vienna

Vienna was our last stop in our European tour. Perhaps because it was the last stop and we were already saturated from the other sights, or maybe because we were both still not feeling well, but both of us found it a little underwhelming compared to Berlin and Prague.

What was unique about Vienna was its location as the center of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, so much of our sightseeing revolved around tracing the glories of the Hapsburg dynasty. We spent a lot of our time discovering "imperial" Vienna--which means looking at palaces and imperial treasures (silver, porcelain, crown jewels).

I've included A LOT of pictures in this post of our four days there:

entrance to the Hofburg, the imperial palace in Vienna

this is the actual apartment of Kaiser Franz Joseph, the longest reigning monarch of the Hapsburg dynasty (I think)--I had a personal obsession with him which I'll explain later

this is Demel's, the court confectionary right outside the Hofburg

Demel's was filled with delicious and pretty displays of pastries and candies

the Graben, one of the most elegant shopping streets in Vienna

courtyard of Museum Quarter

The Leopold Museum, which has a fabulous collection of Gustav Klimt and other Austrian Modernist artists

my aunt and her family took us out to eat our first Chinese meal in Europe--it was soooo yummy!

her garage has this cool mechanism where you can fit two cars in the same spot

entrance of the Schonbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburgs

Neptune fountain, in the Schonbrunn's gardens

view of the Schonbrunn from the back

The Gloriette, which is located a big hike up the hill behind the Neptune fountain (also where we had lunch)

view of Schonbrunn and Vienna from on top of the Gloriette

entrance to the KunstHistorisches Museum (Fine Arts Museum)

I spent almost one hour in this room, which was filled with Brueghel's paintings--I think he is the favorite artist I discovered on this trip

Cafe Central, a really famous cafe that used to be the meeting place for revolutionaries and literati

my yummy hot chocolate

I think sitting at Cafe Central for a few hours was one of my favorite experiences in Vienna. Their cafes are really atmospheric and fun--totally the kind of place you can spend a long time sipping coffee and chatting with friends.

So, my obsession with Franz Joseph. He was the one figure that I was particularly drawn to in all of our imperial sightseeing. He reigned for over 60 years, and was the one whose nephew Franz Ferdinand got assassinated to start World War I. His personal life was also pretty tragic: his only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, committed suicide at age 30; his beloved wife, Empress Sisi, was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist; and he was pretty much the last reigning emperor before the Hapsburg empire collapsed after WWI, after it had ruled for over 600 years.

I felt really sad for him. We read he was quite resistant to change--modernization--and had trouble adjusting to the changes that characterized the latter half of his reign (late 19th century Europe, when nationalism and democracy were sweeping across the continent). I was imagining what it must be like to see your entire world change before your eyes: his family, the monarchy, had been all that he had ever known, and then to see the population reject that political order for a whole new one. How shocking that must have been. To be outdated and outlive your political function; to know that the world no longer has a place for you. It's just so sad. By all accounts, he was a diligent and industrious ruler, rising early each day and trying his best to uphold a massive yet fractured empire.

Anyway, Franz Joseph left the most indelible impression for me of Vienna. Him and the beautiful cafes! :)