We arrived in Vienna late Tuesday and will continue to explore until early Saturday. On Tuesday, we walked about town to get our bearings and found St. Stephen’s cathedral, enjoyed a nice dinner at Café Central and then ventured out to see a the city at night. We saw many of the major sites (see photos in Vienna Album). Then today, on Wednesday, we toured the Hapsburg Palace Imperial Apartments and Treasury. A couple highlights included seeing the bejeweled crown of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, a tooth of John the Baptist, a couple small pieces of the tablecloth from the Last Supper, a 1 ft. length of the lance believed to have pierced Jesus’ side on the cross, and a small piece of the cross that Jesus died on (a portion with a nail hole from the crucifixion). All from the Hapsburg Collection, these items were breathtaking and awe-inspiring, there were also medallions, crowns and embroidered clothing encrusted in jewels and sewn with gold thread. Quite impressive.
We’ve also tried a few of the local dishes since we arrived: Goulash (paprika flavored beef and sauce); Tafelspitz (boiled beef with potatoes and carrots — a lot like my mom’s), Kaiserschmarrn (a pancake that’s cut-up before being served with fruit compote) a Topfenstrudel (a cheese-filled strudel).
Since it’s the 250th Anniversary of Mozart’s life, much of Vienna’s sights are also focused on Mozart and his works. During our remaining time here, we plan to tour a couple more of the local palaces, perhaps see the Lizzaner stallion museum (if we’re lucky, we may be able to see them practice tomorrow, but we think they’re out of town), walk along the Danube River, visit more of the local Cafes (the Viennesse equivalent of the English Pub — only with coffee instead of beer). We also plan to see a bit of the Nutcracker tomorrow night at the local, supposed breathtaking Opera house.