Vienna Rolls--And Rocks!

Vienna is a city to be savoured. It’s not chockfull of famous sights, but there’s plenty of scope here for enjoying life in the slow lane. We were a little short on time, so we could afford to spend only two days in Vienna. It didn’t leave us time to visit any of the city’s museums, but we didn’t find ourselves really regretting it; Vienna was gloriously relaxing.

Vienna- or Wien, as the locals call it- is a historic city, and two of its most impressive sights date back to the days when the Austro-Hungarian Empire played a critical role in European politics. The 17th century Schloß Schönbrunn, the centre of imperial life for the Habsburgs, is perhaps the best known of Vienna’s sights. The imperial apartments here, preserved much as they were when Franz Josef I occupied them, are a good insight into the lives of the emperor and his consort, the enigmatic and beautiful Elisabeth (Sisi). The turbulent and unhappy personality of Sisi, however, is better understood at the Sisi Museum in another palace, Hofburg. Other than the Sisi Museum, the Hofburg Palace also offers a glimpse of the Imperial Apartments and the Silver Collection, the imperial family’s dazzling hoard of crockery, cutlery, and silverware.

At the heart of Vienna lies the main cathedral of the city, Stephansdom. With its towering spires and somewhat grotesque carving, Stephansdom is a must-see. And for those who’re keen on a little bit of touristy transport, there stand plenty of horse-drawn carriages outside the cathedral, ready to take you for a ride around town.

The area around the Volkstheater is replete with museums, galleries and theatres, among the more famous ones being the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Technischesmuseum Wien, and the Volkstheater itself.

What truly won our undying loyalty, however, was the amazing range of cafés in Vienna. Scattered across the city, the cafés are a testimonial to the thriving art of bakery and confectionery that has long been a hallmark of Austria. Coffee, ranging from espresso and mocha to local favourites like mit schlag (with cream) and melange (with steamed milk) is perfect after a hard day’s sightseeing. Add to that a pastry- a chocolaty sachertorte, a rich topfenstrudel or apfelstrudel, or a guglhupf- and you’ll understand why many regard Vienna as the cake capital of the world.
Quick Tips:
If you’re going to be spending three (or more) days in Vienna, consider purchasing the Vienna Card. Priced at €16.90, the card includes free transport on Vienna’s underground rail network and trams for 72 hours. In addition, you get discounts ranging from 10 to 50% on select museums, theatres, restaurants, and other attractions. One child up to fifteen years of age can accompany (free) every adult who buys a Vienna Card, so this is a particularly good option for families.

Vienna is a friendly city, in that most people speak English, and it’s fairly safe. Do get yourself a good map to move around, though, or you may feel a little lost at times. Most hotels provide free maps- ours gave us a very good one published by the official tourist authority (their web site is www.vienna.info). The map was an extensive street map of the city, with (on the reverse) a detailed map of the bus, train and tram routes, plus a listing of all major sights. This included information on opening hours, entry fees, and closest train station or bus stop for each sight. Extremely useful!

Best Way To Get Around:
The best way to get around Vienna is by train- the Underground (U-bahn), suburban trains, and metropolitan train network covers most of the city and its outlying areas. What isn’t covered by trains is covered by trams or streetcars instead.

If you don’t want to opt for the Vienna Card- we didn’t, for instance, since we were in Vienna for only two days, and didn’t really know if we’d get the time to visit too many sights- you might consider buying a day travel pass. Costing €5 each, these passes can be bought at tobacco shops (Tabak), or from the machines at U-bahn stations. Remember to get your pass validated by inserting it in the machine at the entrance to the Underground: your pass remains valid for a period of 24 hours from the time the machine stamps it.

Other options include bicycles (which can be hired from rental agencies in town, or through your hotel) and walking. Walking, in fact, is probably the best way to explore the area around Stephansdom or the Volkstheater area.

When we booked our double room at the Favorita Hotel, we knew nothing about the Austria Trend group of hotels. Today, going by our experience at the Favorita, I’d happily stay in an Austria Trend property.

