Vienna Part 1 of 2 - Sisi and the Waltz

Vienna has been known by many distinctions: Resident city of the Hapsburg Empire; Seat of the Holy Roman Empire; Capitol City of the Mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire, comprised of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Montenegro and Poland. And finally, a major center of classical music and home to the famously romantic Viennese Waltz. BTW, for a sublime example, check out this Emperor Waltz, written by Strauss to celebrate Emperor Franz Josef. Feel free to skip ahead to 2:54, that's the most important bit.

Rabbit Hole: Not sure about you, but I have a tendency to search for historical novels based in the areas I am planning to travel to. This trip was no exception, so well in advance I read first The Accidental Empress and then its sequel, Sisi, both by Allison Pataki, a historical novel based on the life of Empress Elisabeth, wife to Franz Josef. There is also a movie that you can find on Amazon Prime, though its in German with English subtitles. I was all caught up on Sisi history and I was on a mission. I came across the beautiful empress years ago when I first saw this exquisite portrait where she is gowned in a House of Worth creation. Isn't this lovely?

Warning here comes a history lesson. Sisi, niece to the Archducess Sophie who was mother of Emperor Franz Josef, began her life as a Duchess of Bavaria, living a country life at her father's estate. Her elder sister was summoned, and accompanied by her mother and Sisi, to Auntie's court to see about a potential marriage with the young Emperor . Once he caught of the younger sixteen year old Sisi, however, it was love at first sight. So she became the "Accidental" bride/Empress and sister went back home with Mama, pleased with the arrangement. Sisi apparently had a difficult time adjusting to royal life, her husbands revolving mistresses, and battle ax of a Mother in Law, so she spent most of her time escaping the lot of them and traveling the world. Her beauty regimen was legendary and she refused to have her portrait taken after age 30, the vain creature.

One can't help but stumble upon Empress Sisi all over this part of the world. Her favorite city was Budapest and she loved the Hungarians, who loved her in return. You'll find her there... in Bratislava, Vienna, Bavaria and likely lots of other cities I haven't been to. Needless to say, I could not wait for our Schoenbrunn Palace Tour. She lived there and walked those halls so I had to go!

Here is the palace in all her Imperial splendor

Here is the sum total of the information provided on Sisi during our tour. A helpful geneology chart

Our tour took us through 25 opulent rooms. Hell, I don't even remember most of them. But not a single one of them had anything to do with Empress Elisabeth. Not one!

Don't get me wrong. Its a palace. And it is frequently compared with Versailles in its similar splendor. I just learned far more about Empress Maria Theresa than I was expecting to and not quite as much about Sisi. However, the Christmas market just outside the palace was quite the Bees Knees of Christmas Market experiences on our trip, so it was a great day.