Vienna, Austria

First let me explain the title. Frans Joseph ruled the Hapsburg empire for 65 years until 1916. Unlike most of the Viennese, Emperor Joseph did not care for opera. He was a hard working no nonsense kind of guy. He had a very nice private room to entertain at the opera which he much preferred to actually watching the opera.

In one of the rare instances where he did stay for the performance, he refused to clap for the performers at the end. When asked later why he did not clap, he replied ” why should we clap for these opera singers, they were just doing their jobs!”

We split up today for the morning. Melissa chose the crown jewels and saw all the goodies the Hapsburg’s accumulated over 600 years.

I went to the Albertina to see the Monet to Picasso exhibit. The exhibit was a little smaller than I expected and I found myself with time to drop by the heavily advertised Mel Ramos exhibit. Seems this guy had a hard time keeping a job in the advertising buinsess. He had a very constant theme, women with little or no clothes are the best way to sell a product. http://www.melramos.net/

We met up for a quick lunch and did the guided tour of the Vienna Opera House. They take their Opera serious here. The performances run nightly with only two months off in the heat of the summer. Seems like it has been this way for over 150 years, so if you are ever in the mood to catch some opera, now you know where to go.

After wards, it was off to the Schonbrunn palace. The Hapsburg’s former hunting lodge that Maria Theresa turned into a palace that would impress anyone. This is right up the with Versailles for me. Decorated in the “Rococo” style made popular by Louis the XIV, you can see the similarities. Basically, this palace says I am the Monarch and you are not. It is incredible. The Imperial summer Palace has 1400 rooms.

The gardens contain 32 staues and a maze. Also in the garden is the Tiergarten the world’s oldest existing zoo (founded in 1752), an orange grove, a palm house, and a botanical garden. It is immense and quite a site to look over from the Palace.

Mozart played for Maria Theresa in this palace. The court of 5,000 people would stay in the palace when they Monarchs came from the in town Hofburg palace out to the country. (the city has grown around it now). If you ever wanted to know how good it was to be king, this is the place to visit.