The Sisi Story and More Royalty

There are many familiar historical figures enshrined in monuments, buildings and other places in and around Vienna. In it's heydays, Vienna nurtured many leading lights of Western classical music such as Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Schubert, and Brahms. This city also brings back memories of both the World Wars: remember WW1 was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo? He was an Austrian prince and is buried just outside the city in his private palace. As for WW2, Hitler was born in Austria, and lived for a while in Vienna. I heard stories yesterday of how they still discover vintage bombs during road construction.

There was one story that touched me, the story of a princess I hadn't heard of before. She was named Elisabeth, but more commonly known as Sisi. A Bavarian princess, Sisi was married off to the Austrian prince when she was very young. Right from the beginning she disdained the pomp and formality of the Royal Habsbergs. Her unusual attitude and her beauty made her a darling of the people. She rebeled and constantly travelled to stay away from Court life. Towards the end, she suffered from bouts of depression and obsession with diet and beauty regimes. She was tragically assassinated by an anarchist during one of her trips. This story seemed so much similar to Princess Diana's!

I bought tickets to the exhibition of the Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg Palace. I also checked out the royal Silver Collection that includes kitchen utensils, tableware and table linen from the House of the Habsburg. It is interesting to note how rudimentary even royal kitchens were during that period. This is true of the Imperial Apartments too. While there was a lot of gold, silver, velvet and other expensive material, I am sure the Royal Family would have been awed by the 'luxuries' even a common man can afford today such a cookers, toasters, running hot water, etc., which they clearly lacked. Note: Most pictures in this post are those I took during this tour.

What I loved the most was the elaborate dining table with it's glittering table settings. The intricately hand-painted porcelain was stunning too. During most dinners, apparently they even allowed people to hang-around and watch the family eat. Hmm, did they made people pay for this privilege? I bet Walt Disney would have approved if they had!

After that long walk around the Hofburg Palace, I was hungry. I sat down at a road-side cafe for some coffee with a pastry. This place, Demel, is very well known as for its ice-creams, but even the dessert, Mohr im Hemd, a chocolate souffle with whipped cream and chocolate sauce was wickedly delicious! As for coffee, every cafe has dozens to choose from. Here they had the Melange (espresso with milk and foam), Brauner (espresso with cream), Verlangerter (espresso infused with hot water), Einspanner (espresso with whipped cream), Anna Demel (house coffee with orange liquer and whipped cream), Irish Coffee (coffee with whiskey and cream) and Cafe Bailey's (coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream).

Today I walked back through shops selling seasonal vegetables, mushrooms and fruits. Austrians (like Indians) prefer buying their greens and fruits from small vendors rather than large supermarkets. The green expanse of Stadtpark - an oasis of greenery, jogging tracks and water bodies right outside my hotel - and the trams on the streets add to the city's charm. This is a city made for people who love walking.

At dinner I ordered an entree of Porcini and Haddock, fried haddock over a bed of potatoes and porcini carpaccio, sauteed with red baby leaf beet and lemon chervil sauce. Porcini is a seasonal mushroom which tastes fantastic!

Dessert was another local favorite: Kaiserschmarr'n, a softly browed pancake served with home-made plum stew. Mildly sweet, unlike most other Viennese desserts, this one was freshly made to order. As you can figure out, I love this city!

Related/similar posts:

• Imperial Vienna
• Timeless London