Sunday, 21 September. Although we got up at 6:30, we barely made it to our 8:30 walking tour of
downtown Vienna because there was such a long line to get into the restaurant for breakfast. We were
divided into two groups, red led by Valentin and blue led by Janet, the chief tour director. Jane and I
were in the blue group. Each group had less than 30 people.
We all walked across the street to the subway and rode to the stop near the Opera House. A local guide conducted a very good tour of the Opera House. It had been bombed in 1945, leaving just a shell. Most of the interior was rebuilt in the old style, though not as it originally had been.
Afterwards Janet led us on a walk along the Ringstrasse. This wide street was built where the old city walls once stood, something we'd seen in a few other large cities. The street was closed to vehicles this weekend as part of the city's celebration of the centennial of its public transportation system. In fact, there was a marathon race in progress on the Ringstrasse as part of the celebration. (Normally, our group would have had a bus tour along the Ringstrasse on our first full day in the city, but it had to be postponed because of the street closing.) We walked a few blocks until we came to our tour bus, waiting near Karlsplatz, dominated by the huge dome of Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles Borromeo).
The bus then took us to the Hundertwasser Haus, a large primarily residential building opened in 1986. This was the first of several structurs in Europe designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000), a rather eccentric, self-taught architect. He believed that man should live in harmony with nature and that our living space should resemble the natural environment. So he has trees growing out of his asymetrical buildings and floors that are irregular three-dimensional surfaces. Although we didn't go into the Haus itself, we visited a commercial building across the way that had rooms built in the Hundertwasser style. Next, the bus took us to the Prater, the amusement park famous for its giant (214 feet high) ferris wheel (riesenrad). Originally built in 1897, the wheel was substantially rebuilt after being severely damaged when Vienna was bombed in 1945. Jane and I had ridden it during our 1961 visit. First our group was led through the Panorama, a series of eight cabins (just like those on the wheel itself) containing miniature displays depicting the history of Vienna from Roman times through World War II. It was very interesting, and very cleverly done. Then it was time for the ride. The people in the blue group were put in three cabins, eight or nine in each. That's less than half their maximum capacity, so it was very comfortable. A ride consisted of only one revolution, and the wheel stopped to unload and load each car as it reached the bottom, so it wasn't exactly an exciting ride. But there was a great view and, of course, it was an experience!
A few of us got off the bus as it passed through downtown on its way back to the hotel. Jane and I wanted to tour the Hofburg since we had the afternoon free. We'd also done that in 1961, but we remembered even less about it than we did the Schoenbrunn. The Hofburg was the Habsburg's main residence for more than six centuries, built and added to from the 13th century to World War I (1915).
We started with the Imperial Treasury (Schatzkammer) which we had not seen before. We particularly wanted to see the crown of the Holy Roman Empire (dating from the 9th or 10th century), as well as the Habsburg family crown jewels (the Imperial Regalia). But we were amazed at the vastness, the variety, and the historical significance of the treasures on display, not to mention the opulence. In a single room (of 21 rooms), there were a 2860 carat emerald, a 416 carat ruby and a 492 carat aquamarine. The religious relics included supposed fragments of the True Cross, the lance that pierced Christ's side, a nail from the crucifixion, and a thorn from Christ's crown.
The entrance to the palace wing with the Imperial Apartments (Kaiserappartements) was located just inside the Hofberg's Michael's Gate. The Imperial Silver Collection (Silberkammer) was included with this ticket, so we walked through that first. The name is somewhat of a misnomer because the collection included far more china and crystal than silver. And it went on forever. Then there were more than 20 rooms in the Imperial Apartments tour. Although they had all the fine furniture, tapestries, art works, and crystal chandeliers you might expect, we thought they suffered in comparison with the opulence of the palaces we'd recently seen in Moscow and St. Petersburg. by an amazind coincidence, we ran into the same group of children in period costumes that we had seen at the Schoenbrunn Palace.
When we left the Hofburg at the far end from where we'd entered, we had a nice view of the New Rathaus (1883). We also found the Herrengasse subway stop just a short block away. We were back at the hotel about 4:15. After a short rest, we walked to La Favorita, a small Italian restaurant a block away, for dinner. Then we caught the bus at 7:30 for the optional musical program by the Weiner Residenzorchestra. It was staged in a beautiful baroque palace, but with absolutely the worst acoustics we've ever heard. Although the costumed performers (musicians, singers, and dancers) were reasonably talented, there were no more than 15 of them altogether. (The many performances touted by hawkers on the streets all had several times that many.). About half the musicians were young girls who almost certainly were students. All in all, the evening was a disappointment. The bus got us back to the hotel about 10:30, and we walked back to La Favorita for some ice cream before going to bed.
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