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Who in their right mind would go to Vienna for just one day? Well, we'd been before so at least knew the places to go back to and those that we'd missed out on last time. Using the first part of the organised tour to hitch a lift into town, we quickly formed a breakaway group and spent the rest of the day in glorious independence.
We couldn't have timed our arrival at the home of the Vienna State Opera better, just in time to join a tour all over this substantial landmark. Considering the size of the building from the outside, the auditorium itself was tiny, reminiscent of a smaller-scale La Scala with plush red seats and stacked boxes in horseshoe formation. Tickets (if you could secure them) would range from 200 Euros in the stalls down to a few euros to stand ... although promming through five hours of Wagner would seem somewhat daunting. Behind the curtain was a whole different story, the stage space seeming to go on for miles (and with trap doors leading to great depths below) to accommodate multifarious scene changes at rapid speed. With no performances during the summer, maintenance was in full swing. Technicians were hard at work on banks of lights, wires and other paraphernalia. One was up aloft, another worked from below on an A-frame ladder, which from time to time he employed as giant stilts to shuffle along to the next task ... why waste time coming down and moving it safely first?
The most challenging aspect of our sightseeing today was keeping sufficiently cool in the fierce sunshine. Schonbrunn Palace had already been ticked off last time, but as that visit had been in February the gardens had been in hibernation, even the statues shrouded against frost damage. We took the underground to explore the grounds in glorious technicolour. The walk up to the Gloriette for a light lunch, through a thankfully wooded pathway, gave delightful views over the carefully tended formality of the gardens at every turn, all against the backdrop of the Palace in its distinctive Habsburg yellow.
This was clearly thirsty work, so back in the city we hunted out our favourite comfort stop, Cafe Central on Herren Strasse, just along the road from the Spanish Riding School. Under its Arabic vaulted ceiling and surrounded by classy dark wood we indulged in enough chocolate and cream for the rest of the trip and beyond. The array of colourful confectionary has to be seen (and tasted, given half a chance) to be believed.
By serendipitous chance, we passed the Albertina Museum on the way, and this as yet unvisited art gallery was advertising 'Monet to Picasso', so a trip through significant masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries turned out to be a perfect conclusion to our one day in Vienna.
We couldn't have timed our arrival at the home of the Vienna State Opera better, just in time to join a tour all over this substantial landmark. Considering the size of the building from the outside, the auditorium itself was tiny, reminiscent of a smaller-scale La Scala with plush red seats and stacked boxes in horseshoe formation. Tickets (if you could secure them) would range from 200 Euros in the stalls down to a few euros to stand ... although promming through five hours of Wagner would seem somewhat daunting. Behind the curtain was a whole different story, the stage space seeming to go on for miles (and with trap doors leading to great depths below) to accommodate multifarious scene changes at rapid speed. With no performances during the summer, maintenance was in full swing. Technicians were hard at work on banks of lights, wires and other paraphernalia. One was up aloft, another worked from below on an A-frame ladder, which from time to time he employed as giant stilts to shuffle along to the next task ... why waste time coming down and moving it safely first?
The most challenging aspect of our sightseeing today was keeping sufficiently cool in the fierce sunshine. Schonbrunn Palace had already been ticked off last time, but as that visit had been in February the gardens had been in hibernation, even the statues shrouded against frost damage. We took the underground to explore the grounds in glorious technicolour. The walk up to the Gloriette for a light lunch, through a thankfully wooded pathway, gave delightful views over the carefully tended formality of the gardens at every turn, all against the backdrop of the Palace in its distinctive Habsburg yellow.
This was clearly thirsty work, so back in the city we hunted out our favourite comfort stop, Cafe Central on Herren Strasse, just along the road from the Spanish Riding School. Under its Arabic vaulted ceiling and surrounded by classy dark wood we indulged in enough chocolate and cream for the rest of the trip and beyond. The array of colourful confectionary has to be seen (and tasted, given half a chance) to be believed.
By serendipitous chance, we passed the Albertina Museum on the way, and this as yet unvisited art gallery was advertising 'Monet to Picasso', so a trip through significant masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries turned out to be a perfect conclusion to our one day in Vienna.
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