Vienna Tage Zwei (2)

We woke and enjoyed the extensive buffet breakfast at the hotel. It was actually quite impressive. After leading up with several espressos we were ready to roll!

We headed out past the Opera and down a Main Street which is a shopping mecca with tons of stores. We then stopped to gawk at St. Stephens Church which was amazing. Encased partially in scaffolding, as everything I've ever admired in Europe is, it was intricately detailed and stunning. Inside was just as beautiful, though we're starting to get churched out.

We wandered over towards the Hofburg Imperial Palace and stopped for a cup of tea to enjoy the view of the palace. Built in 1279 and the seat of the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg dynasty, it's truly a masterpiece and worth taking time to take in. We took a tour and learned about Kaiserin Elizabeth that was really interesting. She married at the age of 15 but suffered tremendously, as she was so unhappy for giving up her freedom for the crown. She had three children who survived to adulthood and traveled extensively through europe to get away from her duties that weighed so heavily on her.

She was killed at around the age of 60, by someone who actually intended to kill someone else but unfortunately she happened to be in the area and convenient. Awful timing for her, though her life was shrowded in such depression that I expected she had taken her own life. She was stunningly beautiful and tiny-- 5 feet 9 inches and supposidely around 100 lbs. While her waist is tiny in all of the images, she didn't seem quite that thin. Anyways, she scandalized her staff by exercising to maintain her figure.

The rooms at the palace are stunning, with tapestries, fabric lining the walls and many gilded rooms and furniture. It rivaled any other castle I've seen. The royal collection of silver and porcelain plates as well as gilded pieces were gorgeous. Most of the Crown Jewels were sold and much of the plates melted down to support wars of the eras.

The tour was incredibly well done and an audio tour, and we spent a couple of hours there. We left and made our way to the Belvediere Museum as Kim wanted to see the Klimpt exhibit and this museum is known for an extensive collection boasting "The Kiss," his most famous painting. We decided to stop for a late lunch before heading in at a place across the street. I tried sturm, which the lady that we met in Prague and then again in the opera house mentioned to me. Apparently it's freshly-crushed grapes slightly fermented so they have some bubbles. I tasted the red and white, and settled on the white. I don't think it's alcoholic and tasted good.

We let the waiter talk us into a salad and fish which apparently is the special of the place. Oh my goodness.. there was a large greek salad accompanied by 8 other plates with bread, beans, chili, hummis, tzatziki and other  things. Then they brought a plate of several kinds of fish that could have fed a small army. Had we known, we would have ordered a half order as more than half went to waste. It was really good though as we'd been craving fish, and thankfully I knew how to say 'with no head' in German! lol.

The Belvediere museum was amazing and the grounds beautiful. We enjoyed them for a bit then headed in to view the three floors of amazing art. There are actually two buildings on the old palace grounds, but we only had time for one. The museum was nicely laid out and really beautiful as some rooms were really ornately detailed.

We walked around a bit on the grounds and sat outside to enjoy the view of the sun partially setting over Vienna. We could see St. Stephens in the background. We headed back on the tram, very excited that we conquered the tram in Vienna, unlike in Prague!

One thing I forgot to mention in Prague that a friend warned me about was the pickpockets-- but what they do here and in Prague is ask for you to make change for them. The other thing in Vienna is the plethora of people dressed like Mozart trying to sell concert tickets! It's intense in tourist areas and really funny as they all beeline over to Kim. teehee!

We went back towards our hotel and stopped in a cute little wine bar we've passed several times. We both have been really enjoying white wine, which is so interesting as we both prefer red. But this region is known for their whites. Kim got another gruner weltliner and I tried a (dry) riesling. We were served by a great gal from Australia who spoke impeccable German. She moved here with her boyfriend after school. They traveled europe for six months and decided to land in Vienna for a while. How fun!

We headed back to our hotel and grabbed some tea in the cute little lounge area, booked our train tickets to Budapest and rested up a bit. We're heading out shortly to check out the nightlife-- grab some wine (go figure!) and a snack and see what fun we have!

Gute nacht, mein freunden! Tomorrow we head to Budapest for the last leg of our journey. We have already started discussing what might happen if we miss our flight though... :)