Vienna; Wednesday, 23 November, 2005

With my bag neatly stowed in the left luggage locker at Wein Mitte station I caught the tram out to Schwedenplatz to pick up the city bus to the Hofburg, a slightly roundabout way, but the guidebooks went on about catching the bus through the centre up all the little lanes, and then through the Hofburg itself.

I got off just in time to find a film crew blocking access to the palace so I had to walk around the side to get access. The main body of the palace is now a massive museum split into three exhibitions. The first one is the imperial silver collection, which is actually the imperial tableware exhibition, and they had a lot of it! The second and main exhibition is dedicated to 'Sisi' Empress Elizabeth, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph (he died in 1916, she was assassinated in 1895) Whilst she was alive she was an eccentric who shunned her public duties, once she died she became a legend and fated as a "fairy-tale Princess" (not that in any way this sounds like our own Princess... No that would be tantamount to treason!)

The final part of the exhibition is of the state (winter) apartments of Franz Joseph and Elizabeth - not to be confused with their summer apartments out at Schönbrunn! For one of the most powerful people in the world the Emperors apartments are quite Spartan, Sisi's slightly more flamboyant with the first bathroom and water closet installed in the palace.

After spending several hours in the palace I wandered down into one of the courtyards to have a quick lunch in the café before catching the tram round to the Stadtpark which runs in a small space between the Ring (the central ring road) and the River Wein and has statues to some of the most famous composers in Austrian history.

With the light starting to fade, I headed back to Wein Mitte and picked up my bags to head back to the airport.

Weather

Sunny Sunny
AM PM
Cold (-10-0C, 14-32F)
0ºC/32ºF