Vienna - City of the Arts

After a wonderful time in Prague, we arrived in Vienna not really knowing what to expect. People have spoke very highly of the city so we stopped here for a few days. And we are so glad that we did!

We arrived on Wednesday and got to our small, family-run hotel, but big rooms (pictured below). The hotel was about a 10-minute walk from downtown Vienna. Our first day there, we did a self-guided walking tour of the city. We saw the State Opera House (one of the premier houses of music), St. Stephan's Cathedral (with 450-foot towers, it is considered to be the needle around which Vienna spins), and Loos' Loos (restrooms that were fancy enough to host poetry readings while you do your business).

We also got to Skype with my brother, Jake. Shout out to Jake! Congrats on picking a major!

On Thursday we woke up early because we had a goal in mind...get tickets to see the opera. We got breakfast and headed back down to the State Opera House, only to be told that the opera for that night was sold out. However, there were still standing room tickets available that went on sale 80 minutes before the show started. So we decided to return for that! We are used to standing for absurdly long periods of time!

After leaving ticketless, we went to the Dorotheum, a gigantic, four floor auction house. They were auctioning/selling everything from furniture to paintings to jewelry. It was all very expensive and very nice! All things we could only dream of having. Next we went to the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in downtown Vienna. This is a 21 room collection of crowns, jewels, royal robes, and more. Some of the highlights were the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne's saber, an eight-foot tall 500-year old unicorn horn, and a 23-pound gold basin and pitcher used to baptize noble children.

Also, we saw what some people believe to be the cross on which Jesus was crucified and the Holy Lance used to pierce his side. We also saw fragments of Jesus' manger, a piece of Christ's loincloth, and a shred of the Last Supper tablecloth. Finally, we saw John the Baptist's tooth...that was kind of gross. (All of these claims aren't fully accepted as true.)

Next, we went to the Haus der Musik, a three floor interactive museum. It was a really cool experience. The first floor was all about the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. On the second floor, we learned all about the nature of sound and music by doing different experiments. The third floor went through the history of famous Viennese conductors such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Strauss. Finally, and definitely the highlight, was the chance to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic virtually. I had no idea that Hannah was a natural conductor! The crowd was cheering for an encore after her performance. It was a great preview of the night to come.

After a delicious Viennese dinner, we headed over to the Opera House to get in line for standing room tickets! We were so early that not only did we get tickets for a sold-out show, we were front and center of the standing room area. Yes, we stood for the entire 3.5 hours (after walking probably 5 miles already that day). But it was definitely worth it! The Opera House was gorgeous and the performance "Don Giovanni" was wonderful!

The other people in the standing room, though, were maybe not so wonderful. I have never been so closely surrounded by so many internationals using what broken English they had to yell and fight with each other. Asian ladies were ramming me (Hannah), trying to get into spots I was holding for us while Nick was checking our bag. One lady behind us kept chewing out the man for moving her scarf (tied to the railing to mark her spot). She was convinced he was trying to get rid of her so he could have more room. In reality, the people who were sliding behind us managed to catch her scarf every time and move it down the railing with them. Haha, it was entertaining to say the least. We used all of our skills - from Cairo and USC football games - for navigating the crowds and boxing out to hold our spots. So all in all, it was a wonderful time!

Friday we had a slow morning and then made our way to Schonbrunn Palace, the Habsburg's summer home. This is the only palace in Europe to rival Versailles. It has 1,441 rooms! But we only got to see 40 of them. The palace is not as gaudy as Versailles, so it feels more like a home. Some of the rooms that we saw were definitely built up and extremely fancy (such as the Great Gallery, which was the site of a famous summit between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev). Another highlight was the mirrored room, where six-year-old Mozart performed his first concert. We also spent time walking around the palace gardens. They seemed to go on forever! It was amazing imagining what it would have been like to attend an event in the palace gardens.

Friday night we got to Skype with the Giles family. It was great to catch up with Jake and Bethany, see Cason running around, with Judah and Jonas walking close behind. And then we got to talk to Mike and Steph for a little while before the connection was lost. We loved hearing about how they are settling in and enjoying Lebanon.

Now we are off to Budapest and on a journey to find my great grandparents house!