This morning I woke up and realized I was really HUNGRY for some Wiener Schnitzel!!! Apologies to you vegetarian readers, but my colleagues and I are going to have some serious schnitzel withdrawl when we come back to the states. Mary said she’s eaten it about 7 times this week. Well, after my trip yesterday when I felt really nauseated the entire day (gee, I wonder why?) and didn’t eat anything except for some trail mix on the train, I was ready to go to Figlmueller,
the most famous Wiener Schnitzel place in town. Luckily for me, Jim and Alan were easy to persuade to accompany me. I told them I was excited to order the exact same thing that they did.
Here we are with our frighteningly large Wiener Schnitzels. Alan and I had no trouble polishing ours off but Jim is a rather more dainty eater and had to wrap the rest of his up to take home.
After that excellent lunch, I decided more excess was in order and went to the Hofburg to see the Imperial Treasury. This part of the palace contains centuries of loot from the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian Empire from the past 1200
or so years. Highlights were the reliquary of St. Stephen which was made at the court of Charlemagne and was supposed to contain some blood-soaked earth from where Stephen was stoned to death (I have seen pictures of this so-called “St. Stephen’s Purse” but never thought to see the real thing in person); other reliquaries which contained things like a piece of Jesus’ loincloth, a piece of the tablecloth they used for the Last Supper, a piece of straw from the manger (you know how much I love this kind of stuff), a HUGE piece of the True Cross, and also the True Lance, which I had thought was “discovered” at Antioch during the first Crusade, but this particular True Lance (which had some part of some of the True Nails welded onto it) had been used sometime around 955 to defeat some Magyars, so I don’t see how it could have been the same one that later ended up at Antioch. At any rate, the jewels were fabulous, and they also had a bunch of stuff from Napoleon, from around 1804-1810 when he had defeated the Austrians and they had to make deals with him. They had this amazing cradle that someone gave to him for his son, after he married the daughter of the Austrian emperor. Of course, after the Austrians got rid of him and put everything back the way they wanted it in the Congress of Vienna in 1815, they kept a lot of the stuff they had originally given to Napoleon. He didn’t really need it anymore where he was. 
This morning we completed our study of Don Giovanni. What a great opera. I can’t wait to see it in Seattle in January with all my students from 12th grade. Time is running out here in Vienna – I hate even to say that – and people are making frenzied lists of things they have to see before they go. I don’t really have one because there’s no way I can see everything I want. But whatever I see, you know I will tell you about it, dear readers.
The outside of the Hofburg
the most famous Wiener Schnitzel place in town. Luckily for me, Jim and Alan were easy to persuade to accompany me. I told them I was excited to order the exact same thing that they did.Here we are with our frighteningly large Wiener Schnitzels. Alan and I had no trouble polishing ours off but Jim is a rather more dainty eater and had to wrap the rest of his up to take home.
After that excellent lunch, I decided more excess was in order and went to the Hofburg to see the Imperial Treasury. This part of the palace contains centuries of loot from the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian Empire from the past 1200
or so years. Highlights were the reliquary of St. Stephen which was made at the court of Charlemagne and was supposed to contain some blood-soaked earth from where Stephen was stoned to death (I have seen pictures of this so-called “St. Stephen’s Purse” but never thought to see the real thing in person); other reliquaries which contained things like a piece of Jesus’ loincloth, a piece of the tablecloth they used for the Last Supper, a piece of straw from the manger (you know how much I love this kind of stuff), a HUGE piece of the True Cross, and also the True Lance, which I had thought was “discovered” at Antioch during the first Crusade, but this particular True Lance (which had some part of some of the True Nails welded onto it) had been used sometime around 955 to defeat some Magyars, so I don’t see how it could have been the same one that later ended up at Antioch. At any rate, the jewels were fabulous, and they also had a bunch of stuff from Napoleon, from around 1804-1810 when he had defeated the Austrians and they had to make deals with him. They had this amazing cradle that someone gave to him for his son, after he married the daughter of the Austrian emperor. Of course, after the Austrians got rid of him and put everything back the way they wanted it in the Congress of Vienna in 1815, they kept a lot of the stuff they had originally given to Napoleon. He didn’t really need it anymore where he was. 
This morning we completed our study of Don Giovanni. What a great opera. I can’t wait to see it in Seattle in January with all my students from 12th grade. Time is running out here in Vienna – I hate even to say that – and people are making frenzied lists of things they have to see before they go. I don’t really have one because there’s no way I can see everything I want. But whatever I see, you know I will tell you about it, dear readers.
The outside of the Hofburg
posted by Adina Meyer @ 7:53 AM
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