Ahh Vienna, Capital of the Waltz. (V1)

Horses and their carriages waiting for hire,
in Michaeleplatz in front of the Spanische Hofreitschule.

One dark 1981 night, out in the caravan with my cousin, Ultravox blasted out of my beloved boom box for the first time with their hit 'Oh Vienna'. Waiting patiently during the countdown the next Sunday morning with my blank cassette and finger twitching over the record button, I finally got my self a copy of the song.  With the miracle of the double cassette stereo component, I was able to repeat the song over a whole side. The caravan shuddered with every syncopated drum beat until Mum told me off for waking the younger kids inside the house.  I still don't understand the lyrics but since then I have always wanted to visit Vienna in the winter.

What a wonderful Christmas present from my family and a couple of close Sydney friends to agree to come along. M had been keen to have a white Christmas while in the Northern Hemisphere so I had looked at spending the week in Scotland, Lapland(very expensive at this time of year) or Scandinavia but we decided that people are more important and we wanted to spend the celebration with our London family.  Still aiming for a dusting of snow and one of my cultural must dos, we booked to leave for Vienna on Boxing day.

Thanks again R for another terrific Christmas Dinner - Sprout style! C found a fantastic Chrissy jumper for the day - her words, "It's pink, what's not to love!  M, K and I got to hear the Rev's Christmas morning service this year.  Great Day.

After a big breakfast at the Vicarage and loading all our Christmas goodies into the car to store over our absence, we taxied out to Heathrow T2 for our Lufthansa flight. We sat on the tarmac for a while because a lady, whose bags were already loaded, didn't turn up to board.  By the time her luggage was removed we were about 30 mins late. At our transfer in Frankfurt we were bused over to the next terminal and rushed through a private custom point, hustled back onto the bus by the ground crew then driven straight to the door of the connecting flight to Vienna. This fabulous service saved about 14 of us missing the connecting flight.

Heathrow, Yes I got to sit on my own - time to read up on my 'Eyewitness Travel Guide -Vienna'.

We landed in the dark but easily found the train station at the end of the little terminal of the Vienna International airport. K had worked out that it was the fastest way to get to our Viennese apartment. The CAT is a faster train that goes straight to the heart of the city but the cheaper option, that took us to a stop only 13min walk from the Amici apartments in Brigittenau, was the OBB-S7 to Wien (German for Vienna) Traisengasse.

Our Vienesse Pantry - great  lolly section,
Petal's fav were the Anise Tictacs, I think
C's fav were the choc bananas.

After only having a half, sort of stale, sandwich on each flight, we were hungry; so Willow, C and I went out hunting for food. The Billa supermarket, which became our pantry after returning from the sights every night, was closed for the public holiday but a little bakery had very expensive basics and a schnitzel store was open. Starting our culinary tour with a chip shop national dish is not at all sophisticated but still satisfying. The advertising for the Amici apartments said that one of Vienna's legendary cafe's was only a block away and open for breakfast at 7am.  We couldn't find it so K and I picked up breakfast staples for the stay at Billa which happily opened at 7:30am.

Look Bambie, it's snowing! 

That first night, it snowed. The locals must have thought we were all loco with our windows open wide, hanging out over the spiked window sills (to keep the birds off) trying to catch the crystals. The next morning some was still settled on the cars but the footpaths were clear. It was still very cold so before leaving the lovely warm apartment we dressed ourselves up into boots and coats, scarves and gloves - except one who saw the clear skies and thought an extra T-shirt would be enough. Later that evening we stopped at a Christmas village on Maria-Theresien-Platz which still had around 70 stalls open - full of Christmas goodies and gifts. Petal was so pleased to find a hand knitted scarf and flip top mittens to spend her Christmas Euros on!

Marie-Theresian-platz next day in the light

The Christmas decorations were gorgeous but all glass - didn't like their chances surviving the trip back so they stayed there. We bought soup in a bun (very yummy crispy bread and delish hot soup) for tea.  A bit of a hardship to have to take a glove off to eat it though. Sausage and Pea, Hungarian Goulash and Cream of garlic warmed us up. It was rather weird eating the bowl too. Had to wash Willow's gloves and scarf though because the spilled garlic soup smell just didn't fade! Had to wash my black gloves too because I tried to eat with them still on and the pea soup green was rather luminous!  Two Austrian fellows drinking hot toddies from the little red boots, were delighted to have the pretty young girls at their market table and kindly took this photo for us.

