Vienna
Friday 28-9-2018 Today we take our almost 4 hour train journey from Prague to Vienna (Praha to Wien) we had already got our tickets yesterday for just under 20 Euros and included our advanced seat booking. (I would advise that as the train was packed). I also found it cheaper to book with Czech Rail direct as with some of the Internet Ticket sales the price could well be double. We take the tram from our apartment to the station which is bustling with so many people, families, hikers, business people. However Prague’s main train station at Hlavni Nadrazi is a modern station with airport type features and a digital information board. Time for coffee. We set off to find our platform and kindly assisted by what we first thought was a rail employee kindly showing us the way. he turned out to be a 'professional' guide who wanted a tip to take us the right platform.With everyone hustling and bustling to get to their respective train doors, be sure to check ahead of time which section you’ll be sitting in. You don’t want to just jump into the first door you see only later to find out your seat is at the other end of the train. Your ticket will show which carriage you are in and the relevant seat numbers. Lots of people were confused but it is straight forward. If you have large luggage that needs extra space, it’s definitely a good idea to be at the tracks early and hop on as soon as you’re allowed to, so you can find a space within the designated baggage areas before they fill up.
The train was full with people standing in the corridor areas but it was comfortable and afforded a great view of the countryside as we passed by. This particular journey wasn’t necessarily scenic—mostly fields and small towns—but the experience on the train was great! Relaxing and watching as the countryside passed by as the train snaked its way down through the Czech Republic into Austria was the highlight for sure. The train was quite comfortable and spacious. You can soak up the onboard experience by enjoying a coffee or snack as there is a full buffet car.
We have drawn up a plan of where we want to visit most days but I am sure that will change as we progress.
We first have to find our AirB&B apartment at Messe Prater and find a tram and a 10 minute walk as we got off on the wrong stop. Our apartment is so close to the Messe Prater Purple U station adjacent to the Messe Conference Centre and University Campus. We are met by our host Werner and settle in after getting directions to the Spanish Riding School where we have booked for a show this evening.
Spanish Riding School
We find our way easily getting of at the Volkstheatre Station and walking across to the Hofburg Palace. The Spanish Riding School os one of Vienna’s most famous attractions, home of the Lipizzaner horses. These horses and their riders regularly perform shows in the winter riding school arena, a purpose built building which dates from 1729. The shows focus on classical dressage, and are rightly world famous. You are not allowed to take photographs whilst the shows are on.
The Spanish Riding School was named for the Spanish horses that formed one of the bases of the Lippizan breed, which is used exclusively at the school. Today the horses delivered to the Spanish Riding School are bred at the Pier Federal Stud located near the village of Pier in western Styria, Austria. One of the original studs used to develop the breed was Lipizza, now called Lipica, near Trieste in modern Slovenia which gave its name to the breed.
The Spanish Riding School has antecedents in military traditions dating as far back as Xenophon in Ancient Greece, and particularly from the military horsemanship of the post-medieval ages when knights attempted to retain their battlefield preeminence by shedding heavy armour and learning to manoeuver quickly and with great complexity on a firearms-dominated battlefield.
Traditionally, Lipizzaners at the school have been trained and ridden wholly by men, although the Spanish Riding School states that there has never been an official ban on women. In October 2008, two women, Sojourner Morrell, 18-year-old from the United Kingdom and Hannah Zeitlhofer, 21-year-old from Austria, passed the entrance exam and were accepted to train as riders at the school - the first women to do so in 436 years.
However, you don’t have to book tickets for a show to see these beautiful horses in action. On a number of mornings through the week, the riders and the horses do training exercises in the arena, and you can watch these training exercises for a moderate fee. 
If you are interested in the behind the scenes operation of the Spanish Riding School, you can also take a guided tour. We were lucky enough to be taken on a private guided tour, and very much enjoyed getting to meet the horses and learn about their lives (although do note that for the horses’ health, you aren’t allowed to actually touch the horses).
After the show we look for somewhere to eat then head home.
