On the footsteps of Sissi - Schloß Schönbrunn and other Vienna, Austria Things to Do Tips

Schloß Schönbrunn had been the Viennese summer residence for Austrian Royalty for many decades. Today it's open for anybody to visit. The tour of the castle is a fascinating journey back into history and allows a little glimpse into what life was like for royalty during the 1700, 1800, and 1900's. The castle was built by the ruling Habsburgs (Maximilian II) between 1696 and 1712. It has 1,441 rooms and is decorated in the delicate rococo style.

We did the grand tour (40 rooms, includes audio-guide, Euro 11.50/person), which lasted about 2 hours. The tour is conducted electronically via headsets, which allows you to go at your own pace.

Noteworthy: One of Austrias great rulers, Empress Maria Theresia (1700s), resided in the palace and gave birth to most of her 16 children there.

The castle also offers much information about Empress Elisabeth(Sissi), wife of Franz Joseph (late 1800s). Elisabeth became somewhat of a national heroine due to the romantic series of Sissi-films. I picked up her biography in the extensive castle bookstore, and I would recommend that anybody who is enchanted by the myth NOT read it - reality might destroy the romantic illusion.

Franz seemed to be quite a workaholic, spending many hours at his office (first room of the tour). One thing confused us; movement seemed to be through one eternal passageway. So we wondered if Sissi would have passed 19 rooms to get to the 20th, until we found a labyrinth of back passages for residents to move throughout the palace. There were also some art rooms dedicated to Chinese / Indian paintings. Emperess Theresa was also the mother of Marie Antoinette, married into the French family, and who said the famous words before the Revolution 'If the peasants dont have bread, let them eat cake!'. Very educational!


Leave a Comment

Phone: +43 1 81113 0
Address: The summer-residence of the emperor
Directions: Schönbrunn is located in the 13th district of Vienna.
Detailed directions can be found at the official website (the site also has maps and links to public transport sites)

Website: http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/site/publicdir/

The "Prater" is one of the world's oldest amusement parks.

It was first mentioned in a document as natural preserve in 1403; In 1537 Prince Ferdinand had trees planted along the Hauptallee, and the prater was an imperial hunting ground. In the 1700's, Joseph II opened the Prater to the general public, and it became a popular place for the Viennese to stroll and socialize on Sunday afternoons. In the mid 18th Century the "Wurstelprater" (the amusement park part of the Prater) became the main meeting place, featuring cultural events, vaudeville shows, concerts, theatre plays, as well as coffee shops and restaurants. Attractions such as the first artificial fireworks, the first airship productions, and the first hot-air balloon rides took place. The Prater also hosted the only World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873. The Riesenrad (giant ferrys wheel) could and still can be spotted from all over the city.

The "Wiener Prater" consists of 3 areas:

1) Grüner Prater - popular leisure area with lots of opportunities to play sports in the park proper, the meadows and sports grounds; picnic area; soccer; dog walking;

2) Wurstelprater - one of the oldest and largest amusement parks in Europe; rides and attractions;

3) Messe Wien - exhibition area of approximately 70,000 square metres (exhibition hall area); Vienna's 3rd most important congress center

- Entry into the Prater is free to the puplic
- Prices vary from 1,-- Euro to 10,-- Euro depending on the attraction

NOTE -
Be careful at nighttime since Praterstern is one of the gathering-points of some of the not-so-pleasant individuals. Not really dangerous, but keep your eyes open and hold your purses. You'd get to see them in shades of different piercings, spiked hair, hanging around in little groups with their leather jackets, pants et all. A different but interesting experience if you may call it that.

We spent a day at the Wurstelprater, and the following few tips recount some of the rides and our experiences...

Leave a Comment

Phone: +43 1 728-0516
Address: The Giant Ferris Wheel and recreation-park
Directions: The Prater is located in the 2nd district; it is situated between Ausstellungsstraße, Prater Hauptallee, and Praterstern. The easiest way to get there is by taking either tram, train, or underground to the "Praterstern" station.
Website: www.prater.at

We thought the craziest thing we did on this trip was this attraction in the Prater: the Ejection Seat (until Ash bungee-jumped off the Donauturm, but more about that in the Sports-tips).

This is how it works ...

2 people are seated in a ball that is pulled back by springs and then shot up into the sky. You'll fly up for about 90 meters, and then bounce back and forth for a while. It's crazy - it's fun, its free fall upwards, and then heart stopping back down.

The price for this is 15 Euros; they also strap a camera to the machine, so that you can get the video of yourself screaming and shouting out expressions you normally wouldn't use. :D

The best part of it all was when we got to seeing the video at Eva's dads place over beer, everyone was tickled pink at us yelling like asses while on the slingshot, and how she was all white in the face from being shuttled up at such high speeds. This was our first crazy stunt together. Don't think I'd forget it ever!


