Austria Day 7: Off to Vienna & wine at Wachau~
It was an early day for us. Arranged to meet Florian and Annette at 7.30am to check out of Spitz Hotel and move our luggages to Youth Hotel then drive to Vienna. Met chris for an early breakfast at 6.30am and saw that it was already drizzling a little in Linz. :(
Schönbrunn Palace in its present form is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions, hosting thousands of visitors a week. This rococo Palace was finished in 1700 under Leopold I, and is a much diminished version of an incredible Imperial project first planned by Johann Fischer von Erlach. The Palace was renovated and extended under Maria Theresia, and at that time had 2,000 rooms, a chapel plus its own theatre. Like all the imperial buildings associated with Maria Theresia, the Schönbrunn complex is today painted in rich yellow. Napoleon lived here from 1805 to 1809 and Emperor Francis Joseph I, who was born here in 1830, spent the last years of his life in the palace. Usually the complex only served as a summer residence to the Habsburgs. Take at least one day for this trip through the palace and the vast surroundings.
We did a short tour of the castle, seeing the rooms of Emperor Francis Joseph I & learnt from Annette alot about Sisi. All the wonderful stories she had did alot of reading up on. :)
I've also looked on Wikipedia for some information:
Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, Duchess in Bavaria, Princess of Bavaria (December 24, 1837 – September 10, 1898) of the House of Wittelsbach, was the Empress consort of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary due to her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph. Her father was Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria and her mother was Ludovika, Royal Princess of Bavaria; her family home was Possenhofen Castle. From an early age, she was called "Sisi" ("Sissi" in films and novels) by family and friends.
She was born in Munich, Bavaria. Elisabeth accompanied her mother and her 18-year-old sister, Helene, on a trip to the resort of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria [1], where they hoped Helene would attract the attention of their cousin, 23-year-old Franz Joseph, then Emperor of Austria. Instead, Franz Joseph chose Elisabeth, and the couple were married in Vienna at St. Augustine's Church on April 24, 1854. Elisabeth later wrote that she regretted accepting his proposal for the rest of her life. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_of_Bavaria
I tried as secretly as I could to get a shot of the Grand Ballroom. I had already curbed my desires in the previous rooms but this room was too impressive. But someone walked over and told me off :P
We had lunch at a nice cosy restaurant "Centimeter". Here you can get food in portions by centimeters. This is good because you can get the amount suitable for you. But hmm.. we still ordered too much food.. :P
Haha, i will always remember the discussion we had before this dish. So what is black pudding? Annette thought we might be grossed out by what it really is. But hmm chinese eat alot of weird things too. So we spent some time comparing who eats weirder food. And I know Austrians totally disapprove of Chinese eating Sharks' Fin.. :P Anyways, black pudding is just pig's blood! Its not so gross is it? We have it too but just that i don't eat it. But this was really good!
Annette says there was a ball in Vienna the night before where lots of famous people turned up. I remember her mentioning Sharon Stone as well. Hmm a pity though because we couldn't have a good look at the building. :) (which I have conveniently forgotten what is it.. and Flo has kindly told me is the Rathaus)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer. George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters… and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust. Goethe's other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.
I took a picture of Goethe's statue to remember that I'm supposed to do some reading on his works. ;)
A popular cake in Austria, Sacher Torte! But very very costly and apparently Flo can bake it. So i've placed my order.. when will i ever get a taste of good quality Sacher Torte??
Annette told me that this was a famous painting. Before which, I had absolutely no idea about paintings. As usual, I take a picture of things i learn about. So here's is the famous painting by Gustav, "The Kiss".
St. Stephen's Cathedral (German: Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP. Its current Romanesque and Gothic form seen today, situated at the heart of Vienna, Austria in the Stephansplatz, was largely initiated by Rudolf IV and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first being a parish church consecrated in 1147. As the most important religious building in Austria's capital, the cathedral has born witness to many important events in that nation's history and has become one of the city's most recognizable symbols.
