We spent the first weekend of August in
Vienna, Austria with Melanie, Adam, Ashley, and Matt. The primary reason we went to Austria was to see the
Bodies Exhibit, however, Vienna is a great city and we really enjoyed touring there as well.
We arrived at our hotels late on Friday night. It's a good thing we took a cab, because I don't think we would have found our hotel which was tucked into an alcove along a main street without the cab driver pointing us in the right direction. We shared an apartment with Melanie and Adam for the weekend while Ashley and Matt had their own room. It was nice to have a common area for relaxing in the evenings with a few games of
Settlers!
On Saturday, we toured the
Tutanchamun and the World of the Pharaohs Exhibition. Although we were slightly disappointed that King Tut himself wasn't actually on display, it was really amazing to see relics from his and several other kings' tombs. The intricacies and customs of the burial process were described in great detail. Also, the unveiling and excavation of the tomb was well documented in photographs.
Unfortunately, (perhaps fortunately for the guys) the opera does not put on performances during the summer months. We were able to take a tour of the opera house though. In addition to seeing the stage from a patron's point of view, we also went backstage. It was interesting to see the iron fire doors which could be used in the event of a fire to protect the rest of the building. Also, we learned that since a different performance is given every night during the performing season, sets are constructed and then deconstructed daily.
Next, we went into the
Treasury at Hofburg Palace which houses the
Hapsburg's collection of crowns, jewels, and robes. While we've been in treasuries before, this one was truly unique to us. Previous treasuries have been comprised of jewels, weapons, and mostly gold and silver goblets. In addition to the items listed above, it was really neat to see many robes worn by the royal family as well as shirts worn by the knights.
We also walked through the
Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum). The museum largely houses Renaissance paintings by many artists including: Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Raphael, Johannes Vermeer, Diego Velázquez, and Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The building was a work of art in itself and we really wished we could have spent more time walking through it.
On Sunday morning, we saw the Bodies Exhibit. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures in it. While Kurt had some misgivings about it, he thought it was interesting. Carrie absolutely loved it! It was really amazing to see parts of human bodies up close. One of the coolest pieces was the entire circulatory system. They pumped polymer through the circulatory system, let it harden, then chemically destroyed the remainder of the tissue so all that was left was the veins and arteries. Although not for the queasy, it was a great experience! Carrie would definitely go to another exhibition if it were in the neighborhood!
Afterward, we took a 40 room guided tour of the
Schloss Schönbrunn (
Schonbrunn Palace), which was the summer home of the Hapsburg family. The palace and the grounds were breathtaking! We had a great time walking through manicured gardens, finding our way through a hedge maze, and climbing to the
Schönbrunn Palace Garden Gloriette for a beautiful view of the palace and the gardens. We wrapped up our visit with a sample and a demonstration on how to make Apfel Strudel (Apple Strudel). Melanie was chosen to help make it and was certified as a
Schönbrunn baker! For all you bakers out there...remember, when making your dough, you know it's thin enough when you can read a newspaper through it!
On our walk to dinner that night, we made our way to the
Danube river and visited the
Judenplatz --the memorial to the 65,000 murdered Austrian Jews in the Holocaust.
On Monday, we visited the
Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments, the
Ephesus Museum, and the
Collection of Arms and Armor in the New Castle Wing of the
Hofburg Imperial Palace. Many of the instruments had recordings allowing us to hear what they sounded like. The Ephesus museum had many fantastic statues from antiquity and got us excited for a future trip to Ephesus. Finally, we spent a good deal of time walking through the arms and armor collection. It was interesting to see how armor changed throughout the years and see the differences between functional armor and 'dress' armor.
We wrapped up our trip to Vienna with dessert at
Demel's--THE place to go for rich dessert in Vienna. As we've found with dessert in Germany, it looks better than it tastes. But at least we can say we ate there!
We did a lot of walking over the weekend, and as you will see in our pictures, we saw a couple churches, many statues and fountains, and generally beautiful scenery. Vienna is a beautiful, opulent city with a rich history.
Click below to see pictures from the trip:
