Day 16 Salzburg - Vienna
 April
19, 2005. Today we started exploring the Imperial City
of Vienna. Our starting point was the Innere Staadt of the 1st
district where our hotel is situated. This is the heart of the old city and is
surrounded by the legendary ring road which surrounds the old city. Many parts
of the ring road are devoted to pedestrian traffic only, which makes it very
easy to get around. From our hotel we walked up the ring road in front of our
hotel to the Opera House.
From the Opera House we
headed out of the old city to the Schunbrunn Palace. This magnificent Hapsburg
Palace of 1,444 rooms was designed by the master of Barocque architecture, the
van Earlachs, and it was built between 1696 and 1712. Emperor Leopold I
envisioned it as a grand palace which would surpass that of Versailles in
France. When Maria Theresa became Empress, she finished the palace and today it
looks much as she conceived it.
 Schunbrunn
Palace was damaged in World War II by Allied bombs, but renovations have removed
the scars. The State Apartments are the most stunning display in the palace.
Most of the interior is decorated in the rococo style, done in red, white and
gold. We visited 40 of the rooms and certainly the most magnificent is the “Room
of Millions”, the grandest rococo salon in the world. It is decorated with
Indian Persian miniatures.
The gardens surrounding the
palace are huge and are laid out in the traditional style of walkways, grass and
large flower beds. We were a couple of weeks early for all the blooms to be out
but it was still pleasant to walk on the green grass and see the leaves
beginning to bud on the trees.
From the palace it was back
to the Ringstrosse to enjoy our lunch. As usual, we bought Vienna passes which
are good for travel for three days on the subways, trams and busses of Vienna.
With the help of a city and a subway map we set out to find the Auersperg Palace
where our evening concert was to be held. From our hotel we headed to the Opera
station looking for the U2 subway line. That was easy and two stops later we
were in front of the palace.
We were early, so we walked a
couple of blocks and found a local pub for our dinner. Unlike Switzerland, the
Vienna restaurants have non-smoking areas which is a pleasant relief. We gorged
ourselves on bratwurst and Cordon Bleau.
The palace has been
completely restored and the concert took place in the main hall. The Vienna
Residence Orchestra, a Viennese chamber orchestra with long tradition, was
founded to perform the music of the "Wiener Klassik" in its purest form. The
program consisted of works from Mozart and Johann Strauss, played by 7
musicians, 2 opera singers and 2 dancers.
The music included well known
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart favorites such as The Overture to The Marriage of
Figaro; Papageno-Papagena, Duet from The Magic Flute; and the Duet from Don
Giovanni. Johann Strauss favorites included the Emperor's Waltz; an Aria from
The Gypsy Baron; Tick Tack Polka; and the Blue Danube Waltz.
After the performance was
over it was down the stairs and out the door for the short walk to the U2 subway
line. Back in our hotel in ten minutes and time to relax with a bottle of Henkle
Trocken.
Stay tuned for Day 17 in my
“Around the World in 30 Days” saga.
Alan Salmon
eClub One
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