6/30/24 Fulfilling My Duties as Ambassador of American Baking Arts

Today, we baked.  Or rather, I baked while keeping Maxi from eating all the apples before they went in the pie.

Since I'm acting in my official capacity as self-appointed Ambassador of the American Baking Arts, I made a fancy pie.

6/18/14 Off to the Esperanto Museum

Wednesday was our last day in Vienna.  After breakfast, we packed up our things and double-checked the rooms, then gathered in the lobby before locking up our baggage for the afternoon.

6/17/14 Vienna - KILLER SWANS!

And for your enjoyment, or at least mine, some video of the killer swans.

6/17/14 Vienna - This was a really long day, wasn't it?

Saw this on my way to dinner.

6/17/14 Vienna - Nationalbibliothek

I left the museum and headed back to Michaelerplatz.  I still had some time to kill before the major museums closed for the day so I hobbled back to Michaelerplatz with the plan of walking down the street to the Albertina.

Here's a church on Michaelerplatz.

6/17/14 Vienna - Sisi Museum

After the Silberkammer I went upstairs to the Sisi museum.  Sisi is the nickname of the Empress Elizabeth, who was mythologized after her assassination.  There are a couple famous movies about her and a musical.

6/17/14 Vienna - Silberkammer

After the others had finished eating, I walked with them a bit into the Innenstadt before going my own way.  I passed an interesting mosaic on the way.

6/17/14 Vienna Cafe Demel

After watching the Morning Exercises at the Spanish Riding School, I hobbled over to Cafe Demel, which pretty much right next to Michaelerplatz.  The tables outside were full, so I went inside and discovered more seating in back.  The most awesome part is that they have their pastry kitchen set up as a display kitchen separated from the rest of the cafe by glass walls.  Technically I was sitting in the smoking section, but Cafe Demel attracts a lot of tourists and thankfully no one was smoking.

I ordered hot chocolate and cake and sat back to watch the pastry chefs at work.

6/17/14 Vienna - HORSIES!!!

 On Monday some of us had purchased tickets to attend the Morning Exercises of the Lipizzaners at the Spanish Riding School.  There was a line, though we eventually discovered that was a line to purchase tickets and got into a different line to go in.

6/16/14 Vienna - Have I mentioned how much my feet hurt?

So by this point, my feet hurt about as much as they did the night of the wedding.  It's World Cup season, so we went in search of Public Viewing, aka. someone set up a tv in front of a bunch of picnic tables somewhere.

6/16/14 Vienna - Naturhistorisches Museum

After the Schmetterlinghaus, we decided to visit the Naturhistorisches Museum before heading for the rendezvous point for finding a place to watch the World Cup.

6/16/14 Vienna - Das Schmetterlinghaus

After lunch we went to the Schmetterlinghaus (butterfly house).  Butterfly pictures are fairly self-explanatory so this is mainly going to be a photo dump post.

First, some pictures from near the Albertina.

6/16/14 Vienna Stephansdom

The students went through the Schatzkammer a lot faster than I did because I took an audioguide and went camera happy.  I met up with David to visit the cathedral tower after wandering around as much as I wanted.

Statue of Hercules on one of the walls of the Hofburg.

6/16/14 Vienna Schatzkammer

After the Haus der Musik we went to the Schatzkammer.

The Schatzkammer is full of the treasures that belonged to the Habsburg monarchy.

This includes tabards with elaborate embroidery.

Keys.

Gold and silverwork embroidery.

Scepters.

Crowns and other symbols of office.  The crown, which later became the crown of the Austrian Empire, was commissioned by Rudolf II as an alternative to the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

Ceremonial robes.  This, iirc, would be worn by a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.  A good portion of the collection was devoted to robes and chains and whatnot belonging to the Order of the Golden Fleece.

After divorcing the Empress Josephine, Napoleon married Maria Louise of Austria.  This is a sort of cradle of state for their son.  It would have been a symbolic cradle, not for day to day use.

One room was dedicated to the equipment used in royal baptisms.

Another room had major gems on display, such as this giant opal.

And this giant garnet.

And this giant...  something.  Possibly a rutilated quartz.

This container is a giant emerald.

A parure made with Hungarian opals.

A crown made for Stephan Bocksay of Transylvania by the sultan of the Ottoman empire as thanks for siding against the Habsburgs.  The jewelers didn't have much experience with western crowns, so they modeled it after an eastern bishop's hat.

A golden rose gifted by the pope.  Thirteen roses, the top one for Christ and the others for the disciples.

This is a "unicorn horn" (narwhal tooth) that along with an agate bowl said to be the Holy Grail, composes one of the two inalienable treasures of the Habsburg family which were to always remain with the head of the family and never sold off. 

The Agate Bowl.  There's an inscription that allegedly says XRISTO that looks like it's in the stone itself, which made it into a sort of relic.  It seems to be an example of pareidolia.

The museum also contained religious artifacts, such as this bishop's staff made out of a unicorn horn.

There were also a lot of pieces depicting religious scenes, such as this ivory carving.

This is the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor.

This necklace is another piece having to do with the Order of the Golden Fleece, said golden fleece pendant hanging in front.  The Herald would wear it and it includes the coat of arms of the various members at some time.  

These cloaks were also used by members of the Order and contain absolutely magnificent embroidery.  I'll be going over some pieces from the Schatzkammer in more detail over on my craft blog at a later date.

6/16/14 Vienna Kunst Haus Wien

Vienna, day 2.  First stop, Kunst Haus Wien, a museum featuring a collection by the artist Hundertwasser, in a building designed by Hundertwasser, as well as seasonal exhibits.  In this case, the seasonal exhibit was on shoes and unfortunately it wouldn't open until the following Wednesday.

The museum is hard to miss.

6/15/14 Vienna - Haus der Musik

After dinner we visited the Haus der Musik, a museum dedicated to sound.