Saturday 29-9-2018
We return to the city to explore the Historic Centre and see St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom)
The Gothic cathedral, Stephansdom, is one of the most famous sites in the city. As you approach the Cathedral you will instantly notice the roof, which is beautifully decorated with glazed and painted tiles in an ornate design. There are also two large towers – the massive south tower, which stands at 136m tall, and the smaller north tower which is 68 metres tall. Both of these towers are open to the public, and can be climbed for a fee. As expected, the higher south tower offers the best views over the city. can tour the cathedral, the Treasury and climb the South Tower. You can also take a guided tour of Stephansdom that includes the cathedral’s catacombs. The catacombs can be visited only with a guide. The area around the Cathedral is busy as the Catholic Church have an event over the weekend and mass is taking place so we are restricted to the back of the Cathedral.St Stephen's Cathedral
Normally, you can also go right inside the cathedral, which is of a largely Romanesque / Gothic design, and predominantly dates from the Middle Ages. The three nave design with it’s huge columns is definitely an impressive sight and you can visit for free. You can also visit the Treasury. This does require a small fee, but you get to see more stuff and it offers good views of the main church interior from a first floor viewing area. The fee also means it’s a lot less busy, so you can enjoy the building without feeling too hemmed in.
Walking through we see St. Peter’s Church (Peterskirche) which could be easy to miss, but don’t! Although this Baroque Roman Catholic church is small, it is a real gem inside. You can also attend a classical music concert at St. Peter’s Church. When we were there a wedding was about to take place.
Hofburg - Hasburg's Winter Palace
We decide on a tour around the Hofburg Palace to see the Sisi Museum, Silberkammer and Kaiserappartements.
The Silberkammer the former Court Silver and Table Room, today the Silver Collection, is a unique collection of cultural and historical importance, comprising objects and items that were required for the court household and its organisation. Today the Silver Collection Museum gives visitors a fascinating insight into the culture of courtly dining in its various forms.The Silberkammer is the first part of the self guided tour you can take inside the Habsburg’s winter palace.
Though titled the Imperial Silver Collection, it’s actually a healthy mix of porcelain, glassware, linen, silver, gold and other household Habsburg items – particularly those from the 19th century and the rule of Emperor Franz Joseph.
The richly decorated pieces that ran along the centre of a table were a big deal for banquets. You’ll find these centerpieces throughout the Silberkammer.
As you go round, look for all the historical glassware from Lobmeyr and porcelain from the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory. The former is still going strong, and the latter is the ancestor of the Augarten porcelain company.
These act as a doorway to understanding the lives, privileges, habits and even insecurities of the Imperial family. When you look at the displays, you begin to understand the sheer variety of dinner services and similar the court must have demanded.
One service for breakfast, another for balls, another for the private use of Empress Elisabeth, another for Franz Joseph’s hunting lodge, another for state visits, etc.
Sisi Museum
This is the second stop on the tour of the palace interiors.Sisi is the nickname of Empress Elisabeth, iconic wife of Emperor Franz Joseph.
The museum looks to give you some insight into her life, loves and obsessions. In doing so, it’s not a shrine to the fairy-tale princess of myth. Nor is it a dry historical record. In fact, the museum treads a middle path.
She’s an enigma, a strange mix of romantic innocent and melancholic misanthrope. Vain yet withdrawn. Living life to the full, yet always unfulfilled. Unhappy and buffeted by the dark hand of fate, but hardly a tragic heroine.
The displays trace Sisi’s life from her Bavarian childhood around the 1840s through to her assassination in Geneva in 1898, illustrating this biography with clothes, jewellery, letters, household items and more.
The first display is actually before you go in – three “Sisi” wigs, plus a series of posters across the room that offer a potted biography, each accompanied by a contemporary portrait.
You are taken through Sisi’s actual history, beginning with her unaffected childhood and moving on through her marriage, lifestyle, travels and eventual death.
The journey reveals much of the Sisi character and obsessions – the distaste for court etiquette and responsibility, the love of riding (she was perhaps the best female rider in Europe), the dedication to her health, hair and looks, the need to travel as a permanent search for distraction, the melancholy, her poetry, her high regard for the Hungarian people, etc.
Kaiser Apartments
The Imperial apartments mark the final third of the tour taking you through around 20 rooms.
The areas you see are just a tiny part of the entire complex, but they include the rooms used by Empress Elisabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph in the latter half of the 19th century.