With a total of 161 rooms, the four-star Trend Favorita is not a posh hotel, but it’s convenient, clean, and very comfortable. Besides that, it’s only about a 5-minutes walk from the Keplerplatz U-bahn station, which makes it quite easily accessible.

Our room, which was on the fourth floor, was very spacious and besides a massive bed, had a table, chairs, dressing table, minibar, a large television (with BBC and CNN), and a wardrobe, which also had a built-in safe. Our room also had its own balcony (the view, unfortunately, was unprepossessing: Laxenburger Strasse isn’t exactly pretty) and, this was a blessing, a fan that helped keep the room cool. The bathroom was also fairly large, at least compared to the ones we encountered in Italy and Salzburg.

Breakfast was a huge spread laid out in the dining room on the ground floor. This wasn’t a rolls-and-preserves breakfast: it was the type of meal that could probably fill you up for much of the day. There were different types of rolls, cakes, and pastries (this, after all, was Austria): cereals, fresh juices, cheeses, cold cuts, bacon and scrambled eggs, fruit yoghurt, fresh fruit, tea, and coffee. Among the more unusual items was a delicious marinated fish, studded with mixed seeds. By far the best breakfast I’ve had in a long time, and the buffet was replenished very regularly, something that I really appreciate.

Although we barely spent any time at the hotel, our interactions with the staff were by and large favourable. All of them spoke English fluently and were very helpful. When Tarun phoned in the evening to say that he wanted to check his email, the receptionist actually said, “Well, we don’t officially offer Internet services to guests, but if you hurry up, I’ll let you in here for 10 minutes.” Now, that’s what I call sweet!

It may not offer connectivity, but the Trend Favorita does offer other facilities. There are banquet halls, a restaurant, bar, coffee shop, laundry, parking, airport transfers, and vehicles on hire. Although tariffs go as high as about €140 for a double room, we got ours at €70, which I thought was great value for money. Incidentally, of all the hotels we stayed in during our Europe trip, the Trend Favorita was the best--and the cheapest.

Bookings can be made with the hotel directly, or through the group’s website, www.austria-trend.at.

In a brochure from the reception counter at our hotel was a brief anecdote about a Chinese dignitary who’d been visiting Vienna. Before he left for home, a mediaperson at a press conference asked him which was the most enduring memory he had of Vienna. The Chinese gentleman did not hesitate in his answer: “The Wiener schnitzel at Figlmüller!”

Since Wiener schnitzel was high on our list of priorities, we immediately decided that Figlmüller it was. Accordingly, after our taxing hike through Hofburg, we took ourselves off towards Stephansplatz and the nearby Bäckerstrasse, where one of the two outlets of Figlmüller is located. The other outlet is less than two minutes’ walk from Bäckerstrasse; it’s at Wollzeile 5 (Tel: 512 6177), so if the Bäckerstrasse Figlmüller is full, you can head for the Wollzeile one, and vice versa. As you walk down Bäckerstrasse, you’ll pass a doorway painted in green and white, with a carved and painted caricature above it, pointing the way to the two restaurants.

The Bäckerstrasse outlet has large windows overlooking the street. Inside, the restaurant exudes a warmth that’s very comforting. There are polished wooden tables and chairs, unobtrusive waiters, and menus in both German as well as English. Since it was still fairly early, the restaurant was rather empty: only two other tables were occupied.

Tarun and I usually try not to order the same thing, so we can get to sample more stuff. Therefore, while I ordered the Wiener schnitzel, Tarun ordered the crumb-fried salt pork. Along with it, he asked for a beer, and I ordered grape juice. The menu suggested ordering a mixed green salad or a potato salad (for an additional €3.50 each), but I’d watched the people at the next table receive their order, and the portion of salad that was placed on their table was huge, and I realised (a bit ruefully, I must admit) that I couldn’t hope to fit in something that size. Neither could Tarun, so both of us skipped the salad and asked just for the meat.

As a tribute to the Wiener schnitzel, I’ll discuss it first. It was simply perfect. A 250 gm piece of veal, beaten so thin that it had spread out into a circle larger than the dinner plate it was served on. Breaded and deep-fried till it was stunningly golden and crisp on the outside, tender on the inside. And served along with a wedge of lemon.

