Back to full speed today, so off early to Vienna for a day at the museums. We started at the combined Imperial Apartments / Sisi Museum / Silver Collection. Admission included an excellent audio guide that meant that everyone walked around with the guide clamped to their ears. This had the advantage that it kept the noise down but bad in that it created logjams in the corridors especially where there were long audio descriptions. People also seemed to be totally unaware that they were totally blocking the way.
In the early years the royal families considered that porcelain was inferior and they used only silver or gold plates. It was quite impressive to see huge sets of silver and gold dinner services together with totally OTT table decorations by the hundred. When they moved over to porcelain, they did so in style and these dinner services were also very impressive. The Sisi museum showed how Elizabeth (1837-1898), wife of Emperor Franz Joseph lived and how she was transformed into a legend after her assassination. A very young bride, she felt suffocated by life at the palace and eventually developed her own, much more independent, life by travelling throughout Europe and beyond whenever possible. She was very beautiful and went to great lengths to keep her beauty as she aged. After she reached forty, she refused to have her portrait painted and covered her face to avoid being seen by the public. She obviously had problems! She was assassinated by an Italian anarchist who was actually intending to kill someone else – she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The imperial apartments were also very interesting with many, obligatory paintings of past monarchs, battles etc.
A necessary and very good lunch was had at the Café Rathaus on the edge of the Jewish Quarter. Then it was back to the huge Palace complex for the Ephesus Museum. It was excellent to see all those pieces that were missing when we went to Ephesus in Turkey. Unfortunately, this museum was also combined with two other museums. The Ancient Musical Instruments Museum was quite interesting and had recordings of some instruments that could be played on the audio guide, but it was far bigger than we realised. The Collection of Arms and Armoury however was too much. I can only stand a certain amount of arms and armoury – a very small amount. After four rooms, we had both had enough and made for the exit.
Arriving back at Klosterneuburg we were both totally shattered. Why is it that I can happily walk for 10 miles through the countryside and not feel tired at the end of it whilst the combination of standing around and walking in museums (or shopping) kills my feet?
In the early years the royal families considered that porcelain was inferior and they used only silver or gold plates. It was quite impressive to see huge sets of silver and gold dinner services together with totally OTT table decorations by the hundred. When they moved over to porcelain, they did so in style and these dinner services were also very impressive. The Sisi museum showed how Elizabeth (1837-1898), wife of Emperor Franz Joseph lived and how she was transformed into a legend after her assassination. A very young bride, she felt suffocated by life at the palace and eventually developed her own, much more independent, life by travelling throughout Europe and beyond whenever possible. She was very beautiful and went to great lengths to keep her beauty as she aged. After she reached forty, she refused to have her portrait painted and covered her face to avoid being seen by the public. She obviously had problems! She was assassinated by an Italian anarchist who was actually intending to kill someone else – she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The imperial apartments were also very interesting with many, obligatory paintings of past monarchs, battles etc.
A necessary and very good lunch was had at the Café Rathaus on the edge of the Jewish Quarter. Then it was back to the huge Palace complex for the Ephesus Museum. It was excellent to see all those pieces that were missing when we went to Ephesus in Turkey. Unfortunately, this museum was also combined with two other museums. The Ancient Musical Instruments Museum was quite interesting and had recordings of some instruments that could be played on the audio guide, but it was far bigger than we realised. The Collection of Arms and Armoury however was too much. I can only stand a certain amount of arms and armoury – a very small amount. After four rooms, we had both had enough and made for the exit.
Arriving back at Klosterneuburg we were both totally shattered. Why is it that I can happily walk for 10 miles through the countryside and not feel tired at the end of it whilst the combination of standing around and walking in museums (or shopping) kills my feet?
The pictures are:-
Athena outside the Parliament building in Vienna
Fancy armour in the Vienna museum
Fashionable armour - used for formal and social ocassions (!) and reflected the current dress fashions - yes, it was for a man and it has a griffin head
Now this one is definately for a man and one who is trying to boast!
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