Vienna...but no sausages

"Did you see it?" she said excitedly.

"See what?" was my response.

"The horse," she said, her tone implying that I should have known.

"What horse? We're in the middle of the city," I said.

"It IS the Spanish Riding School," she said emphatically.

"We ARE in Vienna, AUSTRIA!" I responded.

"That just shows what you know. The Royal Lipizzaner Stallions are trained here in Vienna at the Spanish Riding School," spoken by her matter-of-factly with just a tinge of condescension.

"Well, I still didn't see one!" was my response.

"He stuck out his head briefly from his stall. Did you know that they are born black and turn white upon reaching adulthood?"

"Rubbish!" i responded using a word I had picked up from a British friend.

"Folks now that we have seen the stables, let's move back out into the streets of Vienna," boomed the voice of our tour guide in Mid-western accented English.  Frank, our tour guide, was an American that had married a local girl some thirty years prior to our visit.

We continued on to Josefplatz (Joseph's Square in English) in the bright morning sunlight. This square was a part of the Hofburg Palace. It is named for Emperor Joseph II of Austria and is considered one of the finest courtyards in Vienna. The life-size statue of Joseph on his horse is

a preferred perch by local pigeons. We had previously seen the palace from its other side at the beginning of our tour. It has an interesting curved facade. And the stables for the Lipizzaner stallions had been the royal stables.

Vienna has all the hustle and bustle of all European cities.  There are over one million inhabitants in the second largest German speaking city in Europe.  Vienna is continuedly voted the best city in the world in which to live.

Once it was considered the world center of socialism. In 1914 Adolf HItler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud, and Josef Stalin were residents. The coffeehouses of Vienna were their frequents haunts. We did not make it to a coffeehouse but did have coffee in an outdoor cafe. Actually, Evelyn, Steve, Claudette and I enjoyed brauners, coffee with cream. There was an oboe quartet playing nearby beneath the Pestsaule. This monument, known as the Plague Column,  was inaugurated in 1693.   After window shopping a bit we took the bus back to the ship for lunch...and a quick nap.



The bus picked us up at the ship after lunch for our ride to Schonbrunn Palace.

In about twenty minutes we reached the second palace we would see in Vienna. In 1569 the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II, purchased the property along the river for a hunting lodge. From that year it has grown into the 1441 room palace it is today. Incidentally, this is a summer palace, i.e. a vacation home. Today the palace and grounds are an international tourist attraction attracting 2.6 million visitors per year. When we visited there were many visitors but since the grounds are so vast

"Inside Schoenbrunn Palace Vienna" by Reubentg - Visited Vienna in July 2012. Via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_Schoenbrunn_Palace_

Vienna.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Inside_Schoenbrunn_Palace_Vienna.jpg

it seemed uncrowded. Touring the interior was more congested but much less than Saturday at Versailles. The interior of the palace is what you would expect in opulence. To me some of the decoration seems almost gaudy. It is as though there was a law against having an unadorned wall. No photography was allowed. Sometimes the argument is that the light from camera flashes fades the colors of the furnishings but I believe the prohibition of photographs allows the gift shop to sell more postcards and picture books.

Maximilian II created the first zoo at what was first a place to hunt wild game. This former hunting preserve is now the formal gardens of Schonbrunn Palace. As you exit the rear of the palace the

formal gardens come into view. They stretch out before you culminating at the base of a two hundred foot hill topped by an ornamental structure known as the Gloriette. Here I became familiar with a folly*. It seems that in the mid-eighteenth century royalty held Roman ruins in such high esteem that if none existed on their property they would pay an architect to design and build some.

Our visit to this UNESCO World Heritage Site was quite enjoyable although it was a very warm day. Perhaps we would have enjoyed it more if we had had more time. 

*Fol-ly

noun

1. 1.

   lack of good sense; foolishness.

   "an act of sheer folly"

   • 
     

     
     
2. 2.

   a costly ornamental building with no practical purpose, especially a tower or mock-Gothic ruin built in a large garden or park.