Tarun’s meal was similar, except that it was salt pork rather than veal. The texture and the taste was different, of course, but not drastically so. This too was crisp fried, and absolutely delicious. It too came with a wedge of lemon.

By the time we finished, we were glad we hadn’t ordered salad. We skipped dessert as well, and got a final bill of €28.40, including a tip. A tad expensive, but worth it, considering that we’d had perhaps the best Wiener schnitzel on the planet.

The Phönixhof was another of the `best value for money’ restaurants listed in our Vienna brochure, and since we were in the vicinity of the Volkstheater anyway, we decided to visit it for a late lunch. Unfortunately, we got very late and reached at 5 in the evening, only to discover that Phönixhof had already closed after lunch.

The restaurant opens at 6 for dinner, so we wandered around in the neighbourhood for the next hour, before returning. Phönixhof was (as you’d probably expect for this hour) very empty; we were the only guests around. We had a look at the menu pinned up outside, then entered, to be ushered in by a friendly young lady. She led us into a room that immediately conjured up images of a tavern: the wood panelled walls were a warm honey-brown in colour; the wooden tables and chairs were polished by the constant rubbing of what I presumed must be crowds of happy regulars; and the lamps hanging from the ceiling cast a warm glow over it all. On one wall was hung a glass case full of miniature bottles of liquor; on the wall adjacent were a series of black and white photographs of celebrities who’ve dined at Phönixhof. Each photograph has been autographed, along with glowing praise for the restaurant.

We had a good long look at the menu (which is both in English and in German) before finally placing our orders. I settled on a goulash with bread dumplings, and Tarun ordered a Wiener schnitzel stuffed with feta and garlic. He also asked for a beer, while I ordered an apricot juice. The young usher was the only person we encountered all through our meal: she took our order, served us, and finally brought us our bill. Rarely have I come across a more efficient as well as helpful server. She helped Tarun choose a beer, and when she brought me my bottle of juice, she also brought a glass of water. “It’s very sweet,” she explained. “You’ll probably want to dilute it.” When asked, she advised us on good cafés for coffee and cakes- even going to the trouble of looking at our map to point out the way.

The food, when it came, was deserving of the praise heaped on it. The goulash had just the right amount of paprika and spice; the meat was tender and the herby bread dumplings perfect for mopping up the rich red sauce. But I found myself coveting Tarun’s choice: his meal was awesome! Wiener schnitzel is anyway fabulous; and the stuffing of feta and garlic, simply lifted it into the realms of the sublime. It was delicate and spicy, crisp and tender- a medley of flavours and textures that was perfect. The entire meal (other than the tip we left) was €19.

All in all, I’d rate Phönixhof as a great place: the food’s good, the service is exceptionally friendly, the portion sizes are decent, and the prices are affordable. Go for it.

Named for the Austrian dramatist and actor, Ferdinand Raimund (1790-1836; his statue stands in the square opposite the café), the Café Raimund is another of those delightful old coffee shops that are a specialty of Vienna. It is one of the classic cafés of the city, and was at one time, especially around the late 1940’s, extremely popular with the writers, dramatists and intellectuals of Vienna. Today, the quiet, old-fashioned atmosphere of Café Raimund is not a venue for hectic debates and serious theorising, but it remains the perfect place for a relaxing cup of coffee.

We had walked down to Café Raimund after a satisfying (and very early) dinner at Phönixhof. We were headed for the Volkstheater U-bahn station on our way back to our hotel, when the inviting sight of this café diverted us. We made our way into the café, a cosy place with lace curtains, tables topped with white marble, and large windows on the sills of which sat large urns filled with faded artificial flowers. Very old-fashioned, perhaps even slightly down-at-heel, but with a comfortable feel to it. An old lady behind the counter indicated an empty table near the corner, and a smiling girl who spoke just about adequate English came over to give us the menus and help us place our orders.

