Eurotrip: Austria (Part 4)

We woke up early on the morning of July 9th because it was a special day: the day we met up with my parents and sisters, for the first time in over a year! (Little did we know at that point that we'd be seeing my parents a lot earlier than we had planned only shortly after our vacation...) We collected everything quickly, checked out, and arrived at the train station plenty early for our 45-minute-long train ride from Bratislava to Vienna. The train was nice and empty, and we were told to sit wherever we chose, so we sat down in the first-class section (which had bigger seats and more leg room). We arrived at the hotel, but my family hadn't arrived yet. So we waited, anxiously...and waited...and waited (their flight was due to arrive at the same time as our train arrived; since the airport was a little farther than the train station, I thought we might arrive a little before them, but not a significant amount). Around the two hour mark, we decided to venture out for a few minutes. There was an English-language bookstore across the street, so we walked over there and browsed. I had intended to purchase something, but the cost made me reconsider ($15 for a paperback, $20 for a magazine), so we ended up empty-handed. As we waited to cross the street back to the hotel, Brenden spotted my mom. We rushed across the street and hugged everyone. I was so excited I couldn't hardly stand still.

After checking in and depositing our luggage in our rooms, we ate at a little neighborhood restaurant around the street, where we had way too much fantastic Austrian/German food (lots and lots of schnitzel), then we went out for a tram tour of the Ring. After a complete tour on the tram around the Ring, we got off the tram and began our walking tour. First we saw Mozart's statue, with a cute little music note created out of flowers in front of it. We walked past part of the Hofburg Palace (it's enormous!) and then to the Hapsburg parish church, right next to the Hofburg, the Augustinerkirche (St. Augustine's Church). This church is memorable for a large marble memorial to Maria Christina, Maria Theresa's favorite daughter (and the only daughter allowed to marry for love instead of alliance). I, personally, think the memorial is rather creepy and Masonic-looking, but other people have described it as moving, so I guess it depends on your perspective. The chapel in the church also contains (in an urn) the hearts of 54 Hapsburg rulers. Also creepy, in my opinion, and even creepier when you realize the Ducal Crypt, underneath Stephansdom, also has innards of Hapsburgs, and the Imperial Crypt is where most of their bodies are. I'm not sure what the point was of separating them all out like that.

Speaking of which, after Augustinerkirche, our next destination was the Imperial Crypt. Most of the sarcophagi were pretty ornate. Especially in the early years (1600s and early 1700s), a popular ornamentation was a crucifix next to a skull. Most sarcophagi were rather ornate, and Charles VI's sarcophagi even had a skull with the Holy Roman Emperor's crown on it. Next up was the final activity of our first day in Vienna, the Votivkirche (Votive Church) which was built to fulfill a vow made after a failed assassination attempt on Franz Ferdinand. The church had a beautiful altar and stunning stained glass windows, and was one of my favorites of the trip.

The next morning, we set out first thing to see Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Church), the most important church in Vienna. We climbed up the south tower, which stands 445 feet high, and has gorgeous views overlooking all of Vienna. The tiling on Stephansdom is quite striking, full of lovely green, white, yellow, and black tiles. I think churches should definitely bring gorgeous tiling like that back!

Before we got to our next stop, we made a quick detour to Demel, Vienna's most exclusive chocolatier. We enjoyed the rich chocolate as we made our way toward the Hofburg. On our way there, we visited Roman ruins that were found recently when the city dug up the street to do road repair. More extensive (and interesting) Roman ruins probably lie under the Hofburg also, but no one's going to dig under there! Finally, we entered into the Hofburg complex through an impressive gate flanked by statues of Hercules performing four out of the famous twelve labors. Inside the courtyard beyond the gate, there were eight more statues of Hercules, as well as a large copper statue. One more gate, and finally we arrived at the Imperial Treasury Schatzkammer, which was full of the Holy Roman Empire and Austrian Empire jewels, vestements, relics, and artifacts, as well as the private collection of the Hapsburgs. The gorgeous things inside were immense, beginning with the robes and regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Austrian Emperor, and ending with countless icons and various Christian relics, including “the” Holy Lance. I was most impressed by the various items of clothing, some of which were for coronations only, but others for everyday. And, boy, was some of that everyday wear pretty fancy! In particular, I was impressed by the clothing for babies and toddlers. I have a nephew and two nieces, all under the age of two, so I've seen what babies can do to their clothes. And yet, these Hapsburg babies were wearing richly ornamented and delicately constructed baby-wear everyday. How did they not get totally soiled? The jewels were also quite impressive, although many of the jewelry is impressive for the size of the jewels, but not necessarily their beauty or sparkle. The Imperial Crowns of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire were both pretty impressive, however, as was the 2,860 carat Colombian emerald.

After our busy morning, we ate lunch quickly, and then Brenden and I went off to the Kunsthistoriches Museum (Art History Museum). Mom, Dad, Ari, and Sierra went to a few other, smaller museums, then joined us at the Kunst later on. The Kunst is HUGE...we were there for 5 hours or so, and only saw half of the exhibits, in a somewhat cursory manner. We began in the Picture Gallery with the Renaissance room. After over two hours in the Renaissance section of the Picture Gallery, I headed off to the Egyptian Collection with Sierra, then on to the Greek and Roman Antiquities, while Brenden went to the Coin Collection. We left, overloaded but overjoyed. It was a fantastic museum, and there is still much we didn't get to see there.

Friday we had planned to see the Schonbrunn, and whatever else we could squeeze into our day. The first event was Peterskirche (St. Peter's Church), notable for its richly ornamented inside and beautiful tiled roof. After that, Sierra and I went shopping for an hour or two while Mom, Dad, and Ari went out to Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) to find the graves of famous musicians (Strauss, Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms are all buried there). After meeting up at the Metro, we picnicked just outside of Schonbrunn, then explored the grounds before going on an informative and enjoyable guided tour (normally, I don't care for guided tours because I don't like walking around with strangers at their pace—however, this group was small, and our guide was fantastic, so it was great!). The grounds are huge, and quite beautiful, and the rooms are so opulent and impressive—basically, it's the only rival Versailles has in Europe in terms of opulence. The day was really, really hot, though, so by the end of the guided tour, we were exhausted. After resting back at the hotel, we went back to Peterskirche for an organ concert, and then coffee and pastries at a little cafe, a perfect end to a delightful last day in Vienna.

Altar inside the Votivkirche:

Outside of the Votivkirche:

With the Stephansdom replica:

North tower and lovely tiling at Stephansdom:

Hofburg Palace:

Inside the Egyptian Collection at the Kunsthistoriches Museum:

Schonbrunn Palace: