Austria

We've been in Austria for three days now and have adjusted to the German speech all around. It was a long trip from Parma to Vienna so we stopped one night in the town of Velden which is just over the border once you leave Italy. Velden is a resort town on a very pretty lake and the season had just started the day before we arrived, The hotel was not very busy except there was a Tupperware meeting going on while we were there. Go figure. The morning we left, the front drive of the hotel was lined with marvelous sports cars - every European make available. Apparently, there was to be a rally - people coming in all day to drive the cars around the lake.

Once we were settled in our hotel in Vienna, we quickly left behind the pasta of Italy and jumped right into the coffee and pastries of Austria. That first night we went to the opera and it was quite a grand experience. The Opera House is magnificent and the guests are dressed in everything from gowns to day wear. We thoroughly enjoyed The Barber of Seville since we had recently seen it at home and knew the story, although it was fun to have the little translators in several languages on the back of each seat. After the opera we went to the cafe at the Sacher Wien Hotel and had the original Sacher Torte with champagne for me and espresso for Dave. What a special evening.

Our guide met us the next day for a walking tour around Vienna beginning with St. Stephens's Cathedral and on to the Imperial Palace, the former residence of the Habsburgs which included the Imperial Apartments. The Austrians are quite taken with Empress Elisabeth, affectionally known as Sisi, the wife of Franz Joseph I. She was sixteen when they married and was quite a beauty. Her photograph is everywhere and souvenirs of her are most popular. She reminded us of Princess Diana and her effect on the English. Later in the day we went to the Spanish Riding School to see the beautiful Lippizaner Stallions. Unfortunately they do not let you photograph the horses or the interior of the school or the riding ring.

Today took us to Belvedere Palace (in the last picture), originally the summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy which houses a museum that has an impressive collection of Austrian art. At the heart of the displays of "art around 1900" is the world's largest Gustave Klimt collection. I found several that I would love to have in my house. Ha.