Vienna

In Front of Schoenbrunn Palace

Private Garden

Main Garden

Carriages on the Place Grounds

Today we spent the whole day in lovely Vienna, the classical music capital of the world.   We began the day with a visit to Schoenbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the Habsburg dynasty from the time of Maximilian II until the end of the monarchy in Austria.  The castle itself is huge,  with over 300 rooms plus a theater building, carriage house, and horse stables.   If that weren't enough, the property contains a huge front courtyard, massive gardens, statues, a garden maze, and a zoo!  The next to last emperor Karl Joseph and his empress Elizabeth had 16 children and preferred this to the main residence in the city.







We toured only a few rooms in the castle in the first hour and a half, then were given an hour of free time to wander in the gardens.  Many of the rooms we saw were decorated with oriental art.  Several of the children were also talented artists, and their art decorates some other rooms.  In particular, one daughter produces excellent family portraits.




On the bus ride to and from the palace the guide gave us a tour of the famous buildings we passed.   It is a beautiful city with lots of interesting architecture in a variety of styles. We passed the famous feris wheel that Ray rode when he was here many years ago.  There was another city tour offered in the afternoon, but we decided to rest instead.  We didn't want to fall asleep during our evening tour.  The ship's restaurant offered an early dinner buffet instead of the usual sit-down dinner.  We had wiener schnitzel, potato salad, and carrots, an excellent Austria meal.  At 7:30PM we boarded the buses again for a ride to the Heeresgeschichitiches Museum (Museum of Military History) for a concert of Strauss and Mozart music by the Salonorchester Alt Wien (Salon Orchestra of Vienna).

The building was spectacular.  Upon entering there are statues of military heroes lining the path to a grand staircase.  The ceilings above the staircase are all painted with art as in most baroque buildings. The entrance to the concert hall is on the second level. This is a large open room with a stage.  They use regular chairs for concerts because these can be removed when a ball is held in this room.  Our guide explained that balls are a big thing in Vienna.  Everyone learns to dance by age 15 and balls are held for every occasion.  For festival days a ball might be held in a building that has several ball rooms, each with a different stye of music.  This way, a multi-generational family can go to the same place , each generation going to the room with the music they like, then meeting up later for coffee or an after ball breakfast.

Entrance and Grand Staircase from the First Landing

AConcert Hall Ceiling

Our concert tonight consisted of 2 45 minute sets with an intermission and a glass of champagne or orange juice in between.   In addition to the orchestra there was a soprano, a baritone, and a pair of ballet dancers performing to some of the music.  This added a very nice interpretive layer to the music.  We enjoyed it very much.

On the way back to the ship we got another small city tour, seeing Vienna at night.  It was lovely.