vienna

ok, so this is like the 3rd time i've sat down to write a post about vienna, but it just never happened. i had a good time in vienna - the history and elegance of the city could be seen everywhere. vienna was pretty much the seat of power of the hapsburg empire (holy roman empire, austria-hungarian empire) from the last 1200-WWI. and the fell of the city is from the late 1700-mid 1800s in the architecture and style. so i got into vienna early on tuesday morning and the weather was kinda icky. rainy, cloudy and just blah. so i decided to go out and explore for a bit and see where i ended up. i walked down the main street and ended up at the imperial palace. so i walked around that complex for a while and decided to go check out the silver collection of the hapsburg's and the imperial apartments. and wow, the silver collection (and china) wow! the state dinners were no laughing matter. 8-9 courses and up to 150 people daily. the collection was just incredible to see! and the state apartment of Emperor Francis Jospeh and his wife Elizabeth from the end of the 19th century. The apartments were cool and I just love the wallpaper and furnishings!

After that I just kinda walked around and ended up walking down the main shopping street and also by the big cathedral and into a few other smaller churches and just got a feel for the city. Since the weather still was kinda ehhh, and I was tired I just called it a night. And I was glad I did, when I got back to the hostel I felt like crap and pretty much just went to bed.

Luckily I felt better when I woke up and the sun was shining! I was headed out into the suburbs a bit to go to Schonbrunn Palace - the Hapsburg's Summer Palace in Vienna, and WOW! It was absolutely gorgeous. They had this amazing red pineapple damask wallpaper that I love! And their great room - wow! I just love palaces! I walked around their gardens a bit, but as it was January, not that exciting. Sadly I didn't take a lot of pictures in Vienna, a lot of the places I went photos weren't allowed. Boo!

After the palace I went back to the city center to explore more and I decided to check out tickets at the Opera House. I was planning on getting a standing ticket for like 5 euro an hour before, but I was curious if anything else was available. And there was a ticket in the 11th row for 40 euro which should have been 105 euro. So I decided to take it, for 20 I could have had a corner seat in an upper balcony, so why not enjoy the Vienna Opera like I should? And I was SOOOO glad I did! They were showing a ballet - Schritte Und Spuren - which was 4 smaller pieces into one, and I've never seen ballet like that. The set and costumes were minimal, the orchestra was fabulous and a lot of the pieces I recognized. And the dancers, well were awesome. It was a very sexually themed ballet and in the first one the guys had their shirts off and wow, their abs & backs... so I was thinking I wish I could see their legs (I'm such a leg girl) and next one, yuppp, pretty much just wearing briefs... and the last one - yup, they were all topless, including the females. it was interesting to see the muscles in the human body during the performance and it was such a work of art that went with the music and dancing. So I really enjoyed it and had a blast, plus the inside of the Opera House is just gorgeous!

And on my last day the weather was crap again... and I wanted to head out of town a bit to go to the cemetery where Mozart, Beethoven and other famous musicians, composers and Austrians were buried. So that was cool to see and I enjoyed the tram ride though Vienna. And the afternoon I had the best chocolate cake ever - omg delish! And then I just walked around. I wanted to walk around more, but I was cold & wet. I also wanted to go to the treasury to see the Hapsburg royal jewels but I just ran out of time. I kinda took it slow in Vienna, as I was tired and the weather was ehhh. I enjoyed the city and it was nice to relax a bit more than I had been the last few days.

And then I was up at the crazy hour of 4:15 this morning to catch a 6:40 plane to Cologne, Germany which is where I am until Saturday evening when I head to Amsterdam!!!!! And it seems like I have most of my Cork plans figured out, which I am ecstatic for. I've missed Cork so much, and getting to see Brenda, Kara, Sharon, Denise and others I've missed! I can't believe it has been almost 2 years since I left. Crazy...

at the ballet at the vienna opera house

vienna opera house at night

gold place settings from the silver collection of the hapsburgs

at the Imperial Palace in Vienna

Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna

St. Stephen's Cathedral - they are renovating it and you can see where is real and where is a giant picture!

sneaky photo of one of my favorite rooms from the summer palace

amazing chocolate cake

saying hi to beethoven

austrian parliament!

Anyway enjoy the Vienna pictures! Anyone have any fun weekend plans?