Vienna
Our first impressions of Vienna are very favourable: it is so clean, civilised and orderly, poles apart from Rome! The shops are beautifully done out and the people are all so well dressed and well mannered. Our hotel (Hotel Wandl) is very nice. We went to the Staatsoper to try to book for Die Valküre and Carmen and were shocked at the prices, with the cheapest being about $7.00 (Rhodesian); and then we were very disappointed to find all the performances sold out anyway! Then off to the Musikverein, where we had more success and booked to see Bach's B minor Mass tonight and Handel's Messiah on 16th December. Both cost us R$5.00 per seat. We have just come back from the B minor Mass performed by the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and it was lovely, a magnificent performance!
We have had a couple of catastrophes today (Wednesday). In Rome we rushed back to the pensione from the Pantheon with just enough time to get to the airport bus, only to find our towels had gone. After much gesticulation, they were found in the wash, sopping wet. We put them in a plastic bag and packed them like that. The other disaster was that we discovered quite by chance that a bottle of wine had broken in our other suitcase full of presents and other things 'not wanted on voyage'. So our first task when we got to Vienna was to empty the suitcase and do a whole lot of washing. Fortunately the central heating is ultra efficient and so we'll be able to get everything washed and dried - but what a pong!
Now that we are in a country whose postal system can be trusted, I'll post this today (Thursday) when we go on our sight-seeing tour this morning. By the way, we read in a newspaper on the plane yesterday about the petrol fire in Salisbury.
Friday 15th
1:30 p.m.
We have just got back from a very rewarding morning's walk - but let me start at where we left off yesterday (Thursday). We went on a guided tour of Historical Vienna in the morning and all found it very interesting. We started off at the Hapsburg Crypt with the quite incredible tombs the royalty erected for themselves! There were other sites pointed out to us along the way, such as Belvedere Palace, but the other interesting stop was the Schönbrunn Summer Palace. Unfortunately at this point the guide spoke only German, but what we saw was most impressive.
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.
Gardens at the back of Schönbrunn.
One of Schönbrunn's hundreds of
chandeliers.
View of Vienna from Belvedere Palace.
In the afternoon I went walking alone and had a look at St Stephen's and St Peter's Churches, and then last night (Thursday) Ann and I took a walk along Mariahilferstraße which is all lit up for Christmas and looking very pretty. Vienna is very expensive: a Sachertorte and coffee cost R$3.60; a portion of apfelstrudel was R$1.02 and roasted chestnuts cost 6c each!! Fruit yoghurt, smaller than our large ones at home, cost R$1.
Spires of St Stephen's Church.
Buskers under the Pestsaule, Graben, Vienna.
Anker Clock, Hoher Markt.
Kärntner Straße.
Mariahilfer Straße.
Today's walk (Friday): we went to have a look at the white stallions as they crossed the road at the Spanish Riding School, but missed them, but did see the tail of the last one disappear as we arrived! Then on to the Historical Arts Museum where we saw an exhibition of old musical instruments (I had a field day!) and relics from Ephesus and Samothrace. Next we went to the Christmas market outside the city hall, and after that on to visit the house where Beethoven wrote part of his Missa Solemnis. We walked back past the Franz Joseph I National History Museum, where the sun was shining on this most spectacular building. Wandering through one of the parks we encountered Mozart and then on to the famous Sachertorte at the Sacher Hotel, after which it was back to the hotel to recuperate!
Rathaus, Vienna.
Above and below, Christkindmarkt outside the Rathaus.
One of the many places where Beethoven lived.
Here he wrote the 'Credo' to his 'Missa Solemnis'.
Palace of Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Mozart.
Later we visited the Beethovenhaus, this one being the house where he lived in Vienna most often. He was always being evicted from his apartments because of his eccentric behaviour. Vienna is lovely. The people are so friendly and civilised and the city so unbelievably quiet that all you can hear most of the time is shoes on pavements. The traffic is so well behaved as evidenced by there being practically no dents in the cars, and no hooting! The people are all so elegantly dressed that tourists (and Turks) stick out like sore thumbs. Everyone in the shops, banks, and even the post office was most polite and helpful, and you are always greeted as you enter and leave.
Buskers playing Christmas carols.
View from one of Beethoven's rooms.
When we got back from the Beethovenhaus we found a note from the Daveys, who had just done a tour of the State Opera. The note said we could get tickets for Carmen if we were prepared to take stehplaze (standing room). Ann wasn't going to do that, but I was, and Andrea, Tony and I saw Carmen at the Vienna State Opera. The procedure was an eye-opener! We started queuing at 4.30 p.m., when the queue wa already about 250 long. The office opened at 5.30 p.m., and after we had bought our tickets, there was another queue until the doors opened at 6.00 p.m. Then there was a mad stampede to get the best standing room. We paid 50c for our tickets and were immediately behind people who paid R$3 to sit (and therefore see less from up in the gods where we were). The sets were incredibly realistic, and at times during the crowd scenes there were upwards of 200 people on stage. (The Daveys were told during their tour that during Aida they have 400 on stage in the triumphal scene.) Attention to detail in the sets and stage direction were excellent. My only criticisms were that Carmen occasionally sang sharp on her high notes and the orchestra were not always on top form. We have booked for the Vienna Boys' Choir tomorrow.
Tony and I queued to book for the Vienna Boys' Choir while Ray and Andrea were queuing for Carmen. You are allowed only two tickets per person, so I couldn't book them all. I had a very funny three-way conversation in the queue. A Frenchman, an Austrian woman and me. She spoke very heavily accented English which we could not understand and he spoke little English. She wanted three tickets and he was getting only one, so offered to get one for her, and all through the negotiating I was in the middle! Ray omitted to tell you that the Beethoven museum was on the fourth floor, with a narrow circular staircase. Phew!!
Saturday 16th p.m.
We are just relaxing for a few minutes before going out again. This morning we caught a bus to Baden where the most accessible parts of the Vienna Woods are. We walked through a park and then climbed up into the woods where we had lunch on a bench in the sun (which, incidentally, gave no heat at all). It was lovely walking through the woods, and then we caught the bus back to Vienna.
Hauptplatz, Baden.
Lanner and Strauss in the Vienna Woods.
The Vienna Woods.
Saturday 16th
11.00 p.m.
We have just arrived back from Messiah which was most enjoyable. They missed out about 45 minutes' worth, which was a pity, but still what we did see was a good two hours long. It was sing in German, but a modern interpretation (similar to Lamb's edition, for Gerald's information). There was a small orchestra, just as it should be (again for Gerald: 12 violins, 4 violas, 3 cellos, 2 basses, 2 trumpets, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons). We had very nice seats, but noisy Yanks behind us during the first part. Fortunately they left halfway through.