Wien ... Vienna

Beyond the Alps to the far eastern extent of our nearest neighbor, Austria, lies a city I have longed to visit for many years. Home to the Sachertorte, Austrian School of Economics, Classical Music and the Hapsburg Empire (yes, that is their order of importance), Vienna has always struck me as a place that would be fascinating to spend a several weeks exploring. We don't have quite that much time, but thankfully, the girls school gets several multi-week breaks throughout the school calendar which is fantastic for spreading travel out. So, for part of the fall break we train-ed our way to Vienna for an extended weekend.

 

One of the joys of remote work?

After an 8 hour train ride, what better way to wind down than story time with dad in a "fancy" bed?

Getting into our apartment in Vienna was an adventure too...

With only three days to explore the city, we focused on hitting the highlights which meant a walking tour, visits to the Hapsburg family cottages at Hofburg and Schloss Schonbrunn, trying a sochertorte, and meandering through a few museums along the way.

As we do in most cities we started off with the guided city walk to get the lay of the land and learn a few interesting facts along way. The Vienna City walk starts by the Opera and takes you further into the old city by St Stephen's cathedral with it's beautifully tiled roofs, the cities plague column and then into the courtyard of the Hofburg.

Not the teutons

Our local Swiss chocolatier has a storefront in Vienna?!

Façade of the Opera

The local limestone is very soft and absorbs pollutants easily, so the church is almost always in some stage of cleaning

Also not the teutons

Within the main pedestrian area is a 60' column commissioned by Emperor Leopold I to commemorate the saving of the city from Bubonic plague in 1679. During this epidemic, an estimated 76,000 Viennese died. The Emperor was literally brought to his knees in anguish as 1/3 of his subjects succumbed to the disease. A little further down from the column is St Peter's Church which was also commissioned by Leopold I as a thank you to God and the Church for his city surviving the plague.

Altar of St Peter's

Outside the Hofburg

Emporer Franz II

Of the two royal palaces we visited we found Schloss Schonbrunn to be the more interesting and impressive of the two. This was partly due to the size the palace and the openness of the grounds allowing you to see the palace from distance but also the tour of the Royal Apartments at Hofburg was somewhat depressing.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria, or Sisi, as she is referred to throughout the tour is the focus of the Hofburg visit and as you progress through the rooms you learn more about her life from young adulthood just before wedding to her first cousin, the Emperor Franz Joseph I at age 16. A year later she had given birth to her first child, Sophie and then had a second daughter a year later, Gisela. However, because of her own young age Sisi's mother-in-law, Princess Sophie of Bavaria removed the children from their mother and took them to live in Germany. And Sisi's tragedy only gets worse from there.

After many months of pleading with her mother-in-law to let the children travel with her Sisi was allowed to take the two young girls on a trip with her to Hungary. Yet while in Buda both girls became sick and the oldest daughter, Sophie, ultimately died in her mothers arms at the age of two. Not only was this an agonizing tragedy for Sisi but it also did not help her relationship with her mother-in-law! And while her relationship with her mother-in-law would improve after the birth of her son Rudolf, the bouts of depression and anxiety of living in the royal household would never leave her. Ultimately she would live on to see her son take his own life in a suicide pact with his mistress.

Sisi's own life would be taken ten years later in Geneva at the hands of an anarchist who was in Geneva in pursuit of the Duke of Orleans. An unfortunate end to a life that should have been anything but unfortunate.

The tour of Schonbrunn is considerably lighter on subject matter and also allowed better opportunities for photos and meandering. Renovated to its current form in the 1740's, Schonbrunn was original set aside as a royal hunting ground but ultimately became the main summer residence for the Habsburgs. And I can see why.

But, really, who cares about all this history. Let's talk about the real reason you visit Vienna. A trip here wouldn't be complete without trying the Sachertorte. And it was tasty!

The Sacher hotel where the first Sachertorte was made

One of the competitors for "Best Sachertorte"

And certainly no trip to Vienna would be complete without viewing the Crown Jewels. The Imperial Treasury maintains a large selection of royal robes, jewels and other treasures along with a number of religious artifacts from all over Christendom, including a piece of the True Cross and the Lance that pierced Jesus' side. 

Someone is dreaming of their souvenir

Is this a unicorn horn?

The lance that pierced Jesus' side

Tiber Island. I wonder if my favorite Gelato shop was there when this was painted

After we took in all the glitz of the Treasury, we decided to work on our other senses and headed to The House of Music. The museum's goal is to bring people closer to the world of sound and let them grow with it. I think it accomplishes this and it was a great tour for the entire family. We all loved the interactive exhibits and the museum is packed with them!

The girls would be upset if I didn't include their favorite activities on the trip! One evening we finished up the tours that we'd planned for the day a bit earlier than we thought we would so we decided to walk along the Danube and eat dinner by the river. We happened upon a city fun fare. Most people were dressed in their dirndls and lederhosen, so we're not sure if it was part of Oktoberfest celebrations or if this is something that happens throughout the year. Either way, the girls happily took a horseback ride together. Olivia then chose the race track for her second experience and Charlotte decided on the fun house. 

It was a busy 3 days in Vienna but so glad we were able to get there! We took the night train home. This is the before picture of our level of excitement. The after, we were much less rested.