Austere Austria

museum quartier

maria teresa

kunsthistorisches museum

Vienna is one of the ageless cities.From the Habsburgs who ruled for eons to the modern Vienna International Centre of the United Nations the city has held on to its Austrian austerity and identity.
Vienna takes pride in all its royal stories and controversies. The pride placed on their palaces, royal treasury, holy religion, Wein cuisine and just about anything Viennese is notable.
Empress Maria Teresa looms large in the entire city. She assumed power by default but proved her mettle by sheer grit and shrewd political strategies. Though she married her children only to meet political ends she did not do so without the insight of a mother. She once apparently remarked that if her young Daughter remains true to her husband and God even if her matrimony leads to unhappiness it is good enough. With equal pride they celebrate the enigmatic albeit eccentric Queen 'Sisi'  whose rebellions against the courtly duties are famous. An audio guided tour of the Schonbrunn palace, formerly a summer palace of the imperial family is an absolute must.
A ride on the horse carriage on the cobbled  Viennas Ringstrasse helps one soak in the viennese delights in a short romantic ride. An ariel view of Vienna from the Danube tower against the setting summer sun late into the night is a magical display of lights on the horizon. A bungee jump for the adventurous is also available. Just the ledge from where jump begins sent a shiver down my sissy spine.
Vienna has over a 100 museums. Weird ones like the funeral museum, globe museum included.
We chose to visit the Sigmund Freud Museum and were richly rewarded.His ideologies, his couch, his travel acessories and the table specially designed for him while he wrote his journals are brilliantly showcased in the house he lived till the the Nazis invasion.
Vienna is beautiful ,clean ,precise and brilliant