Vienna

Wednesday 30 April

Another day another 10+ km walked, it could have been another 7 km more if we hadn’t decided to use the Metro.

We started our ramble at Volkstheatre and walked through the Volkegarten to Parliament House, I think the architect had spent time studying Greek Temples which he further adorned with women in chariots on the roof, a very impressive and imposing building. From the Parliament we walked back to the gardens past the Burg Theatre to the forecourt of the Hofburg Palace, and after studying the map, realised that the National Library and Spanish Riding School which we had visited last week, were part of the same building, what a big home for the Emperor and his wife.

Walking around to the rear of the palace we found a statue of Mozart in the garden, this was made from marble where the one at Strasburg was of bronze. From there we continued past the State Opera House and on to the Stadtpark where the gold statue of Johann Strauss has pride of place in the gardens. From the gardens we walked past a statue of Beethoven, the University of Music and arrived at Karlsplatz in front of the magnificent Karls Church with its distinctive dome and two spiral columns.

We retraced our steps back to the State Opera House just in time to buy tickets for the conducted tour. The Opera House suffered 80% damage during the war but the Austrian Government considered it to be so important that it was one the first buildings to be restored. The section of the building that was saved includes the highly decorated reception room, the marble staircase and the Royal Reception room. The auditorium was rebuilt in the 1950s and has six levels including three levels of boxes seating six or seven people. On the top level and the second level there were standing areas for 500 people, prices for a normal night range from 170 Euros a seat down to 3.50 and 2.50 Euros for standing room. On special occasions a box can be hired for 17,000 Euros. The stage, the rear stage and the wings covers over one and a half hectares and below stage is almost as big. This size is necessary as during the season from September to June no opera is staged two nights in a row and three or four operas may be staged in a week on rotation. With the number of performers, musicians and stage hands needed to stage so many different performances over a season, it isn’t surprising that the annual budget exceeds 100 million Euros.

Leaving the Opera House we walked back past the library and Spanish Riding School to catch the Metro back to the hostel, nearly seven hours after leaving and wondering where all the money came to build so many magnificent buildings.

And now to bed as we leave for Prague tomorrow.