Vienna, Austria

Vienna is about music, culture, coffee houses, opera and the is home city to classical music. All of the made possible by the Royal Family, the Hapsburg’s. The only Monarchs that coud possibly compete with Louis XIV (the sun king) and seems to have been forgotten. I say this because I spent the day explaining Hapsburg history to my wife and she is no dummy. If you know the history, skip over the next few paragraphs…But the history books don’t do these guys justice.

The Hapsburg’s Rein Started in 1218 and ended with the loss of World War 1. It just died… over 700 years of rule over a large chunk of Europe ended just like that. Everything was taken over by the state and they were rulers no more.

Vienna is situated in Europe where east meets west and an incredible amount of money and trade flowed though here during the Hapsburg’s rein and obviously a large part stayed behind.
They may of had problems but money was not one of them.

At its height, the Empire ruled over 56 Million people. At that time, the court consisted of over 5,000 who were fed daily on gold or silver plates and lived as well as anyone in the world. The tour through the city palace named Hofburg consisted of three parts. The dinner service and kitchen utensils. The Sisi tour ( princess Dianna of her day). The final was the royal apartments. Because the empire ended in modern times, everything was simply put into a museum, preserved perfectly. AT a cost of 21 Euros a couple to tour…. The Hapsburg’s are still smiling somewhere.

The empire changed all our lives for the better. They were benefactors to all sorts of musicians,artists, thinker, writers, etc. If you were exceptionally gifted in any area during their rein, you’d go to Vienna as fast as you could. Mozart, Vivaldi, Goethe, and countless other were able to excel with their help. They were very strict Catholics and as far as my research can tell, the best behaved Monarchs of all Europe.

The multicultural empire became a melting pot long before the US held that claim. None of the Hapsburg’s subject regions ever sent any significant number of emigrants to the US. Like the Romans, they were willing to take the best of everything from subject lands and people and leave them alone, provided they stuck with the program.