Sept 15 More Vienna

Thu, Sept 15, More Vienna

We spent a lot of time yesterday figuring out the many variations of the Vienna public transportation system. First there is the metro, whose symbol is an “S”, that looks more like a bolt of lightning than an S. These trains run mostly below ground, and their train numbers begin with S, like S1 and S2. Next is the underground, whose symbol is a “U”, train numbers U1, U2, etc, which also run below ground, but at a different level than the metro trains. Above ground, there are busses and also trams. There is a special streetcar for tourists called the “ring tram”, which functions like a hop-on/off sightseeing bus following a route of a large ring around the central city area. The tourist map of this complex system is daunting. They do color code the different routes, and use heavy lines on the map to show the metro routes and a thin line to represent the routes of the underground.

To move between different systems, one must go up or down levels. Often there are escalators to move people, but almost as frequently, there are just long flights of stairs. Believe me, we do not need a stairmaster. Navigating this system has kept us moving and often on the stairs. Even with the map, we found ourselves frequently disagreeing about whether we needed to go up a level or down. We finally became more aware of signs with arrows showing the direction  (up or down) to the S level or the U level. Yesterday was a day of trial and error—actually not any errors, but lots of discussion and letting some trains pass us by until we were sure which we needed to take. And of course, as with any system like this, you not only have to figure out which train to take, but which direction to take it in. Anyhow, we learned enough that we will plan to travel by public transportation today with our three-day Vienna Card.

Using our travel guidebook, I developed a proposed agenda for the day and David agreed to it. We ate breakfast at the Marriott, then left before 9 and took the metro to the mid-town station, transferred to the underground to reach the Stadtpark station. Our destination is the Spanish Riding School, the training site of the famous Lipizzaner stallions. They have “morning exercise” from10 to 12 and it is accompanied by lovely classical music. We come up to ground level and begin to look around. I spot what looks like part of a palace and we walk in that direction, as we know the school is a part of the palace complex. We soon have the palace in view and as we near it, there is a sign with a “you are here” map of the grounds. Now we know where to go. We stand in line to get tickets and also to get admitted, as it is not yet 10 am. Once inside, we see a large oval building with a sawdust type floor. There are three levels of seats ringing the oval above the arena. The horses and riders come out one at a time, but soon the arena has about 10 horses, with the riders literally putting them through their paces. Each works independently, so some horses are cantering, some are walking diagonally, some prancing with fancy steps. All of them really strut their stuff. They are all beautiful and so graceful. A monitor walks among the tourists trying to enforce the no photos rule, but we see flashes going off all the time. There is a man with a small rake and scoop picking up after the horses. Some horses go out and others come it. It is so fun to watch them and reminds me of my horsewoman sister, Shirley.

We pull ourselves away to go on a tour of the Hofburg Palace, which was the Hapsburg’s winter home. We get a hand held audio guide and take over two hours to go through three areas. The first is the display of dishware and silverware. There are dozens of rooms with beautiful dishes of many designs. There are ones with dolphins to use on the boat, and ones with game animals to use at the hunting lodge and ones for use at their palace on Korfu—you get the idea. There are hundreds of plates of silver as well as gold, plus all the serving pieces. There are displays of the linens and even the porcelain “personal” pieces like toothbrush boxes and chamber pots. There was a gold centerpiece which was more than 30 feet long. We also learned about the security system so that none of the staff took anything. Lists were made of what was needed and they were checked in and out of the storage sites. We also learned about napkin folding and how important the secrets of folding were. Only a few people of each generation learned how.

The second section of the tour is to educate us about their beloved empress, Elizabeth, who was called Sissy. This too was a lengthy series of rooms which were really a biography of her life with many portraits and photographs. She had hair that reached down to her ankles and it took her staff nearly two hours a day to arrange it in the braided crown which was her usual style. We have learned so much about this woman both in Hungary as well as here in Vienna. She was considered the most  beautiful woman  in the world at the time, was an excellent horsewoman, winning many honors, and was  fatally stabbed when she was visiting a friend in Greece. Three Hollywood movies have been made of her life.

The next part of the tour was to visit the apartments—the actual living quarters of the Emperor and Empress. Much of their furniture was saved and this part of the tour was very complete and interesting.

By now it is nearly 2 and we decide to take a break for lunch. We walk into a nearby park where there is an outdoor restaurant. David orders a beer and a ham plate, which actually has slices of cold ham and lots of horseradish along with bread to make it into sandwiches. I have a grilled ham and cheese and it tastes very good. I was hungry! We are still near the palace and want to see the treasury collection. Again, this is room after room of beautiful robes for the Emperor and his staff—some have been saved since the early 1100s. There are gem-encrusted swords and crowns and all manner of articles made of gems-like an entire arrangement of gem flowers. There is a large rose bush made entirely of gold—it even has gold thorns. There are gem-covered shoes and gloves and other articles of clothing with gems on them. All have amazing detail. Some have so any gems it looks like the designed just kept looking for a place to put just one more. Dazzled til we are dizzy, we decide to go back to the hotel to rest, as we have concert tickets for tonight. As we head back, there is some problem going on with the transit system. We can tell by the signs that some trains are delayed and some have been cancelled. Fortunately, we can take one of four trains to get to the hotel, so our wait is only about 30 minutes.

The temperature was a bit cooler today, none-the-less, I wore my new shorts and was very comfortable today. What a relief!

We wonder about taking a taxi to the concert, but decide we are getting used to the public system. We get out the map and plan our route and execute it without a problem—until we try to find the venue. We have a map and we can see that we are on the right street, but we cannot find the Vienna Imperial Hall. We walk around the block, asking of restaurant staff and others along the street. We know we must be near, but where is it? Finally I step into a hotel lobby and get more specific directions and she even says it is a brick building. We have indeed walked past it, but the entry door faces a side street that is more like an alley. Frustrating! We have wasted time looking for it so have less than an hour for dinner. We first confirm that we know where to go, then stop at a sidewalk café. I have Hungarian goulash and David has a beer and a sausage. Good food, but we are eating it quickly! There is a man at a nearby table who is laughing too loudly, very disruptive and having the time of his life. We are not sure if he has been drinking, but decide to move to a table away from him.

We get to the concert just in time to be seated before it starts. It is a great concert with a 10- member orchestra-a piano, percussion, flute, clarinet and six strings. They are professionals and make lovely music. They are from the Vienna Philharmonic. During three songs, there is a soprano and a tenor from the opera who sing for us and during three songs, a ballet couple dances. The music is familiar classical pieces, like Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmisik”. They play some Strauss waltzes and a polka. During one of the waltzes, the ballet couple comes out and dances a waltz , but it is so graceful and so much more that simply a waltz. All too soon, the program has ended. We can celebrate enjoying a great concert in Vienna! We easily find our way back home, ready to call it a night.