an opera or a concert in Vienna was an option I had considered, but I wasn't 100% sold on it, specially since classical music isn't very appeasing to me. In other words, I was ok to skip it. My sister really wanted to see it. I may not have mentioned this before, but my sister and brother had also joined us for Vienna. So, she smartly decided to gift hubby and me the tickets as our anniversary present! So that was settled - we were watching the concert later in the evening. The gentleman also really recommended the Apple Strudel from the Cafe at the entrance of the palace, apple strudel being another of authentic Viennese pastries.
After our tour, we were free to roam around in the gardens of the palace. It was cold so we didn't spend a lot of time in the gardens. There was a well managed array of trees that looked pretty, and beautiful lawns.
I am sure the gardens look glorious and lush in the summers. In my head, this is probably what Versailles looks like, but I can only tell when I have been there once :). Strolling at the back, we reached Neptune fountain.The sculptures were beautifully done and did absolute justice to the stunning palace. Good thing also was that the gardens were free to access for public, and we actually saw people jogging along the paths inside the gardens.
We started to head back from the gardens, and en route was the Cafe with the famous Apple Strudel. Of course we were going to stop :)! The Cafe also has an "Apple Strudel Show" every hour, where they teach you the recipe for making the apple strudel. It was some goood apple strudel - the finest we had till date, only we would have loved it more if we were fans of all things apple-y and jams.
We left the Palace after our date with Apple Strudel. Next stop on today's itinerary was the Karlskirche or St. Charles Church.
The Church looked huge from the outside, the dome particularly grand. There was an entrance fee to the church, which sounded bizarre, but whatever! We went in, and it was such a marvelous church! The structures were exquisite, and so was the art work.
There was an elevator inside the church, which took us to a wooden platform quite a few meters above ground. From the platform, there was a scaffolding with about 6-8 flights of stairs that took us right to the center of the dome! It was quite a surprise to know we could get to the very top of the dome. It was downright scary, partially because we were on squeaky wooden stairs, partially because there was a restriction of 10 people to be on top of the stairs with no way to tell how many were already there. Also, from down below, the dome didn't seem that high, but from high up there, the ground was very far! You could look out of the dome windows and get a view of the whole city. We could also check out the art work more clearly from up here.
After Karlskirche, we started walking towards what was termed as the 4th most beautiful staircase of Europe - Fillgraderstiege. On the way there, the environment was very lively. We walked passed the State Opera House. This area of Vienna is called the Museum Quarter. We reached one end of the street called Kartnerstrasse. Apparently, this street is the equivalent of Champs-Élysées in Paris and 5th Avenue in New York. Also being hungry by this hour, we saw a Burger King and decided to eat there. We got a very yummy vegetarian burger there. I know what you are thinking, but yes, it was a real treat for us vegetarians to find a very tasty veggie patty and it wasn't made of soy!! Very close to Burger King was the famous Hotel Sacher, were we were going to try the real Sacher Torte. There was a lineup if you wanted a cake slice. So we settled for the small individual cake pieces that were present in the bakery. We were secretly hoping that this experience of the original Sacher Torte would blow our minds and make us believe that Sacher Torte was the real baked stuff there was. But alas! It was not to be. Again, we loved the rich chocolate flavor. But the cake was dry, the jam added the sour taste to it. It was better than the Day 1's cake, but it wasn't something we'd like to lay our hands on again. We were okay with that. We had been able to check out the item from our list that said "Try the original Sacher Torte".
Now back to the Fillgraderstiege. As we walked towards the stairs, the crowd began thinning. We should have taken the hint and stopped walking. But the chance to see the 4th most beautiful staircase of Europe - oh how could we miss that! So after another 10-15 minutes, we reach there. I must say, again we had super high expectations of the stairs, but I leave that to you to determine whether these stairs deserve the credit or not :)! I, for one, kept feeling pretty stupid at making everyone walk 20 minutes one way for this :p!
