Part 3 of the Heart of Europe Tour was in Austria, specifically Vienna. We were up early and travelled north from Venice, across the border, through the Alps and onto Vienna. We had a lunch stop in Kantor the first ‘province’ of Austria with a great terrace garden for eating out and good views over the valley.



We arrived at our hotel in Vienna in the late afternoon, had a little time to get reorganised and then went off to dinner at a typical Hungarian restaurant. First of all was a visit to the Schnaps Museum with Gerhardt. It is a family business started by his great grandfather and has been handed down from generation to generation. Gerhardt’s son is now running the business and Gerhardt gets to continue doing the fun demonstration bits and ignoring the paperwork as that is now someone else’s responsibility. Colette said it would be like entering an Apotheke from the 1800s and she was right. The office contains the same furniture and machines that it did in 1914, including a large NCR cash register that was in magnificent condition – Gerhardt joked that NCR keep offering him huge amounts of money for it, but he continues to refuse their offers because he likes it, and it still works!



The schnaps demonstration area is lined with shelves containing glass bottles of ingredients from the 1800’s - very much an old-world feel. The more modern machinery is contained elsewhere in the factory.



There were many different types and colours of liquors and schnaps. Liquores contain sugar and schnaps doesn’t. And in Austria schnaps only has one ‘p’ and that is the correct way to spell it according to Gerhardt. The gold coloured one actually has 23 carat gold flakes throughout which makes it look rather spectacular. The red one is commonly called rocket fuel and those game enough to try it attested to this fact by gasping for air and holding their throats after downing a nip.



The tasting was quite fun, especially for me not drinking and getting to watch everyone else. Maureen was happily sipping her cherry liquor and found it quite to her liking. However, the same couldn’t be said for the small sip of the red stuff she had when Robert offered it to her. The grimace on her face was most amusing from my point of view.

From here we continued on to the restaurant. Gerhardt politely refused Colette’s offers to come along, he was happy to hang around with his bottles of schnaps :)

Dinner was outside in the courtyard and it was very pleasant. We started with a goulash soup, salad, then roasted beef and chicken with mushroom sauce, rice with a tomato and capsicum sauce and sauerkraut. Dessert was thin pancakes/crepes with a thick rich chocolate sauce, cream and ice cream – different and delicious.

To supplement the schnaps tasting, dinner started with an apricot brandy/liquor, which was then followed by local wines. This combination certainly led to an entertaining evening, especially when combined with the gypsy music, which was sensational. Both musicians were excellent and very amusing to go with it. The fun and frivolity overflowed, Colette our tour director participating as well, and we all ended up dancing. It was a terrific evening out.



Something about the mix of schnaps, brandy, wine and heat left Leigh feeling quite out of sorts once we got back to our hotel room (sans air-conditioning). After a brief attempt to cool down with his head hanging out the window, he discovered a new use for the Bidet. Yuk. Serves him right for mixing his drinks :-)

Next morning was a 7.55 start so we could make it to the Schloß Schönbrunn before the crowds start. We were first in to do the Imperial Tour with our local guide Diane. This palace was built by Emperor Leopold but not fitted out and decorated until the time of his granddaughter, Empress Maria Theresa. She married money and this gave her the finances to be able to complete the project. She had 16 children, 5 of whom died young, and her 2 eldest sons became Emperor after she died. Some furnishings from the Chinese Ming Dynasty and impressive paintings and tapestries adorned the various rooms inside the palace. This included the room decorated with wedding paintings - one included Mozart as a child and his father among the crowd. There were thousands of people in each of these paintings and each person sat for his/her portrait for the painting so you can imagine how long they would have taken to complete. One wall contained only one picture and the other two walls had 2 and each the paintings occupied the entire wall, right to the top of the very high ceiling.



The formal gardens were also most impressive, and we had time to see a fraction of them. Leigh did manage to get some good pics of them though.



Back on the bus for the city tour, where we circumnavigated the old city via the ring road. We stopped at the governmental buildings for a look. There have been 17 extensions to the original buildings and now they house all sorts of things including many of the museums. On this very morning the President of Algeria was visiting so we had an army parade and the President of Austria appeared on the balcony of his apartments to wave to us. Across the road were the Museum of fine art and the Museum of natural history in Maria Theresa Square. We also had a ‘blink or you’ll miss it’ cruise past the statue of Strauss and the top hotels of Vienna.



Next was the second part of our Imperial Highlights Tour where we visited the crypt of the Hapsburgs. Down here all the famous and infamous Hapsburgs are buried, or should I say entombed. The money they spent, especially Empress Maria Theresa, is phenomenal. Maria thought so much of herself and her power than she made sure that her freemason husband (a non-catholic) waited 15 years in stasis after he died to be buried with her so that she could make sure he had a clear path to heaven. The only non-Hapsburg to be entombed in the crypt was her nanny, the most important person to Maria (even more important than her mother – the royalty thing) who had been with her all her life. The tomb casings themselves were a display of opulence and extravagance in carvings and sculptures. The last Hapsburg, the wife of the last Emperor, died in 1997 and managed to get buried in the tomb as well, even tho the Hapsburgs were exiled in 1918, taking their titles with them. The last Emperor died in about 1925 so even tho they still have the title no one has been crowned Emperor since.



We then went back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest for the arvo.



That night we were off to a typical Austrian restaurant with an accordion player and guitar (tho not the kind we are use to) player, in the village of Grinzing in the Vienna Woods.



Traditional Wiener schnitzel this time. A quicker dinner than last night coz we had a Mozart/Strauss concert at the Prince of Liechtenstein’s winter palace to attend. The Prince has been given back the palace – Liechtenstein Palace – because the Austrian government cannot afford the upkeep, so it is in the process of being renovated. The man must be made of money and doesn’t need a wife to spend it! The governments of nearby countries seem to be able to get him to spend plenty and still leave them with a tourist attraction.



Nine musicians, two singers and two ballet dancers performed the concert - it was brilliant. Combine the opulence, majesty and acoustics of the palace hall with the style and talent of the performers together with the music of the excellent composers and you have a really magical night. Sorry, no pics coz they weren’t allowed. You will just have to listen to a CD and imagine what it was like!

Luckily the start of the following day wasn’t until 9am!