We arrived in Vienna yesterday afternoon, and after being wowed by the grander of St. Stephens cathedral immediately beside our subway stop we carried on to our apartment hotel on Riemergasse and settled in.
While mom rested, I went for a short neighbourhood walk to pick up supplies for dinner and breakfast; coming back, I prepared our meal and we discussed whether to go out and explore. We opted to try Rick Steves' tram tour which I remembered fondly from my last visit in 2008. Making our way to the nearest segment of the ringstrasse we caught a tram to the opera house to follow the audioguide.
Following the instructions we hopped on tram #2 and pressed play. We're not sure what went wrong, but my sound kept cutting out and mom's couldn't keep up with the tram's speed - we were zooming along and missed all of the highlights. Suddenly it was time to switch trams which I only knew from reading the blurb before heading out. Hopping on the #1 tram we tried again but had the same problem. At one point mom said ""No, I DON'T see the ivy covered building Rick!" Knowing the good stuff was coming up, I directed mom to hop off at the next stop and I shared the little I knew about the rathaus and parliament.
We then hopped the subway back to Stephensplatz and went home to get a good sleep.
This morning we walked through the old town toward the Hofburg.
We had prebooked tickets to the Sisi museum, but that didn't mean we weren't packed in like sardines. We pucked up our audio guides, asking for English and off we went, pressing play. Um, that's Italiano. Back to the desk where the staff apologized and reset the devices. And off we went again, pressing play. Um, c'est français. And back to the desk. Reset. Still French. (By now I wasn't walking off again!) Another try ... English. Hallalelujah!
We wedged ourselves among the others already in the tiny corridors lined with photos and artifacts, craning our necks to find the next audioguide number to play. There are some real treasures to view, and Sisi's tragic story is worth hearing. But it was difficult at times to deal with the heat and crowds.
At last things opened up and we moved i to the Imperial apartments where Franz Josef and Elizabeth lived (when she was not traveling to try to escape the misery of court.
Franz's desk, where he dealt with the business of state, revealed the deep love he held for his wife. Her portrait was placed where he could see his "angel" whenever he looked up from his papers.
Sisi's apartments have authentic furnishings that were miraculously found in the palace storage rooms. Not pictured is the dressing table where she spent 2-3 hours each day having her ankle length hair styled.
And her daily exercise regime took place next door.
From the palace we made our way to the stables of the Spanish Riding School where we were lucky enough to see some of the stallions returning from their daily exercises. We are looking forward to a performance on Saturday!
Our last stop of the morning was Café Bräunerhof for lunch (late breakfast for me!) and some desserts.
Afterward we went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, popping out for more supplies, until late afternoon when we headed to the Prater. Google transit told us it would be 20 minutes of walking plus transit, or simply a 30 minute walk. We decided to walk it - but Google isn't an almost 80 year old petite woman - it took far longer than promised. And we started to suspect that Austrians never sit down - until we found one of the only benches in Vienna (At the tome I said in all of Austria, and mom called out my hyperbole.)
At last, we made it to the Riesenrad and enjoyed a slow ride giving views across the city.
Hungry and somewhat tired, it was time to head home. You'd think we'd have learned not to trust Google. But no.
We figured we'd take the subway back and so off we went toward the U1 line. Out of the Prater, past the Shell gas station, down the road. Ah, there it is ahead on the left. Walk a little farther. And Google says turn right. Huh? It's right there. Isn't it? Looking to the right, we see another station. Almost back where the Shell station stands. Fine. Trudge trudge. Down into the station. Down several flights of stairs (Mom opted against the elevator and regretted it half way down.) Along the platform. Up some escalators. Along a long tunnel. Down some more stairs, and pretty confident we're under the blasted station we saw ahead on our left. Thanks Google.
At last we boarded our train back to Stephensplatz and trudged home where I made mom a nice hot dinner while she put her feet up.
Almost time for bed. Tomorrow we will hit the Kunsthistoriche museum in the morning and attend an evening concert at the Schonbrunn Palace orangery.
Good night!
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