The stone pulpit is a masterwork of late gothic sculpture. Long attributed to Anton Pilgram, today Niclaes Gerhaert van Leyden is thought more likely to be the carver. So that the local language sermon could be better heard by the worshipers in the days before microphones and loud speakers, the pulpit stands against a pillar out in the nave, instead of in the chancel at the front of the church.
The sides of the pulpit erupt like stylized petals from the stem supporting it. On those gothic petals are relief portraits of the four original Doctors of the Church (St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory the Great and St. Jerome), each of them in one of four different temperaments and in one of four different stages of life.The handrail of the stairway curving its way around the pillar from ground level to the pulpit has fantastic decorations of toads and lizards biting each other, symbolizing the fight of good against evil. At the top of the stairs, a stone puppy protects the preacher from intruders.
Beneath the stairs is one of the most beloved symbols of the cathedral: a stone self-portrait of the unknown sculptor gawking (German: gucken) out of a window (German: fenster) and thus famously known as the Fenstergucker. The chisel in the subject's hand, and the stonemason's signature mark on the shield above the window let to the speculation that it could be a self-portrait of the sculptor.
The composer Ludwig van Beethoven discovered the totality of his deafness when he saw birds flying out of the bell tower as a result of the bells' tolling but could not hear the bells. St. Stephen's Cathedral has 23 bells in total. The largest is officially named for St. Mary, but usually called Pummerin ("Boomer") and hangs in the north tower. At 20,130 kilograms (44,380 pounds), it is the largest in Austria and the second largest swinging bell in Europe (after the 23,500-kilogram (51,800-pound) Peter in Cologne Cathedral). Originally cast in 1711 from cannons captured from the Muslim invaders, it was recast (partly from its original metal) in 1951 after crashing onto the floor when its wooden cradle burned during the 1945 fire. The new bell has a diameter of 3.14 metres (9.6 ft)]] and was a gift from the province of Upper Austria. It sounds on only a few special occasions each year, including the arrival of the new year. There are three other bells hanging in this tower, but they are older and no longer used.
A glory of St. Stephen's Cathedral is its ornately patterned, richly coloured roof, 111 meters (361 ft) long, and covered by 230,000 glazed tiles. Above the choir on the south side of the building the tiles form a mosaic of the double-headed eagle that is symbolic of the empire ruled from Vienna by the Habsburg dynasty. On the north side the coats of arms of the City of Vienna and of the Republic of Austria are depicted. In 1945, fire caused by World War II damage to nearby buildings leapt to the north tower of the cathedral and went on to destroy the wooden framework of the roof. Replicating the original bracing for so large a roof (it rises 38 meters above the floor) would have required an entire square kilometre of forest, so over 600 metric tons of steel bracing were used instead. The roof is so steep that it is sufficiently cleaned by the rain alone and is seldom covered by snow.
Having been told by Alan that when he visited Vienna during his post grad tour, he remembered how the pastries he had in Vienna simply melted in his mouth. And the taste is unforgettable for him till today. We had to try some of these good pastries ourselves! Finally Flo & Annette brought us to DEMEL ;)
Hofburg Imperial Palace is a palace in Vienna, Austria, which has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria. It was the Habsburg's principal winter residence, while Schönbrunn Palace was their preferred summer residence.
At this point, we were starting to run back to the car as the drizzle turned into a heavy downpour. :(
Next up on the plan was to go to Wachau which is famous for its wine.
Finally it was time to eat again. We found a small homely restaurant and got some wine and traditional Austrian food. :)
What's dinner without dessert? More commonly known as "sweets" in Austria.
After dinner, Flo drove us back to Linz. I fell asleep for a short while after the wine got to my head.. but just a short while.. :) Still very thankful to this couple for being such great hosts. :) And I will always remember Annette to be a big fan of Sisi, and thanks for all the wonderful stories. I've never had so much fun visiting a Castle-museum before. :D
0 comments:
Post a Comment