This was the first Viennese café we visited, so we were unfamiliar with menu items that we later came to know and love. Apart from the espresso, mocha and cappuccino, none of the coffees listed made sense; and the only pastries we’d heard of before were the apfelstrudel and the sachertorte. With a little help from the cheerful young waitress, however, we managed to place our orders. Both Tarun and I ordered a mélange (strong coffee with milk) each. We also ordered two desserts that we’d share: apfelstrudel and powidltascherl. The apfelstrudel was something I’d wanted to have ever since I’d set foot in Austria; our waitress recommended the powidltascherl.

The coffee was good, the apfelstrudel deliciously fruity and low on sugar. But it was the powidltascherl (I’m still not too sure how it’s pronounced!) that literally took the cake. We got six crescent-shaped pieces of this little-known dessert, arranged neatly on a plate. Made of potato-flour dough, the powidltascherl was stuffed with plum jam, and dusted over with a mixture of sugar and breadcrumbs fried in butter. It was the most amazing blend of sweet and tart, soft and crunchy. Utterly sinful, and utterly irresistible!

All of it- coffees and desserts, plus a tip- cost us €13.50. Not too expensive. This is definitely a place I’d like to go back to- it was wonderfully homely, the desserts were fantastic, and the experience was good value for money.

Listed as one of the best cafés in Vienna, Café Korb is the quintessential "coffee place": synonymous with a long, relaxed cup of coffee over newspapers, books, or just a comfortable conversation with someone nice. The café has a somewhat staid (and, or so we thought, boring) interior--white walls, large windows, tables covered with snowy white tablecloths--but outside, it’s typical café style. There are round tables and chairs under garden umbrellas, and although the Korb’s tables are almost contiguous with those of the relatively unknown café next door, there is little doubt about which establishment is more popular.

We managed, after waiting for a couple of minutes, to find a table at the far end, near the outer corner of the café. At the next table was a smoker, but we decided that beggars couldn’t afford to be choosers, so we stayed on. A quiet waiter, obviously comfortable with English, brought us the menus and took our orders.

I opted for a mélange mit schlag (coffee with whipped cream), along with Vienna’s signature dessert, the famous sachertorte. Tarun ordered a mélange (coffee with milk) and an apfelstrudel. The coffees and the desserts were served swiftly, and were uniformly good. The sachertorte, a heavy chocolate cake sandwiched with apricot jam and covered with chocolate icing, was just a little too rich. We shared it, and both of us agreed that if one had to eat the entire portion on one’s own, it would probably be pretty difficult. The apfelstrudel, consisting of gloriously thin pastry wrapped around almost-as-thin slices of apple, was however much lighter. And so utterly perfect that we almost succumbed to the temptation to order a second serving!

The coffees were good too, though I have to admit that my mélange mit schlag stole the limelight. Tarun’s mélange paled into a milky insignificance in front of the mit schlag, and the poor man ended up pleading with me to let him have a few sips from my cup.

Our bill, for the coffees and the two desserts, came to €15. Not precisely cheap, but then Café Korb has lots to compensate for the steep prices. The tables outside are great places to watch the world go by. The café is quiet and unhurried. Nobody hangs around asking you repeatedly if you’d like something else. It’s perfect for spending time with yourself, for people watching, or for just savouring Vienna at its best.

Constructed in the 13th century, Hofburg was the winter palace of the Hofburgs. A massive complex, it’s today divided into three main sections: the Silberkammer or Silver Collection; the Sisi Museum; and the Imperial Apartments. All three can be seen for the price of one ticket, €8.90 per adult, inclusive of an audio guide. I’ll describe the three sections in separate entries, since all three are very distinctive.

The tour begins with the Silberkammer- a misnomer, since there’s also porcelain, glassware, crystal, and table linen. Spread out in glass cases across a series of rooms, the collection once formed an important part of the Imperial household’s possessions- vast quantities of silver even went with the emperor on campaigns, holidays, and hunting expeditions.

