Vienna - Christmas, Castles and Cold - Part 4

Huge interlude in these posts for Christmas in H-town and the beginning of busy season.  I'm laying on the bed in the Hague, watching the snow fall outside my window.  Public transport from my apartment has once again been cut off in the snow.  The snow is gorgeous.

To finish up Vienna (my favorite city thus far in Europe), I last left off with the Hofsburg treasury.  After rounding my way through the treasury, I headed over to the Silver collection and the Imperial apartments / Sisi museum.

The Silver collection was first.  It reminded me of the White House dish room but multiplied by 4000 the number of plates, cups, vases, etc.

 Takes silver to a whole new level

 Who doesn't need a fish plate?

 Your standard center piece.  nbd.

 

Your standard vases and cake plates.  nbd.

The silver collection also had a free audio guide included with the ticket, but the line was sooo long, I skipped it.  The silver collection was a bit much in my opinion...nothing super exciting about it.  Pretty without the guilt trip of being closely connected to the early church history.  That's about it.

I bought the combo ticket for the Imperial apartments and the Sisi museum, which follows on after the silver collection.  It was incredible, but no pictures.  I took a covert picture of the first chandelier in the apartments, but stopped after that for fear of getting thrown out.  It was really neat.

 

Sisi (Elisabeth) lived from 1837-1898.  She grew up on a noble estate in Bavaria.  At 15, Franz Josef, the emperor to be of Austria, spotted Sisi and even though he was engaged to someone else, fell in love and proposed.  Sisi was about 5'8" and she maintained a 20-21" waist and weight under 100lbs her entire life.  She was extremely vain - she only allowed formal portaits under the age of 30 and had hair that reached the floor, which took 4+ people a full morning to wash, dry and comb.  She created the South Beach Diet movement before we even had a thought to do it.  She wasn't super popular at the time she lived, but her legend continues to grow and her image is used everywhere in Austria.  She was killed by an anarchist in Switzerland who originally intended to kill a lesser known prince from France until he found out Sisi was in town.  One little knife wound did her in.  The museum was definitely worth the ticket price. 

Following the Sisi museum is the Imperial apartments which are a lot like Versaille, just much more compact as they are in the middle of the city.  Loved those as well.

After the apartments, I headed out on a new adventure:  Vienna's Christmas markets!  I can't tell you how excited I was about this part of the trip.  It did not disappoint.

First Christmas market was in the middle of the city.  It was huge - lots of booths and lots of people.

 Evidence of the first attempt at Punsch, which is a fruity hot drink.  This particular one had berries in it - it was good.  You paid a deposit for the mug and the drink and if you turned the mug back in, you got the deposit back.  I kept all of my mugs for souvenirs, but what a great idea.  My only problem was I wasn't entirely sure which ones had alcohol in them and which didn't.  I'm pretty sure this one did.

 Christmas tram!  I thought about getting a ride - you got a drink with the ride, but ended up not having enough time.

 

Ornaments as far as the eye can see.  Absolutely incredible - so much fun.

After the first Christmas park, I headed to the Vienna Metro, which was super clean and nice.  I bought a 24 hour pass, but never once found any one checking tickets and there were no turnstiles.  I wouldn't take a chance without one normally, but I will say I used my ticket for longer than 24 hours (oops!) and didn't have a problem.

 On the way to the Metro

First hot chocolate at Schonbrunn Palace - this one definitely didn't have alcohol in it. 

 From afar, the crowds headed to the market and the beautiful christmas tree in front.

 More ornaments.  I could have stared at these all day.

 Snitzel in the castle.  While listening to Christmas carols played on the piano.  What a meal and moment.

Tree at night with carolers in front.

I had such a nice time just wandering the grounds of the palace for the Christmas stuff, late lunch at the palace and just the general atmosphere.  I didn't attempt to go in the palace - I just enjoyed the ambience, which was enough.

Time for a new post for my evening activities.