Our stay in Vienna was packed with museums. There were so many and they were all tempting, only the high ticket prices stopped us from packing more in. We chose wisely by starting with the Albertina - a museum housed in an old Hapsburg fortification in which we saw the well-known Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein, got our first taste of Egon Schiele, and explored Hapsburg estate rooms kept in their original style. That evening we attended a Mozart concert for which the entire orchestra and the concert was held in singers were dressed in period costumes. It sounds very cheesy but the effect was great when combined with the beautiful concerts hall we were in. I, however, was not a fan of the way in which the orchestra kept up historical appearances by dressing the women musicians as men!
We headed to the Schöll Schönbrun Palace early in order to avoid the crowds but weren't entirely successful. Just battling lines of tourists to get our tickets was an adventure in itself and then we had an hour to kill before our timed entry. The wait was well worth it though because despite the relatively uninspiring exterior of this home to the Hapsburg royal family, the interior rooms were absolutely lush and several were downright extravagant. The well-done audio guide even made the portraits interesting (something I usually yawn over) and we are gradually getting a better gasp on the history of the Hapsburg empire and its key figures.
We fit in a quick trip to Stephankirche and our aching quads were pleasantly surprised by elevator access up the tower from where we took in a great 360 view of the city. Then we chose one more museum to finish the trip, the Leopold Museum, which housed an extensive collection of Schiele who we enjoyed very much, as well as an exhibit of Klimt and his contemporaries some of whom we recognized from the Blue Rider exhibit in Munich.
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