Left - Queuing on the day - Top - Exercises saddle  - Right - Mozart Café

We headed off determined to do two things from our huge list that first day. Having missed the dancing horses in Cordoba last Christmas we didn't want to miss them again so we caught the U-bahn to Karlsplatz and headed for the Spanische Hofreitschule Wien. to make sure we got tickets.
On our way past the Opera we were stalled by the first of many velvet cloaked gentleman selling tickets to classical concerts in the evening. We turned him down and spotted the famous Sacher hotel, known more for its cake than its accommodation. The Sachertorte has been famous since 1832 and was the second task for the day so we decided after booking our dancing horse tickets we would return for morning tea. (See my Vienna cake blog for more details of this encounter.)

The performances at the riding school are fairly expensive and booked out in advance but the morning exercises are only €14 (7-18yrs, €7) for a couple of hours watching 4 or 5 groups of horses being trained. The website said that tickets couldn't be purchased in advance but in the ticket office off Michaeleplatz, we were able to get tickets for the following Monday.  We left the apartment early that day in our warmest layers in case of more snow. Our extra times built in to our travel plans in case of emergency weren't needed and we found ourselves in town with time to kill so we stopped for the most expensive coffee and hot chocolate we ever bought in Vienna, at the Mozart Café.  Just as well our tummies were warm though because as we queued to go into the horses it got cold enough to snow.

This photo is off the Riding School's website, even though there were frequent announcements in several languages 'forbidding' the taking of video or photos plenty of people were - not me, didn't want to be reprimanded by the officials.

The beautiful white in its stable

The horses were amazing to watch, their fluid paces and little tricks were controlled by very long and tapered switches when they were learning them but by almost imperceptible physical cues when more advanced. A very sad looking stable guy would come out periodically with shovel and brush to remove the horses ' doings'. My horse had been trained, well before I owned him, not to relieve himself with a rider n his back so it surprised me that these ultra trained horses had to have this service, then I wondered if perhaps they were super clever and could tell the difference between their performance harnesses and their exercise ones. We saw a couple of horses wearing the gold harnesses used in the perfomances and they had a strap that went under the tail and around the the girth, I need to ask my horse training cousin if this is the cue for them or just pretty. The big jumps that these horses are famous for were not practiced so if you have the funds available the performance would be better.

All photos thanks to Google Images!  These antics are not on display at the morning exercises - get a performance ticket for that, book in advance! http://www.viennaclassic.com 

If like us, you just go to the morning exercises,try and get up front in the queue because there are not a lot of places to sit and a lot of pillars that block views. We got a spot in a corner but could see one end really clearly, then after the first hour many people left so we were able to nick the empty spots. Petal was keen to watch after her experiences on horseback this year. M takes her to her lessons and watches her classes so they were having well informed chats about what they were seeing. I was very glad that the drop from the seating area and the performance ring was quite big, I didn't think that Willow would be tempted to jump down and gallop around with them as one of her comedy heroes - Miranda, might have been, but C my have talked her into it! K and C went in search of conveniences near the end and reported back that it was snowing again.

As we left the riding school it started to snow quite heavily and we felt very sorry for all the horses hitched to the tourist carriages. Even though they had their blankets on they were just standing waiting, I hope their owners make enough money to be able to feed them properly and give them warm stables to be safe in after work.  The Spanish horses had hot water pipes running through their stables to heat the air and lots of good fodder and bedding.

The horses looked a lot happier without the snow - here beside the Opera on teh way to the Sacher Hotel

After buying our tickets back on the first day we stopped for torte then went through the Hofburg Imperial Palace Museum. The ticket booth is in the courtyard of the Palace behind Heldenplatz (when facing the Burgtor gate across the Ringstrasse from Marie Theresienplatz). A family ticket was slightly cheaper than the €11.50 for adults and €10.50 for kids(to 18yrs).   Inside we saw the treasury and Silver collection - when so much gold plate is in one place it really doesn't look real. If this is the type of surroundings Marie Antionette was born into - no wonder she didn't understand the disgust of the revolting Parisians when she was Queen of France.

