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.

OLD ZOOS

     My California travel buddy, who I met in the Swiss Alps, was an LA zoo docent, so we visited many zoos in our travels. In return she accommodated me with my floral clocks and botanical gardens. We each learned a lot from the other.

     The oldest zoo in the world, Tiergarten, was built in 1752 at Schonbrunn Palace in Austria, just outside Vienna. It was designed around the Emperor’s breakfast pavilion, so he could enjoy the animals along with his morning chocolate. On a very hot day, after walking about the zoo, we decided to have lunch in the pavilion, now a small restaurant.

     Many animals were gifts from European nobility and diplomats from all over the world. In 1828 the first giraffe and first elephant born in captivity were born at Tiergarten. How exciting that must have been!  Even on a hot afternoon the lions, leopards, and black panthers were active and passed only a few feet away behind heavy glass.

     The zoo went under government control in 1921, but in 1991 again became a private enterprise. Today the zoo is actively involved in the protection of threatened species.

     On another European trip we visited the Budapest zoo on a quiet Sunday afternoon. This zoo dates to 1866. Besides the hundreds of mammals, even more birds and reptiles are residents, plus the complex also includes  a large botanical garden, and includes 69 buildings. The elephant house, modeled after a Turkish Mosque was really beautiful.

     Here I saw some new animals which my zoo docent friend was able to explain and identify for me. Of course all the signs and map were in Hungarian.  A couple of  times we were a bit confused as to where we were so we looked for a young male to seek help. Both times we were just around the corner from where we wanted to be. In Europe look for a teenage boy or young man as they almost always speak English—that tid bit never failed us when traveling.

    At the Edinburgh zoo we were having trouble finding the painted hunting dogs. Eventually we spotted a fellow who we thought was a zoo employee. We asked if was familiar with the zoo layout, and then showed him the map and what we were looking for. He stopped what he was doing and trotted all over the zoo until he found the dogs for us. We double stepped to keep up with him and thanked him for his help. Then he told us he was the insurance inspector doing his annual inspection. Just  another example how we found friendly and helpful people everywhere we traveled.   We spent half a day in each of these zoos and I certainly wouldn’t mind visiting them again.

GLORIETTA

Finally Made it up the Hill

            On my third visit to the Schönbrunn Palace I finally had the time to hike up to Glorietta. Built in 1775, Maria Theresa decided the Glorietta  be designed to glorify Habsburg's power. The Baroque Schönbrunn  was to be so beautiful it would rival France’s Versailles. Having visited Versailles just a few months before this visit to Schönbrunn, it was easy for me to more or less compare the two palaces. I vote Schönbrunn to be the most exquisite. Since 1918 it has been property of the Austrian republic.

            Schönbrunn was the summer residence of Habsburg rulers. This is also the palace where Mozart performed for the Empress and her guests when only 6 years old. It  is said that after his performance he jumped onto the Empress’s lap. 

            After walking the rose garden and part of the maze admiring the lovely greenery I wanted to head to Glorietta. We walked back to the wide floral mall area and strolled to the huge Neptune  fountain.  My new traveling partner was hot and tired, so I left her sitting in the shade while I took the trek up the steep hill to Glorietta. It was a slow, careful climb up and down because of loose pebbles from frequent gully washes of recent rains. I thought I did not need to turn an ankle at the end of the trip!

            The view from the top was magnificent. Built on the hill behind the palace, it is the last building constructed in the garden. The temple of renown was to serve as both a focal point and a lookout point for the garden. It served as a dining hall and festival hall as well as a breakfast room for Emperor Franz Joseph I.    The Glorietta was destroyed in the World War II, but restored by 1947. Nothing remains behind the façade except a space that serves as a courtyard containing decorative sculptures. It was a beautiful sunny day and I took my sweet time enjoying the view.

            We had discussed having lunch in the gazebo at the zoo, but my cranky friend wasn’t hungry at noon so we headed to the subway and back to Vienna.