Vienna, Austria // 25 and 26 June

Arrived Wien (Vienna) and went directly to our Pension Hargita http://www.hargita.at/. Then took the UBahn to the Ringstrasse and took the tram around to get oriented. Crowded here. Hot, too. Too many tourists, although not very many Americans at all. So headed to the outskirts in order to take in Vienna's Wine Gardens / / Heurigen. Came back to the ages old Prater amusement park to ride the largest in the world ferris wheel Riesenrad here in Wien, which I had riden as a child 45 years ago. Emily and I rode it again for the sake of my sentimentality.

Today we saw the Interior Apartments of the Hofburg and the Sisi Exhibit. Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, Duchess in Bavaria, Princess of Bavaria (December 24, 1837 – September 10, 1898) of the House of Wittelsbach, was the Empress consort of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary due to her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph. Her father was Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria From an early age, she was called "Sisi" ("Sissi" in films and novels) by family and friends.

Then we just got finished seeing the Renaissance paintings portion of the nicknamed Koonst Museum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthistorisches_Museum. This has to be one of our very favorite art museums ever. We could not take our own pictures.

Brueghel / Tower of Babel

Hofburg Imperial Palace is a palace in Vienna, Austria, which has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria. It was the Habsburg's principal winter residence. The Palace was the birthplace of Marie Antoinette in 1755. We could not take our own pictures.

Hung out in the lobby to scam free tickets from exiting opera goers and scored two tickets with an hour left and got to see Pique Dame (Queen of Spades). Emily ended up not being able to see it though because her shorts were too short!

Although known more for his ballets and piano concertos, Peter Tchaikovsky also wrote some of Russia’s best operas. Pique Dame was based on Modest Tchaikovsky (Peter’s brother)’s adaptation of a popular novella by the great Russian poet Alexandr Pushkin about how gambling destroyed a man and those around him. This romanticized operatic version premiered to great success in 1890.