Our last day was devoted to intensive sight-seeing of museums. First stop was the Belvedere Palace. This was not far from the city centre and had extensive formal gardens. Lack of time – and a very hot sun – limited us to the Upper Belvedere palace — and that was a lot already! There were permanent exhibitions of 19th and 20th century Austrian paintings. I felt so ignorant! A whole undiscovered world of painting unfolded before me. Aside from Gustav Klimt, there was Egon Schiele and the whole Austrian Secession Movement to discover. Egon Schiele’s work was haunting and tortured and violent. Although not usually a fan of angst-ridden art, I was riveted before painting after painting. There was an impressive collection of Gustav Klimt, so attractive and stylish.
Schonbrunn Palace was next – the last time I had seen it, I was 16 years old. This was the home of Sissi and Franz Josef, from the “Forever My Love” series of movies that I loved as a pre-teen in Assumption School. Aahhh, Romy Schneider and I-forget-who, that I swooned over! How sad that the real story, as could be discerned between the lines of the very tactful commentaries in each room, was so different! The 3 or 4 rooms occupied by Emperor Franz Josef were small and almost ascetic compared to the enormous size of the castle and its gorgeous exterior and public places. Here he lived out his daily grind, minding the children and the Empire – while his adored wife flounced around Europe with nothing to do but mind her figure, and her hair, and her complexion.
One by one t
he group peeled away: Val first after Budapest, then Myrna on reaching Vienna. On the last night, there was only Charo and me left, but we ended it with a flourish, typical of the whole trip: a sinfully rich dessert at a historic site, gelato in the Eissalon on Schwedenplatz, an institution since 1886. Great way to end a trip!
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