As you progress, you’ll see dishes, kitchen utensils, even handwritten recipes, menu cards and shopping lists from the Imperial kitchens. You’ll see Maria Theresa’s personal cutlery (of solid gold); a set of `duck squeezers’ used to extract meat juices, which were boiled for Sisi’s consumption (she was obsessed with dieting); and an Oriental-pattern dinner service made for Emperor Maximilian of Mexico (Franz Josef’s brother; he never used the service, since he was executed by Benito Juarez before it could be shipped overseas).

Among the highlights of the Silberkammer are:

1. The 4,500 piece, 1,100 kg Grand Vermeil dinner service, of gilded silver. This dates back to when all courses (except soup and dessert) were served on silver; porcelain was considered too lowly. It wasn’t till the Napoleonic Wars- when Austria was so impoverished that even the Imperial silver was melted down into coin- that porcelain became fashionable.
2. The table centrepieces that were used, with flowers, fruit and sweets, at banquet tables. One in particular- a gilded French ensemble- is 30 metres long and is a miniature tabletop Versailles, with its bowls, candelabras, and mirrors!
3. The Minton set, lace-like and perfect in bright blue and white, which was gifted by Queen Victoria. Decorated in floral patterns and made by the Minton Porcelain Manufactories in Stoke, the porcelain was never used because it was so fragile.
4. The Sèvres dinner service, complete with soup tureens, which were the first pieces to be decorated with the broad green ribbons that later became a hallmark of Sèvres.
5. The sample table cover used when the Emperor would dine at a table- instantly identifiable by the `Imperial fold’ napkin. This intricacies of this fold were known to only a few select people, and was passed on by word of mouth- even today only two people know it; and even today, it’s only used if a visiting head of state is at the table.
6. The `flower plates’ made especially for Franz Josef I, who was very fond of flora and fauna. On to each of these plates is painted, in painstaking (almost botanically perfect) detail, a species of flower.

It’s all very fascinating, and the commentary’s highly informative. The Silberkammer- and Hofburg as such- is open daily from 9 to 5, going up to 5.30 in July and August.

While the Silberkammer shows off the Imperial silverware, the Sisi Museum focuses on the Empress Elisabeth (`Sisi’; 1837-98), the consort of Franz Josef I. One of the most popular of Austria’s royal figures—although her popularity was posthumous—Sisi is today iconic. You’ll see her lovely face on posters, chocolate boxes, postcards, and other souvenirs across Austria. If Mozart has competition, it’s Sisi.

Elisabeth met her cousin Franz Josef when she was 15, and he fell head over heels in love with her (a love that lasted through his life, even though it doesn’t seem to have been reciprocated: Sisi admitted to regretting her marriage). Sisi was wedded when she was 16, and faced initial problems adjusting to court life. She later blossomed into a self-assured young lady, one of the best horsewomen of her time, and a renowned beauty. However, despite a loving husband and a lavish lifestyle, Sisi was miserable and soon became a recluse, so obsessed with her own beauty that she would not permit herself to be photographed after she crossed the age of 30. She spent much of her time writing poetry or travelling (especially to Corfu, where she owned a villa), and it was on one of her travels—to Geneva—that she was assassinated.

The Sisi Museum presents the life of Sisi through various means, most prominently her own possessions. You’ll see here her gloves; the shoes she wore as a child, and a pair she wore for her silver wedding anniversary; a medicine chest; a parasol; a fan of heron feathers and ivory; and a metal vase with porcelain roses, gifted by Franz Josef when she was his fiancée. There is, on display, Sisi’s wedding announcement, a steel engraving; and a copy of the white, green and gold dress she wore at the ball before her wedding. There are replicas of her jewellery, each piece crafted especially by Swarovski. These include the famous 28 `diamond stars’ that Sisi often wore in her ankle-length hair. Sisi’s obsession with beauty comes through emphatically. Items from her beauy kit—such as her brushes—are on display, alongside her riding whip and spurs. Her beauty treatments are touched upon, as well: at night, to maintain her complexion, she wore a leather mask underlaid with slices of raw veal (other lotions, based on rose petals or strawberries, were perhaps more conventional).

There are photographs, especially of her siblings; and there are some famous portraits of Sisi by artists such as Winterhalter and Georg Raab. There are excerpts from the Sissi trilogy (starring Romy Schneider); the dagger with which Sisi was stabbed; and Sisi’s death mask.