It was about 5:15 now, and we still have some time before the concert, for which we had to be back at the palace by 8 pm. We spent some time at Naschmarkt, which is a farmers market of sorts, with restaurants, and colorful souvenir shops etc. Hubby and me are magnet collectors, so of course we picked up a magnet for us.
It was almost time for us to return back to the Schonbrunn Palace for the Mozart and Strauss concert. After the doors opened, it was quite a shocking sight. The hall was rather small, and had same level chairs for seating. But I brushed the thought aside - we were here for the musical journey. It could really also mean that the concert hall was still being run in a style that was used back in the time of Mozart. Sharp 8:30 the concert started with compositions of Mozart. There was a set of 6 musicians. For some of the compositions a duo sang some songs and performed in front of the audience. They were quite an entertaining pair. The songs were possibly in German but I couldn't be sure. The level of synchronization amongst the musicians was definitely praiseworthy. There was a break of 10-15 minutes in between and then the compositions of Strauss were played by the musicians. We were exhausted by walking so much throughout the day, and the soothing music was like icing on the cake. I am guilty of having taken a quick nap while being serenaded by the melodies, and having woken to the sound of applause. Not my proudest moment I must admit. All in all, I am glad to have seen the concert. It was a good concert, it just wasn't my piece of cake :)!
That was almost the end of day, save for a pizza after that. We walked back to our hotel, only too glad to have spent another wonderful day in this beautiful city.
It's day 2 of the trip.
We got our breakfast from a place called Ströck, which appears to be a chain of Tim Hortons type Cafe in Vienna. They had a large variety of croissants. For the ignorant (I know I was one before I researched about Vienna), croissants are not French delicacies; they are originally Viennese!
Getting away from the food conversation, the first thing on our itinerary was the majestic Schönbrunn Palace. This palace is an example of the Baroque style architecture, very prevalent among Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. The palace just looked like a huge yellow colored building from the outside. We got our tickets for the imperial tour, which also came with an audio guide. As part of the imperial tour, we could go through 22 rooms out of the 1400+ rooms this palace had. Each room had a number, and when inside a room, the audio guide would inform us about the various artifacts in the room. The palace had had many inhabitants, but the section of the palace we went through was particularly related to the longest ruling emperor of Austria - Franz Joseph and his wife Elizabeth. The walls and the architecture on the ceilings were very elaborate, and so were the paintings that adorned the beautiful mansion. A security room, reception, bedrooms, bathrooms, informal dining room, grand ball rooms, the list was never ending. There was also a grand tour, which covered some 40 rooms. But we thought 40 rooms would probably be too boring, and hence opted for the imperial tour. I am happy to say we were wrong :)! I am not sure how much we missed,
but one thing is sure, and that is that I wouldn't have been bored. One would certainly wonder what one can do in 1400 rooms in a house!! Taking pictures wasn't allowed inside the palace, and understandably so.
When we walked out of the palace, there was a gentleman who was selling tickets to see a Strauss and Mozart concert that was happening at the Mozart Concert House that was very close to the Palace. Now seeing an opera or a concert in Vienna was an option I had considered, but I wasn't 100% sold on it, specially since classical music isn't very appeasing to me. In other words, I was ok to skip it. My sister really wanted to see it. I may not have mentioned this before, but my sister and brother had also joined us for Vienna. So, she smartly decided to gift hubby and me the tickets as our anniversary present! So that was settled - we were watching the concert later in the evening. The gentleman also really recommended the Apple Strudel from the Cafe at the entrance of the palace, apple strudel being another of authentic Viennese pastries.
After our tour, we were free to roam around in the gardens of the palace. It was cold so we didn't spend a lot of time in the gardens. There was a well managed array of trees that looked pretty, and beautiful lawns.
We started to head back from the gardens, and en route was the Cafe with the famous Apple Strudel. Of course we were going to stop :)! The Cafe also has an "Apple Strudel Show" every hour, where they teach you the recipe for making the apple strudel. It was some goood apple strudel - the finest we had till date, only we would have loved it more if we were fans of all things apple-y and jams.