There is no spectacular opulence for us to gawp at, but the furniture and decor offer intriguing clues to the character of their Imperial occupants.
The tour begins in the rooms where the Emperor slept and worked, immediately you begin to understand the work ethic and sense of responsibility that guided Franz Joseph throughout his life. And if you paid attention in the Sisi Museum, you’re immediately struck by the contrast to his wife, who you might feel fought for exactly the opposite.
The audience chamber offers a taste of the colours and styles to come, with the neo-rococo furnishings in gold and white, and the red silk damask upholstery.It’s the study and bedroom, though, that bring Franz Joseph to life.
Although he was not the most progressive of monarchs, two qualities shine through in the functional bed, the spartan dressing table, the early starts (he was up at 3.30) and large portraits of Sisi that look down on his work space: a hard worker and a man in love. tTen there’s Sisi. Also a hard worker (on her riding skills, looks, languages and thirst for travel and distraction) and a woman in love (with herself).
The dressing room is the most poignant for me.It features its own fitness equipment, like two rings hanging incongruously under a doorway. Not what you expect in an Empress’s dressing room (not what the court expected, either). But then Elisabeth wasn’t like other Empresses.
The portraits and photos in this room are not dominated by Franz Joseph and her immediate family, but by her Bavarian family back home and her favourite poet, Heinrich Heine.
Perhaps most importantly, you get to learn a little about the personalities, foibles, failings and frustrations of the Imperial family. At the end of the day, just another family trying to get by (albeit with a mountain of servants, palaces and privileges).
NaschmarktAfter the tour it is now late afternoon and we decide to round off our first day of sight-seeing in Vienna with a visit to one of Vienna’s most famous markets – the Naschmarkt. This is just a short walk from Karlskirche.
The Naschmarkt runs for almost a mile along Wienzelle, and is Vienna’s largest market by far. It’s also got some pedigree, having existed here since the 16th century – although back then if you came here you’d largely only be able to buy milk.
Today there is a lot more on offer than milk. You’ll find fruit and vegetables from the around the world, exotic spices, olives, cheeses, meat, seafood – almost anything you can imagine in fact. There are also many restaurants and food stalls serving everything from sushi to Viennese specialities. A fine way to end your first day exploring Vienna, we think you’ll agree!
Rathaus
On our way back to the apartment we decide to stop off at the Rathaus Metro to see the City Hall. No, this is not the house of rats as you might think reading the name in German. In fact, this is the City Hall. The word “Rat” in German means council. The Neo-Gothic building of the Rathaus is outstanding, especially at night. If you have a chance to take a look at it in the evening, do it!
We were also fortunate that directly in front of the Rathaus was the Roncalli Circus providing a light show of its own. The Roncalli Circus was founded in Vienna in 1976, and has decided to phase out the use of horses in their show. Although they had already removed acts with wild animals back in the 90’s. Most of the numbers in the show are done by the artists and clowns, the focus of the Circus Roncalli is on poetic and acrobatic numbers.”
Sunday 30-9-2018
Today we take the Metro to visit the Schonbrunn Palace. The palace lies about six kilometers (four miles) from the center of Vienna but is easily reached by the underground. The whole area, including the expansive garden, occupies 435 acres. The Palace is the former imperial summer residence of the Habsburgs. It has over 1400 rooms! The rooms in the palace are well preserved and you can see only 40 of them. There are different kinds of tickets for Schönbrunn Palace. You could spend days here in the gardens or the Palace. We decide to orientate ourselves by getting the little Panorama Train which takes you around the grounds at a cost of 8 euros however you can hop on and off all day. It saves the steep climb to the Gloriette with its panoramic views - not to be missed. In fact the most interesting sites in the gardens are Gloriette, the Maze and the Palmenhaus.
The Place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and for centuries served as the summer home of the Habsburgs and reflects their tastes and interests. The creation of the Place is attributed to Emperor Leopold 1 who in 1693 commissioned Baroque Architect John Fischer von Erlach.
The main gateway flanked by two obelisks leads to the vast courtyard, decorated with two large fountains, one with allegorical figures depicting the rivers Danube, Inn and Ems and the other with sculptures representing Transsylvania, Galicia and Lodomeria. Right ahead is the main palace building of the complex, with the large garden behind. To the right is the Schönbrunn Court Theatre, built in 1767 in Rococo style.