Walking around the Hofburg Quarter

A few pieces from the overwhelming 'Silver Collection'.  The painted crockery was amazing too.

 In the Imperial Apartments we saw the furnishings, art and clothing of Emperor F.J. and his wife Empress Elisabeth.  Her story is eerily similar to Princess Di. Elisabeth accompanied her older sister, Helene, for her first meeting with the Austrian Emperor. Helene had been raised with the expectation of marriage to him, to everyone's dismay he preferred the younger 15yr old and Elisabeth's betrothal to him was announced before he left.

Left:  The happy couple? The portrait of 'Sisi' here shows her wearing 27 diamond stars in her hair.
Right: The dress she wore at her betrothal Ball at 15yrs old just before the Emperor left Bavaria to return to Austria.

Elisabeth was disliked in Vienna and by her Austrian step family. but loved in Hungary, whose political autonomy she convinced her husband to award.  Her step mother wouldn't let her have a hand in raising her children and the Emperor soon went back to his many actress and dancer mistresses. Her teeth were ruined by the mercury prescribed for the venereal disease the Emperor bestowed upon her so she took huge efforts in emphasising her beautiful hip length hair and her figure.  She had gym apparatus installed in her apartments which scandalised the court, rode her horses daily and had her hair washed in egg and brandy.  She traveled extensively to join aristocratic hunting parties around the world and was much admired for her fashion sense, courage in the saddle and her beauty.
She developed anorexia, some think to control her environment as much as her figure, and recovered from a breakdown in Corfu. Her only son's suicide and her cousin - King Ludwig of Bavaria's drowning in a lake the day after being deposed for insanity, made her convinced that the family was cursed and she became very fatalistic.  A display of all her siblings in the Sisi museum has their life stories written on their backs and all but one led sad, unloved and confused lives. In one trip to Geneva she asked the local government to withdraw their detectives and body guards.  The press discovered her alias and announced her presence in the city. An anarchist took advantage and stabbed her with a sharpened file on the promenade of Lake Geneva. She died at 60 yrs of age.

Left:  The ticket booth in the middle of a courtyard.  Sisi's gymnastic equipment in her Imperial apartments.

Base of the MT monument with the
Natural History Museum behind

After this rather depressing visit - although the displays of her restored and reproduced clothes and accessories were amazing, we left through the Heldenplatz to the Christmas markets around the huge statue of Empress Maria Therese (mother of Marie Antoinette) who ruled Austria in her own right and bought many reforms to Austria, including the outlawing of torture. The square is between the imposing Natural history Museum and the History of Art Museum that announce the museum quarter on the Ringstrasse.

In front of the Art History Museum looking at scarves and hats.

As we crossed the boulevard we were approached by another velvet caped concert ticket seller. It was getting dark and he pleaded with us to listen to fill the last few moments before he was allowed to knock off (all in impeccable English). Knowing that a trip to Vienna without hearing some Strauss , Beethoven or Mozart just isn't complete I paused to hear his spiel. After a bit of negotiation - a call to his manager and mostly because it was the end of his shift we got tickets for less than half what the spruiker at the Opera had been offering. Even as I punched my PIN into the machine I wondered if we were being ripped off - would those pretty coloured tickets lead to a concert at all? K agreed that she had been wondering too, right up until we presented the tickets for entry the next evening.

Inside the concert as the instrumentalists tune up.

Petal's comment that "we should do this more often - the live stuff is much better than the boring stuff on CD", made all the worry worthwhile.  There were a couple of lovely ballet dancers, although the seats in front of us blocked their feet work but C was able to stand on the side and see a bit more. A tenor and a Contralto sang a few popular Arias. The pianist, the strings and the wind instruments were really talented and the percussionist, who I saw arriving as we did to the relief of an anxious manager on the stairs, was brilliant and very funny. I was a bit disappointed that no Beethoven was played, maybe Vienna still doesn't like him very much.

