Last stop Vienna (Wein)

Monday Oct 2, 2023 last day of my 8 day Munich, Salzburg, Vienna tour. 

We started our day, like many others, walking around town and learning the transit system. Vienna, like many European cities has an extensive transportation system.  Here they combine, subways, buses, trains and trolleys.  It is very inexpensive for commuters to get tickets.  To ride with no restrictions, all forms of transit, a yearly pass cost our local guide 365 euros.  Basically, a Euro a day.  Of course we got our typical history lesson and I wrote down a few things. Vienna, after WWII was in the Russian sectioned off area, in the iron curtain.  Vienna survived much of the war without being bombed.  Mostly because it was so deep into the German territory.   Also Vienna had the oil refineries that helped supply the whole German army and that is why Hitler tried to defend it to the last.  The first bombing of Vienna was in March 17 1944.  It was only after the Allies pushed Mussolini out of Italy , they establish a base in italy and ran missions from there. There were 253 American bombing raids of Vienna. 

We also learned how city was spilt up into 4 sectors after the war, with the US, Russian, French and I don’t remember who else, having a section they controlled.  Our local guide was sad about Austrias part in the war and also how quickly Austria went from a democracy to Nazi rule.  He was also maybe in his mid to late sixties and remembered all the disabled people, ex servicemen and citizens, many years after the war. 

Our Vienna guide also happened to be a collector of 2 things and we went to his small, but interesting museum.  This first collection was all from a movie called The Third Man starring Orson wells,  that was a thriller set in Vienna in the aftermath of WWII.  His other collection was mostly newspaper articles, but also some posters and other artifacts from WWII Vienna.  It was crowded and a bit chaotic in his museum, but by the time I left, I was teary eyed and bought his book about Vienna and WWII (not the movie one - I saw the movie a few months ago), it was ok.  I was not a hit with the Vienna citizens, mostly because they didn’t want to be reminded of their part in the war and how they so easily accepted a dictator to lead them.  

After this museum, we were supposed to check out the coffee houses.  Apparently, in Vienna, there are certain type of coffee houses that everyone wants to go to, where only men are servers and their whole thing is to be rude.  So, I went to a bakery and enjoyed the pleasant service!   

Late morning, we went to the only other museum that we could take pictures in. It was the Treasury of the Habsburgs and contained many Crown Jewels, precious tapestries, royal vestments, holy relics and even what they say is the Holy Grail (the bowl that caught the blood of Jesus Christ as he died on the cross).  I was most impressed by the tapestry work. Monks spent years of their lives sewing these.   

When we were done with this, the group went separate ways.  I went with a couple of other people to 2 other museums that were well done.  It only took a little over an hour and we had an audio guide.   It was the main living quarters of Frans Josef and Sisi Hapsburg. If you remember I saw their hunting lodge earlier in the week.  It was also a museum about the life of Sisi.  She was a reclusive empress and was eventually assassinated.  She married when she was just 15, and didn’t like the court life.  They compared her to Princess Diana of our time.   

The group of us found a street cafe to eat lunch, we wondered around the city and we stopped in a small baroque Catholic Church that is supposed to have a wonderful organ.  People come every day at 3pm to play it.  Mostly, they are practicing because it is hard to find a organ to practice on.  The church was interesting and lovely, the organ player did well and most were impressed.  I thought it was just ok, it sounded like St Sylvester’s organ to me.  

This pretty much ended our trip to Vienna.  We went out to dinner as a group, then a couple of us walked to the Jewish quarter and saw the Holocaust memorial.  Vienna is a large and bustling place and it took me a day to get use to it.  It is well known around the world for its culture.  There is music and art everywhere, but there are also quaint streets and great neighborhoods.   I would go back for a few days if I ever got the chance to see more of it.  I would also contact one of the tour members because she had a relative that knew all the good food and fun places to go to in the evenings. 

Well, time to end this blog for now, pack my bags and head home!  

so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good bye.

I liked the creepy face on this statue outside the Habsburg  palaces, I thought it would be a good way to start today’s blog. 

