Vienna Day 2 - Hopburg Palace, Imperial Treasury Collection

10/20/2012

Angel and I went to the Naschmarkt flea market this morning. It is only open on Saturdays, which is why we timed it for today. It was a 20 minute walk through old Vienna and it was already pretty happening when we arrived at 9 in the morning. There were lots of vendors selling antiques and knick-knacks. We couldn’t tell the difference between antique and crap, and things are pretty expensive (an old book was 45 euro!). Lots of records, old books, stamps, furniture, and tiffany lamps were on sale. There is a food market attached to Naschmarkt, and we found some pretty yummy looking breads for about 3 euro.

The parents went to Café Mozart, a famous café in Vienna, probably the oldest as well. It is now part of a chain of cafes owned by one family. They said the coffee was ok, so I don’t think we’ll be bringing any of it back home.

We met up at Salm Brau beer garden for lunch. Yesterday, we walked past it (near Belvedere) and the poster said 2 beers, a pork knuckle/leg and sides was 15 euros. So we went there today all excited, only to find out that it was a Sunday special! We tried to make ourselves feel better by justifying it as the Sunday portion was probably a lot smaller… but the normal portion was too big! Four people ate it, and we still ended up bringing half of it home! Angel ordered Viennese beef strogonaff with green spaetzle. Dad ordered fried fish. Fried fish, really?! The pork knuckle was delicious—so tender and perfectly smoked, and lots of juice. Mom said it was the best pork knuckle she’d ever tasted. 

Look at that monstrous knuckle!

We bought 3-in-1 Sisi tickets online that includes the tour of the Hopburg Palace (the royal family’s historical palace), the Schonbrunn Palace (royal family’s summer palace) and the Furniture Collection. You don’t have to do it all in one day, so after lunch, we went to the Hopburg Palace, where we saw the Sisi Museum, Imperial Palace and the Imperial Plateware collection. 

Angel's fascinated by the way they fold their napkins-only 2 people are entrusted with the secret of how to fold the royal Austrian bread napkin!

The splendor of the Austrian court

We had to rush through the imperial palace apartments tour because we needed to get the standing tickets for the opera. The door opens at 4pm to get tickets, and we made it there just a shade under 4pm. The box office opens at 5:40 to actually buy the tickets, and then you go inside and get in line again. 6:20 is when the theatre opens, and you’re led in by the usher. The ushers are anal about having everybody line up two by two properly.

Waiting yet again in line... although we got smart and brought magazines to sit on this time!

The opera today was Don Giovanni, which was really good but the staging sucked. They were trying to go all modern and so you didn’t really get a sense of the grandeur opera is usually associated with. It looked more like the San Jose Rep Theatre, one of those “post-modern” plays with minimalist props and funky stage designs.