TITANIC

                                          The Unsinkable Ship

      I always thought the Titanic sank far away, but it actually sank northeast of Nova Scotia, Canada. The site had already become  a debris field when the cable laying ship Mackay Bennett, under contract to the White Star Lines, arrived on the scene from Halifax. Survivors had already been picked up by the Olympia and taken to New York.

     As bodies were picked up, they were numbered in sequence, and when possible identified. There was controversy whether to take the bodies ashore or to bury them at sea. It is said that the recovery of a little boy was the determining factor for the crew of the Mackay Bennett to decide that the 212 bodies would be taken to Halifax.

     Body number four, a little boy about two years old became known as ‘orphan boy’. It is documented that a young mother, named Alma Paulson, with her four small children was on her way to Chicago to meet her husband. Berthed in the lower part of the ship, Alma ignored the first warning bells thinking it was a drill and not serious.

     Hearing a commotion outside her cabin she learned water covered the passageway. She arrived on deck with her children too late. All lifeboats were already in the water. Alma gathered her children around her and played the harmonica to keep them calm.  Tragically they all drowned. She was identified and it was thought that ‘orphan boy’ was her small son, so he was buried in the grave at her feet. However recent DNA testing has proved that the boy was was a  Finnish lad and not related to her. I do not know if ‘orphan boy’ has ever been identified.

     In Halifax, a special burial service was held at St John’s Church. The Protestant, Catholic and Jewish cemeteries all accommodated the bodies of their faith. At the Protestant cemetery the White Star Line put the same size stone on every grave, regardless of the class of passage. The stones set in a slight curve simulates the shape of a ship. It was very moving to stand by the memorials and wonder what untold stories they held.

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.