On the way to the museums, we went through this cool market.  The pictures are above and below.  Some people went to it in the afternoon and loved it.  

I included a picture of some apartment buildings look closely at these 2. Every apartment building that I saw decorated, were all slightly different and many in the rococo style. 

This projector is a working one from the 1932.  He played part of the third man movie for us. 

As you can see from the picture above and the 5 below,  it was sort of a chaotic museum. But it was a large collection.

After the war, people in Vienna were starving.  These CARE pkgs were sent from private organizations mostly in the US .  First pkgs included, 1lb of beef in broth, 1lb of steak and kidneys, 8oz of liver loaf, 8 oz of corned beef, 12oz of luncheon loaf (like spam), 8 oz of bacon, 2lbs of margarine, 1lb of lard, 1lb of fruit preserves, 1lb of honey and 1lb of raisins, 1lb of chocolate, 2lbs of sugar, 8oz of egg powder, 2lbs of whole milk powder and 2lbs of coffee. 

 

This strange display of man’s legs and cat was by the bathroom.   It gave me a start at first.

 

Another silly bathroom sign.  This is always a nod to Christine traveling with me on other trips. 

This was worn around the neck over ceremonial robes, it is the Potence (Chain of Arms) of the Herald of the Order of the Golden Fleece, probably made in 1517 and is gold

As you can see from this picture and the many to follow that the Habsburgs we very rich and very associated with religion and the Catholic Church.

Middle Reliquary is said to contain a tooth of John the Baptist.  Prague, 1350-1375 silver gilded, rock crystal

People did like their relics! 

This gold cross also had a hiding space in the back to place relics.  It is all gold and precious jewels. 

The imperial crown from approx 1024

The Habsburgs believed that this is the Holy Grail.  It is an agate bowl from Constantinople from approx 300-400AD.   From the 17th to the 20th century, there were some descriptions of a mysterious inscription, which was seen as the name of Christ in Greek letters, neither carved in stone nor painted, but to appear in the natural veining of the stone itself.

Holy water holders for baptisms for Marie Theresa’s children.  A Habsburg and 2nd wife of Napoleon.

1830. Christening gown of Fraz Josef and siblings.  

( the man who in 1879 formed an alliance with Prussian-led Germany, and in 1914 his ultimatum to Serbia led Austria and Germany into WWI).  This led to the end of the almost 800 year Habsburg rule.  

This is a sample of the many beautiful hand made ceremonial robes 

After museums we wondered through Vienna and enjoyed the city and the sites.  The weather was beautiful and the town was busy with tourists and residents and all the sidewalk cafes were full. 

We had a centrally located hotel.  Our hotel is on the right of this picture.  The 2nd floor breakfast room looked right out on St Stephens cathedral in the center of town. 

more Vienna street scenes.

There were horse drawn carriages everywhere.  One of the couples in our group took a 30 minute ride the last evening and said it was beautiful. 

My day was not done yet.  This is the organ in the baroque church that we stopped in to listen to someone practice.  He played some beautiful music on it.  It reminded me more of being at a concert than in church. 

Same church, look at the detail of the robe being 3 dimensional in parts.  

More of the same church.  Saint Peter’s Catholic Church. 

I liked looking at the balconies in the different churches in Vienna.  This is where the wealthy went to watch mass rather than in the pews with the rest of the people.

Night street scene, it really quieted down after 6pm. 

After dinner we visited the Holocost memorial.  It is set in the middle of the square in the Jewish quarter.  It was a powerful reminder of the purge of the Jewish people.  Carved in the stone all around it were the many prison camps that they went to. There were more than I knew existed.  I know I mentioned it earlier, but in Vienna and in Germany, many of the Jewish areas and synagogues still have security present at many holy or meaningful places.   The memorial walls are supposed to be a depiction of a library with the books turned out.  

Gotthold Lessing - a statue in the Judenplatz (in German means Jewish square, this square has been a Jewish community since the Middle Ages) he was a well thought of German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic , from the Enlightenment era which was in the mid 1700’s 

This was a great group of people to travel with. Until next trip auf Wiedersehen!