Kauffman Commentary

Just a short walk from the U1 Karlsplatz is a huge market. Lots of restaurants, food stalls and clothing. Some things, like the Sissi chocolates were priced higher than in the center Ring. It is an interesting place and if you get there by 9:30 it isn’t very crowded.

We went looking for an area that we found last time we were here.  There were stalls with really good food in a park and a large screen showing a movie.  While hunting we found a rose garden. It was amazing.

Then we found the park, it had the screens still there to show movies, but also it was preparing for a concert. There were not any food stalls today. We were so disappointed. Kind of silly that we didn’t realize where it was since it was behind the Rathaus or city hall.

We read that Empress Elisabeth or Sisi’s apartment was a must see, so we got tickets and went this afternoon. We saw both Franz Joseph, her husband’s apartments and Sisi’s.  Sisi came from Munich and was part of the Bavarian royal family. Her sister was chosen to marry Franz Joseph, part of the Austria Hungary Empire, but he fell in love with Sisi, the younger sister and they married a year later when she was just 16. Sisi did not like the attention that came with the title and struggled. She eventually dealt with it somewhat. She was ahead of her time because she exercised daily, with work out rings and bars. She liked a massage after exercising too. She cleaned her teeth regularly, feeling that that was important. Sissi was assassinated in 1898 at 60 years old.

Tonight is the last evening on the Viking Rinda. We heard a statistic that Viking has 30 buses to transport guests  in Vienna. Just crazy. We leave early in the morning to fly to Berlin.