Leave a Comment

Phone: +43 1 728-0516
Address: The Giant Ferris Wheel and recreation-park
Directions: The Prater is located in the 2nd district; it is situated between Ausstellungsstraße, Prater Hauptallee, and Praterstern. The easiest way to get there is by taking either tram, train, or underground to the "Praterstern" station.
Website: www.prater.at

The "Spiegel-Irrgarten" (mirror-maze) was great fun. First you walk through a house with crooked walls, floors, and ceilings, illusions, weird mirrors, and any sort of trick that can be played on one's mind.

One of the rooms contains an arm-wrestling machine, on which you can measure your strength. While Eve showed "herculean" strength, Ash made it up to the "barely out of diapers" level. hehehehehe

Once you make it through this crazy house of mind-games, you will end up in a maze of glass walls. In order to exit the place you have find your way out of this "Irrgarten" of glass. Ash called me "plain rude" because I was cracking up when my mom ran smack-bang into one of these glass-walls. In the meantime he himself had to turn and secretly giggle.......

This is a fun thing to do for the entire family.

ASH's COMMENT: I DID NOT GIGGLE! Maybe a bit of a smile ... but DEFINATELY not AS LOUD AS HER GUFFAW!! ARGH!!!!! Impolite I tell you! :)


Leave a Comment

Phone: +43 1 728-0516
Address: The Giant Ferris Wheel and recreation-park
Directions: The Prater is located in the 2nd district; it is situated between Ausstellungsstraße, Prater Hauptallee, and Praterstern. The easiest way to get there is by taking either tram, train, or underground to the "Praterstern" station.
Website: www.prater.at

The Riesenrad is the famous giant ferris-wheel, visible from all over the city. It was erected in 1897 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Josef I, marking fifty years of his reign. In 1944, during WW-II, the Riesenrad was burnt down; rebuilt the following years, it was reopened in 1947, and has been running ever since.

Technical Data:

Total height: 64,75 m
Diameter of the Wheel: 60,96 m (=200 feet)
Height of axis centre: 34.20 m
Total weight of the iron structure: 430,05 t
Turning speed: 0,75 m/sec = 2,7 km/h
Number of cabins: 15 (prior to 1945: 30)
Since 1987 cabin nr. 30 serves as a luxuy cabin

Tickets are 7.50 Euros for adults; included in this price is entrance to a small but interesting museum that depicts the history of the Riesenrad and Vienna.

This is not a fast "adventure" ride, but it goes at a slow and leisurely pace that allows for a spectacular view of Vienna. Unless you are afraid of heights.....then you pretty much just sit in the middle of the cabin and pray that the darn thing starts going faster. Each of the cabins are entirely in wood, and sway and creak while in motion, with large windows and a bench along the entire length in the middle. We had an american family of 4 with us, where the child kept talking about accidents with these old structures, much to the aggravation of the scared mother. All in all quite funny.
:-)

Note:
The exit leads through the Riesenrad-giftshop, where you can find all sorts of knick-knacks and souveniers.

Leave a Comment

Phone: 0043 1 729 54 30
Address: The Giant Ferris Wheel and recreation-park
Directions: The Prater is located in the 2nd district; it is situated between Ausstellungsstraße, Prater Hauptallee, and Praterstern. The easiest way to get there is by taking either tram, train, or underground to the "Praterstern" station.
Website: http://www.wienerriesenrad.com/

If you are looking for your fill of goosebumps, you will find several ghost-houses and rides in the Prater. We went on the following 2:

Jack the Ripper House
You walk on foot through this maze of dark passages which hold frightening surprises. Surrounded by the sounds of eerie laughter, you try to find your way around the complete darkness that is only broken by sudden flashes of light and skeletons falling in front of you, jets of air coming up unexpectedly when you step on hidden planks, and guys who act like statues that spontaneously come to live to scare the living daylights out of you. We entered an elevator that crashed, and then ended up in a room that swayed very wildely and seemed to turn around us when we sat down on a bench. The walk through the house was really long with a lot of grizzly sights, such as torture chambers, fake blood, medieval birds, etc. . We both kept pushing the other in front since we were lost in the maze of passages. This was quite scary and is definitely not for the faint hearted.

