Vienna - Waltzing in the New Year

We had a couple of nights moored at Vienna and started with a quick tour of the older part of the city. The church we visited was Jesuit. Although plain on the outside, inside it was quite lavish, however it did set about to con the viewer. In the centre of the ceiling was this dome except when you looked closer from different angles it was a just an arch with some pretty clever painting. Helped to keep the construction costs down.

Mind you some of the inlay work was genuine and stunning. This is the end of one of the numerous pews.

Outside near the Museum Quarter was the usual triumphant rider and horse. However, this one is a little unusual as, although large, it is wholly supported by the rear (and relatively small) two feet. The centre of gravity of the sculpture must have been carefully worked to enable this. Most sculptures of this size have a tail or the like helping with support.

The square and surrounds are well serviced by horse and carriage. The challenge is getting a shot where pedestrians do not spoil the view.

We visited the Art History Museum. There was a Ruben exhibition on so it would have been easy to spend a day wondering around. Notwithstanding the thousands of pictures our guide carefully selected a few scenes relevant to the time of year. 

One gallery focused on Brugel and we were directed to the “Massacre of the innocents”. This is an updated Flemish village version of King Herod's infanticide. With carbon dating and other testing this is actually considered to have been painted by his son.

My preference (largely because I recognised it!) is the Peasant Wedding (1548).

All that study generated a bit of hunger so outside we were treated to some very tasty smoked meats and cheese in the remnants of the Christmas (now New Year) markets. A few passers by were quite put out when they couldn’t join in on our feast! 

The second day saw us tripping to the summer palace. Competition amongst the nobility was significant and the Schonbrunn Palace is modelled on the Palace of Versailles even down to the pale yellow paint. However, although the palace was magnificent it fell a little short and the gardens quite a bit short of Versailles. 

We visited some twenty of the palace rooms and our guide was excellent in picking out interesting detail. Unfortunately, unlike Versailles we were not allowed to take photos.

Given it was winter there were not too many flowers so in order to generate interest the lawns had had the flowerbeds cut to produce an interesting pattern. As our life aboard the cruise boat was somewhat sedentary we opted for a quick walk to the end of the gardens.

When viewed atop Schonbrunn Hill, the neat and clean lines of the palace were really emphasised by the city background of patchwork colours.

Mind you the view to Schonbrunn Hill is also quite imposing when viewed from the palace. Our visit ended with a visit to a Puppet Theatre. Photographs were not allowed but the half hour show we were treated to was an amazingly skilled performance. So saying I am not sure I could have handled the full 3 hour opera show that was on offer later in the day!

After an afternoon back on board for recovery, we dressed up and headed for town to welcome in the New Year. The lights transformed city streets into colourful tunnels.

The cruise had arranged for our own palace (Palais Ferstel) and here we are about to make an entrance. Originally it was not a palace but a stock exchange and bank. It was found to be too small for its intended use and became a “palace” for entertainment and then given the name of the Architect.

Ian and Shani – ready to party. (Nice jacket…)

The room was just magnificent with its coffered timber ceiling several floors high. The entertainment included a string quartet with piano alternating with a jazz quartet so we had a great and continuous musical mix. However, the underlying theme throughout Vienna was the waltz. Even outside the crowds were not madding but waltzing up and down the street. Inside we had four couples who really new what they were doing. 

Later in the evening for reasons best known to themseleves they sought to lower the quality of the dancing and get our crowd involved.

A really memorable way of bringing in, based on this start, what should be a brilliant New Year.