Unlike the bright and airy Silberkammer, the Sisi Museum is a bit like the Empress herself: touching but rather gloomy. An excellent insight into a turbulent life; an extremely poignant introduction to a woman who had been in a position both enviable and pathetic.

The third—and last—section of Hofburg is the Kaiserappartements, or the Imperial Apartments, once inhabited by Sisi and Franz Josef. Like the Imperial Apartments at Schloß Schönbrunn, the apartments here also vividly reflect the personalities of those who lived here.

The tour of the Imperial Apartments includes both public and private rooms. Among the public rooms, the more prominent ones are:

1. The waiting room for subjects seeking an audience with the Emperor. Anybody from the Austro-Hungarian empire could meet the Emperor, the only stipulation being that they must be either formally dressed, or if they did not possess formal clothes, should wear national dress—a costume often adopted by peasants. The room, though not exceptional in itself, contains life size figures dressed in the national costumes of people from across the empire.
2. The conference room, richly decorated in shades of greenish-blue. Although Franz Josef had somewhat simple tastes himself, this room, being a public one, is sumptuous.
3. The Bergl rooms, immensely striking rooms named for the artist who painted them. The walls and ceilings of the rooms are covered with a continuous mural depicting exotic flora and fauna. It’s a sight to be seen.

The private rooms include the Emperor’s own bedroom and study, both low on luxury and decorated mainly with photographs and paintings of his wife and children. Franz Josef comes across as a home-loving and simple man, very different from his eccentric and flamboyant wife.

Sisi’s rooms (all gold and white stucco), which follow, are much more luxurious and almost act as an extension of the Sisi Museum. These chambers, which Sisi crowded with flower arrangements, contain original furniture, furnishings, fittings and displays, although her will, which lies on her desk, is a facsimile. You’ll see her bedroom and her bathroom, where she had installed Austria’s first bathtub. Incidentally, it used to take Sisi a full day to wash her ankle-length hair, and it used to be shampooed with a mixture of egg yolks and cognac. A hairdresser would spend 2-3 hours daily in dressing Sisi’s hair, and Sisi would spend the time in learning Greek from her tutor (other than German and Greek, Sisi was also fluent in English, French and Hungarian).

As part of Sisi’s rooms, you’ll also get to see the wooden gymnastics equipment Sisi used to keep in shape (and boy, was she in shape: at 5’9”, she had a waist of 20”!) Unlike her husband, Sisi does not appear to have been particularly attached to either her spouse or her children: portraits and other reminders of these people are conspicuous by their absence. Instead, Sisi’s rooms are more full of pictures of her own siblings and other family from Bavaria.

All in all, the Hofburg palace complex is worth a visit. It offers a fairly in-depth view of the Imperial household, and is definitely worth every cent you spend on it.

The main cathedral of Vienna, the impressive and somewhat forbidding Stephansdom (St Stephen’s) is a mass of richly carved stone, its spires soaring high above the surrounding square. The sloping roof of the cathedral, covered in glazed tiles of different colours, rises above carving that’s fine enough to be almost lace-like, and the sheer intricacy of the work continues even on the inside.

Stephansdom began life as a fairly modest parish church built in the Romanesque style in the mid 12th century. Over the centuries, it was expanded and enlarged till it reached its present proportions. A lot of reconstruction and renovation was carried out in the early 1500s (when some Gothic features were also added to the building), and again just after World War II. Stephansdom, in fact, narrowly escaped being bombed into oblivion by the Nazis; a certain Captain Gerhard Klinkicht supposedly disobeyed orders from his boss to reduce the church to “debris and ashes”. Stephansdom did suffer damage when Russian troops occupied Vienna, but some of the most precious art in the cathedral fortunately remained safe.

Today, with its 23 bells, its 18 altars, and its hundreds of relics (including the bones of St. Valentine), Stephansdom is one of the most important churches in Austria. This was where Mozart’s funeral was held; and this is where the tombs of Prince Eugene of Savoy and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III are located.

