Vienna - Day 1 PM

Our Vienna Passes are for 2 consecutive days, whereas the travel cards are for 48 hours, a subtle but important difference.  In order to get maximum use out of the VPs we have to wait until Wednesday to start using them.

This is the front of the Hofburg Palace Complex and when we booked neither of us thought about Christmas Markets and sadly the city is covered with them, so all the lovely buildings and squares have been ruined by pop up stalls.

The Spanish Riding School's Morning Exercise is done within the Palace and included in our VP.  As  we'd read that really long queues formed for this each day, our first job was to do a recky to see exactly where we needed to go.  The helpful lady at the kiosk could have actually issued our tickets for tomorrow but we'd left our VPs in the safe.

As we were already in the same complex as the Hofburg Palace Museum we decided to spend £15 cash entrance fee as we didn't think we'd have time the next couple of days to use the VP here.  It was a wonderful museum dedicated to the former Hapsburg Monarchy (Empire) of which Empress Marie Theresa is probably the most famous and also the only female ruler - also mother of 16 children including Marie Antoinette of France.

Firstly the Imperial Silver Collection which housed not only cutlery but also crockery with some of the most exquisite dinner services used for state banquets over many centuries.

There was loads to see but it did get a bit repetitive after a while so we skipped a bit and moved on to the Sisi Museum.   Unfortunately no photography allowed but having had the phone vs camera argument in Prague I thought I'd put it to the test here and was pleased to be told off for taking this picture of a very detailed model of the Hapsburg Palace on my phone.

Empress Elizabeth (Sisi) was only 16 when she married her cousin Franz Joseph 1 and seems to have been a rather tragic figure who had difficulty dealing with her fame and position in society.  Despite being adored by her husband, she gradually withdrew from public and family life and enjoyed travelling widely and undertaking daring sports.  She was also a depressive and wrote many times of how she longed for death.  She was assassinated in 1898 whilst travelling in Italy aged just 60.

She was a beautiful woman who spent many hours having her extremely long hair brushed and styled. (not my photos)

She also spent many hours ensuring she kept her tiny figure and had bars fitted to her bedroom walls so she could exercise.

I particularly love this painting.

Whether she was as revered whilst she was alive I don't know but it would seem that 1950s Hollywood films helped create the Princess Diana like tragic figure.

Next were the state apartments of Franz Joseph and his Empress which were beautifully decorated but again no photos allowed, so these are pinched from the internet.

I particularly enjoyed the rather sophisticated 18th century heating systems which involved ceramic chimneys in the corners of the room to which hot air or steam was continually piped (you can see the units either side of the mirror on the right above.

I usually get quite bored and fidgety going around museums but these were really interesting.  An audio guide was included in the ticket price and the commentary gave you a real sense of the palace and the lives lived within - thoroughly recommended.

Next stop was St Stephen's Cathedral, an amazing and impossibly tall building .

Inside was rather beautiful and photos were allowed but without flash so these aren't so good.

And I always have to photograph the organ console in memory of my Dad.