We’re delighted to learn that instead of a bus we can take public transit into the central city area of Vienna, so off we on a new metro system. Barney and I always try to take public transit wherever we can, not only for professional reasons for him, but we both like mingling with people on their way to work or school. We came up at the Operplaz, to the magnificence of this 18th century building, 70% destroyed in WWII and rebuilt so you’d almost never know. The key seems to be the ceilings, which are probably the first to be damaged by bombs and the hardest to repair, thus we see many new plaster, undecorated ceilings. Outside we see the first of many costumed young men, who are actually mobile ticket sellers and general info people.
As we walk through the central city (inside the Ringstrasse) I’m struck by how many people seem to be on holiday … then someone on the metro tells us it is some sort of local holiday. Everyone seems to have busted out their sundresses and tank tops for the 85-degree weather.
As we tour the city, we’re delighted to learn that our guide owns a mare which is related to the Lippizaner line, an we spend some time near the Spanish Riding School. Sure enough, at about 11:00am, the horses exit their training session, and cross over to the stables. It’s as though Mick Jagger suddenly appeared on the street an was surrounded by papparazzi …. A huge crowd converged on the horses, who graciously posed while the tourists were snapping away. I got a few photos of them going into the stables. I so want to come back to see them perform.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral was lovely (and crowded) but I managed to get a photo of Barney as if he were playing one of the organ consoles.
With his new-found expertise in charcuterie, Barney closely inspected the offerings here.
And the marzipan was simply gorgeous (yes, ladybugs!), and figs that looked like real figs, I swear.
We went to the street-level café, and had some traditional Viennese coffee (I could so get used to this), a sandwich and a nice chef’s salad.
Fortified, we went onward, and took the metro the the Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of Maria Thereisa. She was a remarkable woman, who really ran the country politically while her husband pursued his scientific studies for 40 years, and during that time she had 16 – yes, 16! – children, and won a few wars on the side. Truly a remarkable woman. She built a summer palace that rivaled Versailles, huge and impressive. It was quite warm, about 82 degrees, which is a bit hard for me, so we walked through the gardens a bit and found a shady bench, quite relaxing.
A long bus ride back, a lovely five-course dinner, seeing fishing cottages out the window, and then spent the evening on the sundeck (in the dark) seeing the beautifully lit castle at Bratislava, and long stretches with no lights visible at all. Beautiful and peaceful.
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