The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.
Vienna is, among other things, the second largest German speaking city in the world (after Berlin), a UNESCO world heritage city, and attracts 3.7 million tourists a year. And known for Mozart and Freud.
After the 2nd World War, Vienna was part of Soviet-occupied Eastern Austria until September 1945. As in Berlin, Vienna in September 1945 was divided into sectors by the four powers: the US, the UK, France and the Soviet Union and supervised by an Allied Commission. The four-power occupation of Vienna differed in one key respect from that of Berlin: the central area of the city, known as the first district, constituted an international zone in which the four powers alternated control on a monthly basis. The control was policed by the four powers on a de facto day-to-day basis, the famous "four soldiers in a jeep" method. The Berlin Blockade of 1948 raised Western concerns that the Soviets might repeat the blockade in Vienna.
In the event, the Soviets did not blockade the city. The Potsdam Agreement included written rights of land access to the western sectors, whereas no such written guarantees had covered the western sectors of Berlin. During the 10 years of the four-power occupation, Vienna became a hot-bed for international espionage between the Western and Eastern blocs. In the wake of the Berlin Blockade, the Cold War in Vienna took on a different dynamic. While accepting that Germany and Berlin would be divided, the Soviets had decided against allowing the same state of affairs to arise in Austria and Vienna. They put up barbed wire fences around the perimeter of West Berlin in 1953, but not in Vienna. By 1955, the Soviets, by signing the Austrian State Treaty, agreed to relinquish their occupation zones in Eastern Austria as well as their sector in Vienna. In exchange they required that Austria declare its permanent neutrality after the allied powers had left the country. Thus they ensured that Austria would not be a member of NATO and that NATO forces would therefore not have direct communications between Italy and West Germany.
Vienna is one of the wealthiest regions in the European Union: Its gross regional product of EUR 47,200 per capita constituted 25.7% of Austria's GDP in 2013. It amounts to 159% of the EU average.
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A Formal Dinner at Palais Pallavicini
Located in the heart of Vienna, the Palais Pallavicini forms an architectural ensemble with the Hofburg Imperial Palace and the Spanish Riding School. The palace was built in 1784 by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg in a Neoclassical style. The interior rooms are richly gilded and decorated with stucco, crystal chandeliers and mirrors. The elaborately-inlaid parquet floors are made out of expensive woods. The Palais Pallavicini is still family-owned, and the historic rooms have been restored. The palace can be rented for special occasions, including conferences, concerts, wedding receptions and other events. Our presence there was for that reason
We entered via the staircase, which with its beautiful classical latticework leads to the state rooms on the second floor. These rooms boast splendid stuccowork on their walls and ceilings, especially in the magnificent ballroom (where we ate) where sumptuous detail and stunning mirror effects can still be seen on its ancient baroque walls. The impressive ornate chandeliers and candelabra are preserved to this day.
Entertainment was by various opera singers, ballet dancers and a string quartet.
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Schonbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial summer residence just outside Vienna. The 1,441-room Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historical monuments in the country.
The Schönbrunn Palace in its present form was built and remodeled in 1740–50s during the reign of empress Maria Theresa who received the estate as a wedding gift. Franz I commissioned the redecoration of the palace exterior in neoclassical style as it appears today. Franz Joseph, the longest-reigning emperor of Austria, was born at Schönbrunn and spent a great deal of his life there. He died there, at the age of 86 in 1916. Following the downfall of the Hapsburg monarchy in November 1918, the palace became the property of newly founded Austrian Republic and was preserved as a museum.
After World War II and during the Allied Occupation of Austria (1945—55), Schönbrunn Palace was requisitioned to provide offices for the British Delegation to the Allied Commission for Austria. With the reestablishment of the Austrian republic in 1955, the palace once again became a museum. It is still sometimes used for important events such as the meeting between U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1961.
Since 1992 the palace and gardens are owned and administered by a limited-liability company wholly owned by the Republic of Austria. The company conducts preservation and restoration of all palace properties without state subsidies. UNESCO catalogued Schönbrunn Palace on the World Heritage List in 1996, together with its gardens, as a remarkable Baroque ensemble and example of synthesis of the arts .
We had very little time here - a standard guided tour of the interior (no photography) and 20 minutes by ourselves to look at the garden, which was not enough.
To a certain extent when you have seen one of these large palaces, you have seen them all. And the interior of this palace was similar to many others - in other words it is difficult to recall which interior was which retrospectively.
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Vienna Spanish Riding School
Founded by the Hapsburgs in 1572, the Spanish Riding School was named after the Spanish horses that formed one of the bases of the Lipizzan breed, which is used exclusively at the school. Today the horses delivered to the Spanish Riding School are bred at the Piber Federal Stud located in western Styria, Austria. One of the original studs used to develop the breed was Lipizza, now called Lipica, near Trieste in modern Slovenia, which gave its name to the breed.
