SCHONBRUNN PALACE

                                             One huge home!

     The stately Schonbrunn Palace is one of the notable landmarks in Europe The UNESCO historic site, located in the Vienna Woods, is now actually part of Vienna, albeit in the suburbs.

     Turks burned the original palace in  1683. Afterwards the Ottoman Empire built a small hunting lodge. A half century later Maria Theresa built the huge 1400-room royal summer home covering several acres.

     One enters the palace foyer over extremely quiet wooden tiles. On my first visit  I was given an English-programmed phone for my tour of the forty rooms open to the public. Such phones allow one to tour at leisure and to see and take in all of a room one desires before moving on to the next one. This option also gives me ample time to make my own notes.

    One of the first things I learned was that Mozart gave his first concert, at age six, for the Imperial Court. It is said that afterward he jumped up into Maria Theresa’s lap, not unlike what any small child might do.

     The palace is painted yellow, Maria Theresa’s favorite color. I was intrigued with the gorgeous intricate wood parquet floors, each room with a different design. The patience and craftsmanship needed to create such beauty—and then to let people walk on them—has to be admired!  The ceilings covered with beautiful frescoes were magnificent. The woodwork and staircases noteworthy.

     Elizabeth, known as Sisi, was the much-loved wife of Emperor Franz Joseph. She was hardly ready to be married at 16, and she didn’t think much of the institution of marriage. After a few years she found the demands of the court tiresome, so she spent many years traveling Europe alone.

     She was well known for her intelligence, independent spirit, extravagant nature and beauty, but she was obsessed by her weight. With only 105 pounds on her 5-foot 8-inch frame she was very slender. She ate like a bird and weighed every day. It took hours to fashion her floor-length hair, and quite naturally her hairdresser became her confidant.

     Sisi was considered one of the best horsewomen of her day. She was assassinated in1898 at age 61 in Geneva, Switzerland.

    On two subsequent visitors I spent a morning in the zoo one time, listened to a concert on the mall after climbing up to Glorietta and down again on another visit, and both times touring the palace seeing different rooms.

    It is a stunning palace built  as a rival to Versailles and to me my favorite of the two.