Chocolate Cake, Wiener Schnitzel, and Opera

Our last stop in the German speaking world is the classiest city of said world – Vienna.  The once capital of a huge empire with a family dynasty that ruled for over 600 years, Vienna is now an anomaly of sorts – a grand capital city of a small, landlocked country.  We started our two days in Vienna right with a trip to the Schönbrunn Palace and Tiergarten on the outside of the city.  Schonbrunn was the Hapsburg’s answer to Versailles – enormous and ornate, but with a Germanic aesthetic.  The audio guides in the palace are excellent – they tell interesting stories about the details of life in the palace (for example – “In this room, the 6 year old Mozart performed his first concert for the Empress Maria Theresa, and after the performance he jumped into her lap and kissed her on the cheek!”).  The stories about Maria Theresa and her 16 children, and Franz Joseph and his wife Sisi were especially memorable. 

What palace is complete without its own zoo?  The Vienna Tiergarten, which bills itself as Europe’s oldest (1752) and most modern zoo, is not quite as sprawling as the Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove, but has an interesting selection of species from insects to elephants.  The “cave” room that has real bats flying around your head in the dark is fun.  I think all kids like a zoo – especially on a warm, sunny day.  

 Speaking of warm and sunny, we have had ridiculously good weather this year.  Coats have not been necessary most days, and the mercury has been close to 20 on a lot of days.  Probably the biggest health danger this year is sunburn.  We have a remarkably healthy group this year - by this time in the trip last year the kids had finished off two full bottles of cough syrup and a lot of other items from the medical kit - this year Mrs. and Mrs. Rempel have given out two full tablespoons of cough syrup!

 On our second day in Vienna, we visited the AMAZING Natural History Museum.  The building itself is a thing of beauty, and their extensive collections, some going back more than 150 years, display the unending progression of human knowledge about the natural world.  The zoological collection was overwhelming - I've never seen so many birds or insects or pretty much any other type of living creature.  Though I think the dinosaur exhibits, especially the several full skeletons, were a highlight for many of the students, I could've spent the rest of the day in the early humans rooms - the overwhelming amount of objects collected from so long before people began recording history give you an interesting perspective on time.


We had a nice walk through old Vienna, and a guided tour of the opera house.  Our guide was excellent - perfect English, and great stories for fans and non-fans alike.  In the evening, 17 of us went to see the opening night of Puccini's Tosca.  What an event that was.  The stage sets, the costumes, the acting, the orchestra, and especially the powerhouse singing in the very emotionally charged opera made for a grand, classy evening in this grand, classy city.

Our Vienna State Opera House guide takes us to one of the lounges where people mingle and drink espresso or champagne during the intermissions

Don't whistle when you are cheering for your favourite opera performance - it is a faux pas.  That's because the chandeliers in the opera houses were gas light, and if there is a dangerous leak, it makes a whistling sound.  So stick to applause and Bravo!

The sun filters in to this altar in St. Stephen's Cathedral in the centre of town.

Mrs. Rempel has some time for quiet reflection

Verdi's star on the opera walk of fame.

Ryan's hat doesn't quite fit my head.  It's OK, I don't think the people behind me at the opera would have appreciated it.

Nolan had a great view from his seating area - this is the cast taking bows after the 2nd act

From the balcony level

Taylor and Ben looking like opera regulars

After the show.  The lady in the back really wanted us to get going "We're closed!" but was nice enough to let us take this picture.

Moms and Dad in front of the Natural History Museum.  It's like one of those shows filmed in Utah.  Moms and Dad I mean.

No pictures allowed in the Schönbrunn Palace.  I guess I accidentally hit the shutter button.  Maria Theresa to the right of the mirror in one of the plainer rooms of the house.

Behind the palace with the Gloriette in the background

Carmen was amazed at how these baby deer were nursing from that old goat.

Poor, lonely Tapir.

Post feeding time.  Just like the kids.

This guy thought I might have some ants for him.

A golden group at the golden hour behind the golden palace

The kids of Europe 2012

This was fun

Cool geode

In the front entrance to Vienna's "Science World"

Row after row of minerals, gems, precious metals

The selection tank at the seafood restaurant.  You have to put your own hand in to get what you want.

Four budding scientists checkout living blood worms, mud worms, and some non-worm items too.

I love this guy's attitude

On top of Everest finally

This is one of the oldest pieces of art in the world - the Venus of Willendorf.  The David is 500 years old.  This thing is 25 000 years old.  New perspective on time.

A type of bird native to the Cinque Terre region.  Not always friendly to humans

There were lots of school children in the museum - they loved the anamatronic dinosaur that roared at them.

Museum square.  The museum om the left is the Hapsburgs' art museum.  The Natural History Museum is an exact replica of this building sitting on the right side of the square (off the picture).

Caleb snaps a photo of the Sacher Hotel where the famous Sacher Torte was invented.  Paul and Shelley took Cole and Alex to the cafe there - very classy indeed.