Geisterschloß
This is a ride on little wooden trains. It's quite frightening - if you are 5 years old.... cute otherwise.
:-)

Leave a Comment

Phone: +43 1 728-0516
Address: The Giant Ferris Wheel and recreation-park
Directions: The Prater is located in the 2nd district; it is situated between Ausstellungsstraße, Prater Hauptallee, and Praterstern. The easiest way to get there is by taking either tram, train, or underground to the "Praterstern" station.
Website: www.prater.at

It was the first day Ashley was supposed to meet my mom, so what better place than to get the two hopelessly Catholic people in my life meet at a Church - not just any church: St. Stephen's Cathedral! Located on St. Stephen's square in a pedestrian only area, and surrounded by some of Vienna's most exclusive shopping streets, this gothic church dominates not only the center of Vienna but also Viennese culture.

Once you exit the underground the church stares smack-bang into your face - Ash's catholic nature was so in awe that he got lost in the crowd staring open-mouthed at the tower. [Ash and the truth: THATS NOT TRUE-Eva points out the tower to me as we get out of the underground ... so there I am all lost in awe staring open-mouthed at the church, and when I turn around .. EVA's GONE!!!!! Thats when I try to locate her from a crowd of tourists, and a few moments later I see her hugging her mom. Mom gives me a bear hug, scolds Eva, and then we all go into church..smiling away! - Back to Eve]

Anyways, the church was built between the 12th and 14th century, destroyed and rebuilt several times because of wars, and thought completely lost after WW-II, but once again the Viennese decided on rebuilding their beloved church. Upon entering, one is awed by the beauty of the gothic architecture. The smell of frankinscense, the many candles lit for the souls of the departed, basins with holy water, and people kneeling in prayer gives you a feel of content somberness. We quietly walked around the church, admiring the artfully decorated walls, and successfully located the "Fenstergucker" (a small self-portrait of the church's architect, hidden under a stairway). We then went on to conquer both towers. In the back of the church is a little giftshop that offers books, cards, rosaries, medallions, pendants, and all sorts of souveniers. There is also the option of visiting the extensive catacombs underneath the church, but we'll keep that option for our next visit!

Leave a Comment

Phone: +43 1 513 76 48
Address: St.Stephens Cathedral
Directions: Right smack in the center of Vienna on St. Stephen's Square (Stephansplatz)
take the underground U1 and exit on Stephansplatz
Website: http://www.stephansdom.at

St. Stephen has 2 major towers - South tower and North-tower, both can be conquered.
We first went after the North-tower (Nord-turm, 68.3m), which was quite simple: go to the giftshop in the church, buy a ticket, and the elevator will take you up in no time - the view over Vienna is spectacular. (Yes, it is also incredibly unnerving if you suffer from vertigo like some of us...) Up on top of this tower you can glance at Vienna's most famous bell, the "Pummerin" (21,383 kg). The tower also provides an unusually close look at the famous roof of St. Stephen's tower. The North Tower is the shorter of the 2 towers, since building in the Gothic style ceased after 1511 and the tower remained unfinished to this day.

Next we went around the outside the church on search for the door to enter the South tower. The South Tower (Sudturm, 136.44m) was completed in 1433 (the Viennese have given it the nickname Steffl, which also denotes the whole cathedral). This tower, one of Vienna's most famous landmarks, is lit at night and can be seen all over Vienna. This time there was no elevator, so we had to climb the stairs...and climb....and climb....and climb...... 343 steps. It was a little disappointing to arrive at the top and all there is, is a little wooden room with windows (yes - really nice view) and yes - another giftshop.... but it was worth it just to be able to say "We climbed the South tower!"

Leave a Comment

Address: St.Stephens Cathedral
Website: http://www.stephansdom.at/data/derdom/architektur/ebene1/suedturm.php#start

I grew up in Vienna, but never actually visited the Karlskirche until last year, when Ash, my mom, and I decided to see it close-up (she had lived in Vienna for about 40 years and hadn't seen it either!). The church is Vienna's most famous baroque building, and with it's big green cuppola has become one of the city's landmarks. If you have a chance to go there, make sure to take a close look at the tall white stone pillars outside the church and the scenes delicately engraved on them. Once you enter, the almost overbearlingly huge altar draws you to the front of the church immediately. You can pay an extra couple of Euros to take the elevator ride up to the top of the cuppola to get a closer look at the Michael Rottmeyr frescos. But that's not the end of it - from here on you can venture up to the very top of the church via stairs. Poor Ashie didn't know what he was in for - I suffered from extreme vertigo, and my mother wasn't physically too fit to handle those stairs (yet insisted to make her way up to the top). :-)

Opening hours:
9.00-12.30pm and 1.00-6.00pm (Mo - Sat)
1.00-6.00pm (Sun + holidays)

Leave a Comment

Address: Vienna's famous baroque church
Directions: take underground, tram, busses, or taxi to "Karlsplatz"-station.
Website: www.karlskirche.at