This was our second visit to Vienna with Viking as this cruise started there and so overlapped with the end of our first river cruise in 2022. However, Vienna is a big city, overflowing with palaces – a legacy of the Hapsburg dynasty, so there was plenty more to see. As we remembered from last time, everywhere you go there are grand buildings and monuments. We chose to visit 2 palaces which we had missed last time, and coupled with the contingent taxi rides we felt we have now seen enough of the city, so that box is ticked. It is, for us, at once both beautiful and yet the grandeur is just too much and unrelenting for comfort.
We visited the Schonbrunn Palace the first day and did this independently which initially was a disaster. We had booked via Get Your Guide – its useful to do this as the visits are timed and you get your own real live guide. However, you have to get to a meeting point by a certain time, and even thought we had left plenty of time we were let down hugely by Uber and missed our slot despite another driver trying his best to get us there. As we were then at the palace anyway, we went to the ticketing office and booked our own slot – luckily with only a 40-minute wait so we had time for a coffee and apple strudel, first of several this trip!
We used the audio guides, which give most of the same information the guide would have done and have the advantage of allowing you to take your own time, or not. I will let the photos speak for themselves. Its an overwhelming building and we only saw part of it. I called it the definition of opulence! 😲
There is a lot of history to absorb regarding the Hapsburgs and the Austro-Hungarian empire. I will not attempt to relay that here as I am sure Wikipedia has done the job well enough.
Some of the decoration was truly stunning, and as you can see the colour schemes vary from one room to the next, but the impact does not. There are huge paintings, huge mirrors, amazing ceilings and gilded mahogany wall panels all lit with intricate and often huge chandeliers. I would hate to be the cleaner 😉
The next day we went to the Sisi Museum and Hofburg palace, also with Get your Guide, and pre-booked the taxi so we were on time (early in fact), as again the visits are timed. The 2 buildings are joined and the tour passes from one to the other, without being told you can miss when this happens. The museum is in what were Sisi’s apartments, and her husband’s were in the Hofburg.
Sisi is the nickname of Empress Elisabeth who was married to Emperor Franz Joseph Hapsburg, the second to last Emperor of the Austrian empire – Austria finally became a republic at the end of the First World War, having triggered that war after Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.
Sisi’s story is quite sad, married at 15, and although her husband adored her, she was never really happy, very proud of her looks, but anorexic as she endeavoured to keep her tiny waist, and suffering from melancholy for most of her life. She tried to combat it by travelling extensively so was rarely in Vienna. As a result she was not much loved at the time by the Viennese. She spent a lot of time in Hungary, which we heard about during our time in Budapest, where they had a great affection for her as she learned Hungarian, a language like no other.
Her story is now well known in Vienna as a result of her shocking murder in Geneva at the age of 61 by a man disgruntled at the wealth of families like hers. Unfortunately for her, she was the one who he managed to find and corner. She didn’t even realise she had been stabbed and walked back to her accommodation. The tight corset she still chose to wear was in fact keeping her alive and when it was released, she quickly bled to death.
After the museum of her clothes etc we also visited some of his and her apartments before a quick look in the gardens. We finished up late lunchtime, but abandoned the hot house café in the grounds as rather the menu was too up market, and it was, funnily enough, rather too hot in there! Instead, we found the 1516 brewery / pub not too far away with nice local beer and better priced local food, plus some signs with a sense of humour – this is one place where we did feel comfortable 😎
