Vienna - end of tour

Vienna 3

The day of the snow. Today it didn't just pretend to snow, it really snowed, and it was absolutely freezing again. The outside temperature was 1 degree, but I think that was an exaggeration!


We started the day by visiting Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of Empress Marie Therese. it was a magnificent building and the history of the Hapsburgs is truly amazing. She had 16 children and spent nearly 20 years being pregnant. Then they married off all the kids into other rich and powerful families so that the lineage could continue. Apparently they had to prove they had at least 16 aristocractic descendants before they could marry, so in the end they were becoming quite incestuous. But that's how all the dynasties began - through arranged marriages with contracts about what happened if someone died. That's how the Austrian Empire became so big and powerful. Apparently this Austrian Empire even included Spain at one stage, so they automatically inherited all the South American outposts of the Spanish regime. The Austrians used to boast that the sun never sets on their empire, because it was always daylight in some part of their Kingdom.


We had to walk across a very big courtyard to get into the Palace, and it was really snowing by this stage... I guess it's all part of the adventure! It was an experience just to walk in snow.

Our next stop was the Imperial Treasures where we had a look at some of the jewels and clothes of the Austrian past. The Church was intimately involved in all this, because they had their finger in the pie of power too, of course. Many of their vestments were very regal and embellished with all sorts of embroidery.



We even saw the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. Apparently the Emperor an the Pope were having arguments about who was the most powerful, because when the coronation was to take place, each insisted it be held on his patch. Nothing like a Pope being a humble servant of God, is there...????


We also had a very unfortunate thing happen here, as one of the group, Mary, who is a doctor in Sydney, had her purse stolen.
They had warned us about pickpockets in Prague so we were all super-vigilant. But poor Mary had her bag zipped up and all, and it was just lifted out. Of course it had her credit cards, and she had just been out to get some cash. So that's gone to God!

In the afternoon, we went for a drive to the Vienna Woods. It was truly magnificent because the snow lay everywhere, and allthe Aussies were drooling about how lovely it was. It was so picturesque - just like postcards.. All the blokes acted like the big boys that they are and began to make snowballs and throw them at each other. We have two teenagers on the trip, and they are delightful. They also had a ball just playing in the snow!



I forgot to mention my "kultcha" from last night, when I went to the Concert. it was lovely. It was a mixture of the music of Strauss and Mozart, and they also had two opera singers and two dancers. I could have lived without them, but the music itself was fantastic. You won't know me when I return- I'll be so posh!!

Hope I can get this uploaded. I bought 1 hour of Internet time and I have 15 mins left!

Can't believe it's the end of the tour. We are all going out for our final dinner tonight, then tomorrow I fly out for Dublin. Look out Ireland - here I come! Not sure where my next Internet access will come from, so it might be a little delay. Who knows....