Going Around in Vienna

Today it Snowed, and when I say "snowed", I mean, white blankets of cold softness everywhere. It was there in the morning and it didn't leave us all day. The program wfor the day consisted in visiting two castles: The Schönbrunn and Belvedere. Schönbrunn, selected by Kari, was the first and my Hyne, if it is beautiful! The second one was Belvedere, where I wanted to go to see Gustav Klimt's paintings, or at least some of them. This we didn't visit extensively, mostly because both of us were tired, with hurting feet for walking so much.

(I would include pictures but the Hotel's Internet is regulating my "upload" and I'm so low I don't think I could place even an icon.)

Schönbrunn, the former Imperial Family's home is impressive to say the least. It was made into a formal castle from a hunting house by Maria Theresia. Her life and style, even if many tried often to erase her, replace her, are all over the place, and as you walk from a room to the next (and here I strongly recommend the Imperial Tour, and get it with your Drei Tag Vienna Karte), with a voice in the language you've selected (we of course picked Hungarian, though English, French and Spanish were also available... among others) explaining you in detail what you see, what happend where to focus and what to pay attention to, it was made into a memorable experience.

To my utter delight, my beloved Sissi was also there, her writing room, her dressing room and her supplies to groom her long, beautiful hair, which was so long it reached the floor.

The Belvedere Castle was impressive to say the least, with gardens so well kept, so amazing that even as the snow cover them up, the designs made themselves vivible almost as if they would have been freshly and carefully carved or embroided into it. Big halls, curling stairways and many paintings from truly amazing Leopold Carl Müller, whose realistic painting took my breath away. There's a high ceilinged hall where a sign request you to scream as long as you can. If you do, and your shout is loud enought, a voice breathing and turning on anf off the lights will come from above. This is how you will be hearing shouts from time to time from the museum. Some dare, some don't, because, after all, in a museum you are supposed to be silent. No, we didn't scream.

Perhaps tomorro I'll be able to post some pictures, but today, I've reached my limit.