After our trip on the Panorama trip which included a stop at the Gloriette which is the crowning glory of the park, a neoclassicist arcaded structure perched on top of the Schönbrunn hill. In the original plans of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach for Schönbrunn, the palace would be built here, with large terraces on the slope towards the city. We took in the wonderful views we set about walking in the vast park situated on a sloping site behind the palace, originally a hunting ground. It was laid out in 1705-1706 by Jean Trehet in a formal French style. Between 1753 and 1775, during the reign of Maria-Theresia, parts of the park were redesigned as a Baroque landscape by Ferdinand von Hohenberg.
Neptune Fountain
One of the highlights of Schönbrunn is the Neptune Fountain or Neptunbrunnen, the park's most monumental fountain. It was built in 1780 by Franz Anton von Zauner, an Austrian sculptor. The Baroque sculpture group depicts a mythical scene in which the sea goddess Thetis asks Neptune to allow her son Achilles a safe voyage to Troy.
On the western side of the park is the magnificent steel construction of the Palmenhaus (Palm House), built in 1883. Inside, you'll find a number of exotic plants in different climate zones.
Zoo
Nearby is the Tiergarten (zoo). Maximilian II already kept a collection of exotic animals here, but the current zoo dates back to 1752, during Maria Theresia's reign. The zoo is now modernized and is home to a variety of animals such as elephants, apes, hippopotamus, koalas and many more.
Fountain
To the left of the Neptune Fountain is a mock Roman Ruin, built by Ferdinand von Hohenberg in 1778. Such ruins were all the rage at the time, and provided a romantic backdrop for theater productions. Nearby lie the Schöner Brunnen that gave the domain its name. A small pavilion, decorated with the statue of a nymph, is built over the spring.
Obelisk
Further east is one of the park's most impressive architectural follies: a tall obelisk erected on top of a monumental cascade. The mock hieroglyphs on the obelisk recount the history of the Habsburg family.
Pass along the beautiful 19th-century old building of the Wien State Opera.
After a lot of walking we returned to central Vienna visiting St. Charles’s Church (Karlskirche) which is an outstanding Baroque church from 18th century. It is situated right next to the Wien Museum and is beautifully ornate. This is an 18th century Baroque style church with two impressive spiral columns on the exterior. It was built by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, largely to celebrate the end of the plague in the city, and is dedicated to St. Charles, known as a plaIt’s a striking building with the central dome and two spires, and the lake in front of it offers a lovely reflection as well.
We then walk to the Opera House to view this magnificent building.
Monday 1-10-2018
Today is our last and we fly back to Bristol this evening so have most of the day to continue our exploring of Vienna.
We firstly take a metro from our apartment in Messe Prater to the station serving the City Airport Train - 11 Euros (16 minutes from here to airport) and you are able free of charge to use their very modern left luggage units.
From here we wander the streets towards Stephansplatz and the Graben stopping for a coffee and cake near St Stephen's Cathedral. We then meander back towards the station and we wander back to Stadtpark to enjoy a picnic lunch in brilliant sunshine. We pass by the Mozarthaus. Vienna is very much associated with Mozart, one of the most well known composers of Classical music. Vienna was his home for many years during his prolific career, and he lived at a number of properties during his time in the city. Only one of these homes survives today – the Mozarthaus, which you’ll find in Vienna’s Old Town on Domgasse.
Mozart lived at this property for three years between 1784 and 1787, and it has been open to the public since 1941. In 2004 it was totally redesigned, and now the whole building is a centre dedicated to the life of the composer.
From here we get our train back to the airport en-route to Bristol.
Getting around Vienna
The easiest way to get to and from Wien International Airport to the city centre is by using City Airport Train (only 16 minutes journey)at a cost of 11 euros.
Wien has a well-developed public transport network. You can get in no time to every part of the city. In most of the cases, you’ll need to use the underground only to go to Schönbrunn Palace or Danube Tower. Otherwise, the city can be explored easily by foot. There are different types of tickets.
During our trip, we mostly used the 24 hour ticket at 8 euros.
