Ka Pai Has a Busy Day in Vienna

Friday September 3rd

This was the day set aside to visit the Hofburg Quarter. They took a walk down Dorotheegasse past all the antique stores and art auction premises. The first stop was the Augustine Church which was part of the Hofburg Palace complex. Built in 1327, it is one of the best preserved 14th century Gothic interiors in Vienna. It was the wedding chapel for Napoleon and Marie Louise and Franz Joseph 1 and Sisi. (More about her later)

They looked in at the stables of the Spanish Riding School, but didn’t go on the tour. There were no performances scheduled that suited. So it was into the Hofburg Palace. There were lots of options here and too much to see in one day so they made some choices. They chose the combined ticket to the Kaiser apartments, the Sisi museum and the Silberkammer. (Silver Collection)

The tour starts by taking you through an impressive array of court table ware silver belonging to the Habsburgs who were Austria’s ruling family until the monarchy was dissolved. There was just so much of it and such variety. The dinnerware had all been silver until the Napoleonic wars, when most of it was all melted down to make coins. Gradually porcelain took over but at one stage they made a made a porcelain dinner set and covered it completely in gold so that it looked like metal not porcelain.. The audio guide made it very interesting. They were hoping for a break so they could eat lunch but the tour carried on and you couldn’t leave without giving up your audio guide. So they went on into the Sisi Museum. This was an insight into the myth and truth surrounding Empress Elizabeth know as Sisi. The whole story of her tragic life was captivating and Mary bought the book that outlines the whole exhibition. Sisi was assassinated in Geneva by a mad anarchist in 1898. The tour finishes with a look at the private apartments of both Franz Joseph and Sisi who lived together but apart which seemed to be the norm in those days.

It was nearly 2pm when they got out of there and they were quite hungry so found a seat in the palace ground to eat lunch. The other place they had chosen to look at was the Schatzkammer which was the Imperial Treasury. This was the oldest part of the Hofburg Palace and here they have the crown of the Austrian Empire, the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, the treasures of the Order of the Golden Fleece and much more. They chose the brief free audio guide that came with the ticket. For another €3 they could have had the long version; they would still be there now. There was a lot to see and the wealth that must have been held by the Hasburgs was unbelievable. There was also a large ecclesiastical section with reliquaries, one supposedly containing a nail from the true cross and another a thorn form the crown of thorns. Nails and thorns are held in various places in Europe and they have lost count on how many nails form the true cross they have now seen.


That was enough exhibitions and museums for one day so they consulted the map to find out how to get to the Hundertwasser Village. Having visited the toilets in Kawakawa they needed to see the Hundertwasser architecture on this side of the world. The village is a small commercial shopping area all designed by Hundertwasser with the distinctive colours angles and uneven floors. The Hundertwasser House is a municipal apartment block designed in 1985 by the flamboyant Austrian artist as a playful take on usually dull social housing. The building’s facade sports irregular bands of colour, spires with onion dome cupolas and trees on the rooftop. All the windows vary in size and shape and each one is framed with a different colour. The size of each of the 50 apartments is visibly marked by a line of uneven ceramic tiles. Not far away is another similar block and part of it houses a museum of changing exhibitions, the official very expensive Hundertwasser shop and a cafe. Hundertwasser ended up living in The Bay of Islands for about 30 years and was happiest in New Zealand according the woman in one of the shops in the Village.

They managed to find a nice cafe to have dinner and use the internet at the same time. The campsite had wifi but not free, in fact it was a ridiculous price. You could run the internet at home for month on what they wanted for two hours! It was here that Mary checked the NZ news and learnt of the earthquake in Christchurch. It had only just happened and was breaking news. She probably found out about it before most of those back home as it would only have been just after 5am in NZ when she read about it.

This was the night they were going to the Mozart concert which was just nearby. They got there in plenty of time along with all the other tourists. This was one place you were allowed to take your camera in and there were a lot of photos being taken. The music was superb and the whole programme enjoyable. The orchestra was the Vienna Mozart Orchestra all dressed in historical costumes to give an impression of an authentic Baroque era. The concert was in the style of “musical academies” as concerts were known in Mozart’s time. The programme includes single movements from symphonies and solo concertos as well as operatic arias and duets from well known works. At the end they played the blue Danube Waltz and Radetsky March by Strauss. It must be quite a boring gig for the musicians as they play 4 times a week, but they probably have a wide number they can call on to fill the seats as it was only a 30 piece salon orchestra. The performance was polished and flawless.

The trip back was easy and they managed to do all the changes of train without any waiting and were home in bed by 11pm which was very good.