We entered Stephansdom on a hot afternoon, and the sudden transition from the blazing heat outside to the cool dimness inside the cathedral was startling. A lot of old cathedrals are gloomy, but this one struck me as being particularly dark. And that impression was intensified because of the somewhat macabre sculpture in certain areas: skeletons, grinning skulls, and contorted figures run wild across the chapels and altars. The arched columns rising gracefully to the roof are impressive, as is the pulpit, a massive stone one carved with the figures of the four original Doctors of the Church (the Saints Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Pope Gregory I). The figures on the pulpit are curiously contorted, and combined with the carved toads and lizards adorning the handrail, the entire imagery is unsettling, to say the least.

Wandering through the cathedral, we came across some beautiful works of art too: lovely paintings depicting Biblical scenes, and stunning stained glass windows. The rose window above the main door of the cathedral is, in particular, very striking.

Entry to the Stephansdom is free, but if you want any information on what’s what in the cathedral, you will either need to refer to a good guidebook, or pay for a guided tour. The guided tours cost between €4 to 10 (the latter during the evening); separate tours apply if you wish to visit the catacombs or the two towers of the Stephansdom. The splendour and the significance of the cathedral are diminished considerably if you opt to just wander around, so I’d suggest investing in a guide- human or paper.

The lovely golden Schloß Schönbrunn, built between 1696 and 1712, was once home to the Habsburgs. Today, it’s one of Vienna’s hottest sights, and you can choose from a variety of ticket options to see it. The Imperial Tour, at €8.90, is basic; you see the staterooms and the private apartments of Franz Josef and Sisi. The Grand Tour, at €11.50, also offers a tour of the private apartments of Maria Theresa, while the Classic Pass (€14.90) also lets you enter the Privy Garden, and the Gloriette pavilion. It also includes the Maze and a special apfelstrudel demo. We bought tickets for the Grand Tour, which came inclusive of informative audio guides.

The tour leads through a series of magnificent rococo rooms, all gilt and stucco against clean white walls; old furniture; embroidered curtains; huge mirrors; tapestried upholstery; massive ceramic stoves; and large paintings. Among the highlights are:

1. The Great Gallery, which is simply dazzling. It has crystal mirrors, a painted ceiling, striking stucco work- and two gilded wooden chandeliers that once held 70 candles each.
2. The wood-panelled Million Room, supposedly named so because it cost a million gold coins to decorate it. Amidst the stucco and wood panelling here are framed Mughal miniature paintings, making this one of the most unusual rooms in the palace.
3. The two Chinese Rooms, designed in keeping with the contemporary craze for Oriental patterns. Both have parquet floorings, and walls decorated with gold-on-black paintings in an Oriental style. The ceilings too are decorated in blue, white and gold, all worked in Chinese patterns.
4. The Hall of Mirrors, where Mozart, then aged six, gave one of his first performances before Maria Theresa. It’s recorded that when she praised him, the young musician “sprang onto the lap of the Empress, put his arms around her neck, and smothered her with kisses”!
5. The Ceremonial Hall, famous for its paintings depicting the wedding of Maria Theresa’s son, Josef II. The paintings are in amazingly fine detail- the one of the wedding banquet, for instance, actually contains details of patterns on crockery. The painting of the wedding, incidentally, shows a young Mozart amongst the congregation- although Mozart hadn’t been present; his picture was added at the Empress’s request.
6. The China Room, whose walls are covered with nearly 200 blueish pen-and-ink drawings, all of them supposedly made by the Emperor Franz Josef I and his children. If the imperial family did make them, I admire their skill: the drawings are very good indeed.

Besides these, there’s the Hunting Room, which contains lederhosen, hunting jacket and weapons once owned by Crown Prince Rudolf; the Billiards Room; the personal study and bedroom of Franz Josef I; and the bedroom, dressing room, and beauty care room of his wife, Sisi. The rooms, in fact, bring alive the contrasting characters of this strangely mismatched couple.

Schönbrunn opens daily at 8.30. Closing times vary from 4.30 onwards, with the palace remaining open till 6 in July and August.