We arrived in Vienna around 730pm on March 29 and decided to start our stay by experiencing the famous Sacher Torte.
The Sacher Torte is supposed to be the best chocolate cake in the World with a secret recipe only known to a select few. I’m not so sure it was the best chocolate cake, but it was an interesting experience. The Sacher Hotel, right across from the Vienna Opera House, has roomed many famous guests. If you think you’ll even step foot in the hotel without being someone important, think again. The restaurant has a separate entrance and a more welcoming staff. We walk into the restaurant and are greeted by two waiters dressed in fancy clothing who point the way to the cloak room. How often do you check your coat to each chocolate cake? At this point Hilary and I are thinking we should have dressed up a little, but then we see that most everyone else is in jeans and casual clothing. We have a seat by the window and gazing at the table to find the menu, I realize out of the corner of my eye that the menu is hanging on a stand that stands at the edge of our table next to the window. I go to grab the menu and realize that it’s on a stick! It’s not some stick off the ground though, it’s a detailed dowel. I felt like it was the menu version of opera glasses. So Hilary and I order the famous Sacher Torte and tea. It happened to be the best tea I’ve ever had (the herbs were freshly mixed). Our tea was even brought to us on silver platters! The cake was delicious, but I still prefer the chocolate cake from the Pub in Amherst. However, it was definitely the fanciest chocolate cake I had ever had.
Our second day in Vienna, Hillary and I traveled to the Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Hofburg family when they were in power. It was enormous and so beautiful. I wonder what their regular home looked like! We went on a tour throughout the building, stepping foot in the dining rooms, bedrooms, and ballroom of the royal family. We also got a little history on the Hofburg family with the free audio tour. It seems that audio tours are very in right now. I think there was one offered at every museum we went to, although usually it was an extra cost.
There was an Easter market going on outside of the Palace which had a variety of handmade crafts. Including hundreds of blown-out and hand-painted eggs! They were so beautiful and if I knew that it would survive the journey home I would have bought one.
After Schonbrunn, Hilary and I headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready for the Opera! There were no cheap seats left so we had to get there 2 and a half hours early for standing seats. We were the first ones in line, but the most clueless ones there! We stood outside for about 20 minutes before they opened the doors to the building. The women in back of us, who must do this all the time, showed us where to go down the winding hallway. Finally we had to stop in front of two large doors and were told we would have to wait for another hour and a half. No fear, though. Hilary and I came prepared with sandwiches, reading, and a plastic bag to sit on that we could throw out before the show. As we sat on our tiny plastic bag, we looked to our right to see everyone behind us pull teeny folding chairs from their bags for a more comfortable seat than a bag on the hard concrete floor. Apparently we weren’t as prepared as we had thought! We got into the opera for just 3.50 Euro. It was standing seats so our feet were quite sore after the 4 hour opera, but it was well worth the money! Our ‘seats’ were on the ground floor just behind the most expensive seats in the theater and Hilary and I were at the front of the section! We had little screens at about waist level that displayed subtitles in English which was extremely helpful in understanding the opera. The opera we saw was “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss. If you ever go to Vienna, definitely take the time to see the opera! The sets and costumes and the music and singing were all SO beautiful.
Having been disappointed with the last tour we had taken in Munich, Hilary and I decided to lead our own walking tour the next day. We purchased a book on Vienna and picked out the things we wanted to go see. I have written a separate journal entry on Hundertwasser (an artist). We also saw the most elaborate and beautiful town hall I have ever come across along with many other government buildings, a Mozart memorial, several beautiful parks, and some churches. We made sure to take a break for some Gelato ice cream and I had the most delicious feta cream cheese on bread from a market. I ate 50grams on my own!
Vienna was definitely one of the more beautiful cities we visited. It was extremely clean and the architecture of the buildings was just amazing.
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