DRT Day 7: Two tips and a list

Today’s agenda would be based on a simple idea: heat avoidance. With temps due to hit the mid 30s (low to mid 90s for those who speak Fahrenheit) in a city with lots of marble and very little air conditioning, we would need a plan to not become puddles by the afternoon.

After an excellent breakfast of stackers (bagel, fried egg, ham, and cheese – yum!), it was time to head out for our first destination: the flea market at the Naschmarkt. Our AirBnB host gave us a tip that on Saturday mornings, the well known market adds to its usually stalls and restaurants by hosting an enormous flea market. And so off we went.

One challenge today would be to dial back the walking pace and use more public transportation to keep the sweatiness at bay. Unfortunately, we were born with two settings: still and power walk. Neither of us came with the saunter, meander, or stroll settings that so many of our fellow tourists seem to (frustratingly) have. We did our best approximation of a “wander” setting as we made our way through the vast collection of stands, tents, suitcases on the pavement and other manners of displaying wares. We did score some good stuff: two albums (Melissa Etheridge and Lynyrd Skynyrd) and a new lens for Frank’s camera. A lovely iced latte helped a bit with the temps but it didn’t take long for the sun and concrete to win.

Next stop would be something from the list of “must do when in Vienna” so off we headed to the Belvedere Palace – another massive Baroque building that now housed an art collection and was most famous for Klimt’s “The Kiss”. Not especially a Klimt fan but art can be fun and art museums tend to be air conditioned so that seemed like a winning combination. And apparently it was a popular thought with many other folks because the first timed ticket we could get was for 2 hours later. I like art but I don’t like killing time in the heat waiting to see art. We would not be checking that box today.

Instead we headed back toward the Hofburg Imperial palace to get some history instead. The Sissi Museum is dedicated to the “tragic figure” of the Empress Elizabeth which for me trumps Klimt. We bought our timed tickets online (ironically for the same time as the Belvedere tickets and yes see the logical fallacy there) and decided to grab some lunch. Being in the city centre meant there were a plethora of options so we found a lovely wursthaus and bierhall with cool seating in the shade. Several beers (including the yummy GF beer I found in Prague) and two plates of currywurst later, it was time to learn some history.

One downside to history is that it isn’t always as climate controlled as art. 😦 The exhibit was fascinating but not well air conditioned so we didn’t stay as long as we might have otherwise. We skipped some of the audio guide explanations – not sure I needed to know about her dental routine – but enjoyed the imperial apartments and the replica gowns and jewels on display. Interestingly, the narrative breezed over a seemingly important but scandalous event in her life: her son Rudolph, heir apparent to the Habsburg dynasty, committed suicide. This was mentioned briefly as a reason for her withdrawing from public life and starting to wear all black. What was NOT mentioned was that it was a love affair murder suicide! This is tabloid-worthy stuff. Rudolph wasn’t a fan of his wife and started an affair with a 17 year old that apparently everyone knew about. They were found in a hunting lodge, both shot with suicide notes and everything. This seems worth knowing about! Especially since the deeply Catholic family had to pull some major strings to allow such a sinner to be buried in hallowed ground. Good stuff here that I had to learn via Wikipedia. Missed marketing opportunity me thinks.

The burial part of the story is important because it was the focus of our second tip: the Capuchin Crypt. Not far from the Hofburg Palace is a Capuchin Church. The crypt of this church hosts the remains of every Habsburg ruler starting with the empress Anna (who came up with the scheme) in 1648. There are 138 coffins in the crypt which being underground and housing human remains was blissfully cool. It was fascinating to see the various tombs – the Empress Maria Theresa and hubby Franz I have the most impressive tomb. Sissi and Franz Joseph are also here with Rudolph right next to them. All in all, an excellent history lesson that didn’t make us sweat.

Now that we were thoroughly enlightened and very sticky, we decided to head back to the flat to freshen up and get ready for dinner. We enjoyed our stop in the local Biergarden on Wednesday so much that we decided to go there again. Also it was a short stroll from the apartment and didn’t require being downtown and surrounded by other tourists. Frank enjoyed the Austrian version of spare ribs (from what must have been an enormous pig!) while I had stuffed peppers. We declared both to be excellent. Then it was time for a saunter home (really trying out these new settings!) to start packing and catch up on the Olympics.

Data for today: