Our Vienna Visit

It’s been raining every day since we returned from our trip to Vienna, Salzburg and Madrid. And when it rains here, it tends to pour. None of that Seattle drizzly stuff. Although you would think that being cooped up inside would be conducive to writing a few blog posts, we’ve been lazy. So here goes – Vienna.

Vienna is known as one of the most cosmopolitan and livable cities in Europe. It had been on our list for a while, and it jumped up the list after Jeff’s sister’s family spent a month there this summer. When we realized that we could head somewhere from Madrid, where we would be to meet up with dear LA friends, Cathy and Karen Ostiller, Vienna seemed like the obvious choice. We’re glad we finally made it there.

We had one beautiful, sunny day, which we spent at Schonbrunn Palace – the Hofburg dynasty’s summer home. The audio-guided tour through the palace (which we listened to in Spanish, of course) was interesting enough, but the hordes of tourists became a bit overwhelming, so we headed out to enjoy the gardens, which were lovely.

In the end, ornate palaces only make us think of Mel Brooks saying, “It’s good to be the King,” and of income inequality. So, we skipped the Hofburg palace in the city. We did however enjoy the morning exercise at the Spanish Riding School, which in on the palace grounds. The school has a 450-year history and is the home of the world-famous Lipizzaner stallions. The morning exercise is an opportunity to watch the horses rehearse, and we got lucky and saw two perform the pas-de-deux from the actual show. The performance hall is quite ornate.

As usual, we ate our way through the city, trying kasekrainer (a cheesy sausage), sacher torte, schnitzel, and the coffee culture. A cup of coffee is expensive in Vienna! We also saw a classical music concert in St. Peter’s church. To this day, there is more live music performed in Vienna, especially classical music, than any other city in Europe.

We found the Anker clock, built in 1911-1914, which forms a bridge between the two parts of the Anker Insurance building. In the course of 12 hours, twelve historical figures or pairs of figures move across the bridge (notice the numbers above their heads, which marks the hour). We saw two of them on our way to and from the Archives of the Austrian Resistance.

Vienna has no shortage of royal sites, churches and museums. Certainly more than you can take in over a five-day visit. We enjoyed the Batliner collection of Impressionist and Modernist art at the Albertina museum, and I even went back at the end of the day to take in a special Durer exhibit after the daytime crowds had cleared out.

We appreciated the walkability of the city, as well as the well-designed metro system. We only wish the weather had held up. It turned cold and we didn’t get to enjoy the city’s parks as much as we would have liked.

Auf wiedersehen,

Shana & Jeff