The Spanish Riding School is located near the Hofburg in central Vienna. Performances take place in the Winter Riding School, built between 1729–1735. The Winter Riding School is a sunlight- flooded hall, mainly white with some beige and light grey, with a portrait of Emperor Charles VI above the royal box and opposite the entrance (to which the riders always salute before they ride), which measures 55 by 18 metres and is 17 metres in height.
The Spanish Riding School also has summer stables in Heldenberg-Wetzdorf-Lower Austria. The 68 resident stallions are taken there in July and August for seven weeks, where they are kept in stalls with paddocks. The horses are not schooled during this period, but instead are hacked in the nearby forest.
As we were not in Vienna on one of their performance days, we did not see the classic "show" with the horses prancing in the Riding School. I have added the photographs of that to show what the horses do in the show
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Winter Palace & Sisi Museum
Elisabeth of Austria (1837 – 1898) was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and thus Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Queen consort of Croatia and Bohemia. Born into Bavarian royalty, Elisabeth ("Sisi") enjoyed an informal upbringing, before marrying Franz Joseph when she was sixteen. The marriage thrust her into the much more formal Hapsburg court life, for which she was ill-prepared and which she found uncongenial. Early in the marriage she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Princess Sophie, who took over the rearing of Elisabeth's daughters, one of whom died in infancy. The birth of a male heir improved her standing at court considerably, but her health suffered under the strain, and she would often visit Hungary for its more relaxed environment. She came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867.
The death of her only son Rudolf, and his mistress Mary Vetsera, in a murder–suicide tragedy at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which Elisabeth never recovered. She withdrew from court duties and travelled widely, unaccompanied by her family. She was obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty, demanding to be sewn into her leather corsets and spending two or three hours a day on her coiffure. While travelling in Geneva in 1898, she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni who selected her because he had missed his chance to assassinate Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and wanted to kill the next member of royalty that he saw. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress-consort of Austria, at 44 years.
The Sisi Museum in the Imperial Apartments of the Imperial Palace compares the myth and the facts of her life. Among the highlights are numerous personal objects once owned by Elisabeth as well as the most famous portraits of the beautiful empress. Elisabeth’s private life is at the centre of the exhibition: her rebellion against court ceremony, her escape into a beauty cult, her obsession with being slim, athletic performance, and effusive poetry. From the carefree time as a young girl in Bavaria to the surprising engagement with the Austrian emperor to her 1898 assassination in Geneva, the museum shows the restless life of the legendary empress. And does so using numerous objects: On view is one of the few remaining summer dresses, the reconstruction of the dress worn by the young bride on the evening before her wedding as well as the Hungarian coronation dress, famous portraits, a miniature secretaire with envelopes painted in Elisabeth's own hand, Sisi's watercolor painting box, a 63-piece first-aid kit and an accessible reconstruction of Sisi's luxurious imperial saloon car. Items on display from her childhood include her harp, which she brought with her from Bavaria, and a reconstruction of a child's dress. Sisi's 6-piece mourning jewelry in onyx and jet, which she used to wear with her mourning dress following the death of her son Crown Prince Rudolph, is also on display here in its entirety. The black coat with egret feathers, which covered Sisi after her assassination on Lake Geneva and in which she was taken to the Hotel Beau Rivage, reminds one of the tragic incident as much as the death mask of the murdered empress.
Whilst my interest in Sisi was not high, I was impressed by the layout of this museum, and genuinely felt the I knew more about her having been round the museum
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Oberlaa Konditorei
This cafe is centrally located at Neue Markt in Vienna old town. It was busy, but seemed frequented by locals more than tourists. We went here for the cakes, and a'hemm, had 4 of them. The best was the chocolate mousse cake which was not just good, but really, really good. I can still taste it today.
We sampled with it a Hugo, which is a refreshing, but alcoholic mix :Prosecco with 4 tablespoons elderflower syrup, a little sparkling mineral water & a handful of mint leaves and lime slices. Just the thing for a hot day in Vienna
Service was provided by one of those professional waiters of a certain age, who was amused by us consuming 4 cakes and the boys helping us. I will return one day for another chocolate mousse cake
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Malys Bier Garten
This is what is called a Heuigen restaurant. It is in the suburb of Grinzing, which is well away from the city centre, but you can visit it if, as we did, you come up through the Vienna Woods to look at the view down over Vienna.
Heuigen appears to be an involved tale to do with licensing laws, but such restaurants can only serve their own vineyard's wine in a Carafe. The 1/2 pt glass that the wine is normally served in is optional, in as much as you can ask for a normal glass.
We were there with a group, and pretty much monopolised the place. Probably not one of the best evenings we had on the cruise. The wines were very acidic and really not worth drinking for either the red nor the white. We did have some food and "local entertainment", which was a lederhosen man with a guitar. He played Austrian songs, which were Greek to a mainly foreign audience
Service was fairly iffy as they were having to get out a lot of food for the group. I don't think I would have liked to have been here if I had been having a quiet night out with my wife!
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