While Beethoven lived and worked in Vienna he wasn't very popular, his bad temper may have had something to do with this in a society where charm and social wit were highly valued. He started going deaf and developed crippling abdominal pains in his 20s and his romantic life was always stifled by his low birth - three rather good reasons for an impatient frame of mind. Even so he had a solid group of friends and at the last time he conducted in public, the first performance of his 9th Symphony - well after he was completely deaf - he had to be turned around to see the huge standing ovation the Viennese elite gave him. 20 000 Viennese took part in his funeral procession and his work only continued to become more popular.

Walking back to the Ubann after the concert with the 'House of Industries' where the concert hall was in behind.

We popped into a house Beethoven had lived in and is now set up as a museum. Unfortunately we arrived just as the custodian began his 1hr lunch break - but he let us take a photo through the door into the front room with his piano.

1. The door to the building's inner courtyard leading to his apartment's stairwell (floor 3) These doors were taken from the house he died in and put in place here afterwards.  2.A bust of the composer and his Piano in the front room.  3. A side door of the building with a tiny shop sellling Beethoven themed stuff - NOT connected to the museum - don't try to buy tickets here!  4. The background is the view from his apartment's windows - across the Ringstrasse to one of its elegant buildings.

This steep ramp is the access up to Beethoven's building - the signs at the top of it caused much merriment - not sure if it's telling  to slide down it, couldn't find any sleds though.

Mozart is celebrated more today than Beethoven but at the time of his death (36 years before Beethoven) it wasn't the done thing to attend a burial.  He was buried with only a couple of music friends looking on but memorials for him in the weeks afterward were very well attended. Today in the souvenir shops I couldn't find anything of Mahler - who had been in charge of the city's Opera for so many years, of Beethoven, Gluck or even of Brahms, but Mozart's face and story are everywhere thanks to a Salzburg chocolate company cashing in on his fame.

A statue of Mozart in Viennese park on the Ringstrass 

Vienna's Musical Giants

 Bach 1685-1750                   Mozart 1756 - 1791           Beethoven  1770 - 1827

    Brahms  1833 -1897           J.S.Strauss 1825-1899          Mahler 1860- 1911

The Strauss family and their Waltzes and Polkas are truly the musical heroes of Vienna though.  Horses dance to them and the New Year's Day concert in the Golden Hall are full of them; no Viennese concert is complete without "The Beautiful Blue Danube" or "The Radetzky March". Johann 'Schani' Strauss made the Viennese Waltz famous around the world.  It took a long time for this daring dance, where partners of the opposite sex actually touched more than each other's finger tips, to be accepted in the dance halls of London and Bath but just like the rock and roll phenomenon of the 50s the young folk learnt it with enthusiasm and it became the norm. Strauss toured the world to conduct his compositions.  In 1872 he went to Boston and was paid US$100 000 to conduct the Blue Danube 14 times.

The Heart of Vienna - Strauss statue in Stadtpark.

There are quite a few dance schools where visitors can pop in (Hop On is the Austrian/English translation) to have a Blitz dance class. Willow and Petal would have been mortified to see their parents giggling as they stepped on toes spinning round in circles so we spared them this activity - next time! The Rueff Dance School offered an hour of Waltz and Polka week days between 5-6pm for €46 per couple, they can be found directly behind the Capital hall of Vienna off subway station U2: Rathaus.

Wilhelm Gause's(1853 - 1916)  most famous painting - 'Court ball at the Hofburg'

Oh, Vienna lyrics - Ultravox 1981

We walked in the cold air
Freezing breath on a window pane
Lying and waiting
A man in the dark in a picture frame
So mystic and soulful
A voice reaching out in a piercing cry
It stays with you until

The feeling has gone only you and I
It means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh, Vienna

The music is weaving
Haunting notes, pizzicato strings
The rhythm is calling
Alone in the night as the daylight brings
A cool empty silence
The warmth of your hand and a cold gray sky
It fades to the distance

The image has gone only you and I
It means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh, Vienna

This means nothing to me
This means nothing to me
Oh, Vienna

In one interview, the band explained that the film The Third Man, a murder mystery set in the Cold War years when one British foreign minister said there were more spies in Vienna than Austrians, with its atmospheric cinematography inspired them. The video clip does well to make a foggy Covent Garden in London look like Vienna.