We left the Palace after our date with Apple Strudel. Next stop on today's itinerary was the Karlskirche or St. Charles Church.
The Church looked huge from the outside, the dome particularly grand. There was an entrance fee to the church, which sounded bizarre, but whatever! We went in, and it was such a marvelous church! The structures were exquisite, and so was the art work.
There was an elevator inside the church, which took us to a wooden platform quite a few meters above ground. From the platform, there was a scaffolding with about 6-8 flights of stairs that took us right to the center of the dome! It was quite a surprise to know we could get to the very top of the dome. It was downright scary, partially because we were on squeaky wooden stairs, partially because there was a restriction of 10 people to be on top of the stairs with no way to tell how many were already there. Also, from down below, the dome didn't seem that high, but from high up there, the ground was very far! You could look out of the dome windows and get a view of the whole city. We could also check out the art work more clearly from up here.
After Karlskirche, we started walking towards what was termed as the 4th most beautiful staircase of Europe - Fillgraderstiege. On the way there, the environment was very lively. We walked passed the State Opera House. This area of Vienna is called the Museum Quarter. We reached one end of the street called Kartnerstrasse. Apparently, this street is the equivalent of Champs-Élysées in Paris and 5th Avenue in New York. Also being hungry by this hour, we saw a Burger King and decided to eat there. We got a very yummy vegetarian burger there. I know what you are thinking, but yes, it was a real treat for us vegetarians to find a very tasty veggie patty and it wasn't made of soy!! Very close to Burger King was the famous Hotel Sacher, were we were going to try the real Sacher Torte. There was a lineup if you wanted a cake slice. So we settled for the small individual cake pieces that were present in the bakery. We were secretly hoping that this experience of the original Sacher Torte would blow our minds and make us believe that Sacher Torte was the real baked stuff there was. But alas! It was not to be. Again, we loved the rich chocolate flavor. But the cake was dry, the jam added the sour taste to it. It was better than the Day 1's cake, but it wasn't something we'd like to lay our hands on again. We were okay with that. We had been able to check out the item from our list that said "Try the original Sacher Torte".
Now back to the Fillgraderstiege. As we walked towards the stairs, the crowd began thinning. We should have taken the hint and stopped walking. But the chance to see the 4th most beautiful staircase of Europe - oh how could we miss that! So after another 10-15 minutes, we reach there. I must say, again we had super high expectations of the stairs, but I leave that to you to determine whether these stairs deserve the credit or not :)! I, for one, kept feeling pretty stupid at making everyone walk 20 minutes one way for this :p!
It was about 5:15 now, and we still have some time before the concert, for which we had to be back at the palace by 8 pm. We spent some time at Naschmarkt, which is a farmers market of sorts, with restaurants, and colorful souvenir shops etc. Hubby and me are magnet collectors, so of course we picked up a magnet for us.
It was almost time for us to return back to the Schonbrunn Palace for the Mozart and Strauss concert. After the doors opened, it was quite a shocking sight. The hall was rather small, and had same level chairs for seating. But I brushed the thought aside - we were here for the musical journey. It could really also mean that the concert hall was still being run in a style that was used back in the time of Mozart. Sharp 8:30 the concert started with compositions of Mozart. There was a set of 6 musicians. For some of the compositions a duo sang some songs and performed in front of the audience. They were quite an entertaining pair. The songs were possibly in German but I couldn't be sure. The level of synchronization amongst the musicians was definitely praiseworthy. There was a break of 10-15 minutes in between and then the compositions of Strauss were played by the musicians. We were exhausted by walking so much throughout the day, and the soothing music was like icing on the cake. I am guilty of having taken a quick nap while being serenaded by the melodies, and having woken to the sound of applause. Not my proudest moment I must admit. All in all, I am glad to have seen the concert. It was a good concert, it just wasn't my piece of cake :)!
That was almost the end of day, save for a pizza after that. We walked back to our hotel, only too glad to have spent another wonderful day in this beautiful city.
