Visiting Schönbrunn – Vienna
Impossible, that during the reign of Maria Theresa this sewage would look like it does today. It is impossible to believe, aby ta, whose days were marked by noble deeds that gave glory and beauty to an entire empire, she could draw inspiration while in Schönbrunn, surrounded on one side by royal majesty, and on the other, terrible smells coming from the trough of the dirty one, the foul-smelling river.
This opinion, expressed 1838 r. by the mother of an English writer, Anthony Trollopea, on the smelly Wien River flowing at the gates of Schönbrunn, was shared by many 19th-century travelers. 1 although now the river does not smell anymore, it is tourists heading for the palace that face another obstacle, a river of cars rushing around the nearby Linke Wienzeile and Schönbrunner Schlossstrasse. To get to the palace, get off at the Schönbrunn underground station and walk along Grünbergstrasse towards the Meidlinger Gate. This avoids hiking on the multi-lane motorway towards the main gate. Or you can take the subway one stop further to Hietzing and go deeper into the park, previously passing through the Hietzinger Gate (Hietzing Gate) Przy Hietzinger Hauptstrasse. This gives you the opportunity to see a private metro station built especially for the imperial family (Hoffpavillon Hietzing).
Planning a tour of the palace halls, you must buy a ticket at the ticket office and reserve a seat in the queue. You can dine in the inexpensive Beisl near Wagenburg, and also in the cafe behind the cash register, in the palace. Under no circumstances should you enter the terribly expensive cafe / restaurant in the east wing of the main courtyard. In summer, you can enjoy your cake and tea in the picturesque Glorietta countryside. There are numerous food booths in the main courtyard. There are even more eateries in the zoo, from sausage booths to restaurants. You can even get picnic lunch at the grocery store in the Tirolerhaus. The cheapest solution is, of course, to eat your own sandwiches.
Palace halls
Compared to the sterile rooms at the Hofburg, palace halls (State Rooms) Schönbrunn are a feast for the eyes. The visit is carefully planned and organized. Tickets can be bought at the ticket office on the ground floor of the east wing. Here, every visitor finds out, what time he will be able to go inside. If there are a lot of tourists in the palace, it happens, that you have to wait up to several hours. You can then go to the gardens or explore Schönbrunn's other attractions.
There are two routes to wander around the palace, imperial (80 shillings), leading through 22 sale, and great (110 shillings), which includes all 40 rooms open to the public. Even if someone is not a connoisseur of stylish interiors, he shouldn't have taken the imperial trail, because it omits some of the most beautiful rococo chambers. Tourists choosing a great trail can use the services of a guide, if of course they decide to pay extra (1 time.; 140 shillings).
Apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elizabeth
Both routes start in the west wing from the blue staircase. Following the imperial trail, you bypass Franciszek Józef's nine private rooms and enter Elizabeth's salon.
Persons, who choose the great trail, they go through the guard room to the hall (waiting room), in which stands a pool table. During the reign of Franz Józef, it served as a waiting room for people waiting for a private audience. During the long wait, images could be viewed, but the game was out of the question. The adjacent Walnut Salon (Nussbaumzimmer) served as an audience. The name comes from the wood used to make the chairs and the gilded Rococo paneling. Chandelier, covered with pure gold, it was also carved from wood. The walls of the emperor's gloomy office strike with ugly brown. In this room, Franz Josef spent most of the day at his desk. He spent hours pedantically browsing and signing thousands of official documents. A portrait of Empress Elizabeth as a 16-year-old girl hangs on the wall. It was painted in time, when she became engaged to Franz Józef. The next room is the bedroom, to which the emperor moved as a widower. There is a soldier's iron bed in it, on which the emperor died 21 November 1916 r. at the age of 86 lat. Next to it, you can see a reverent work by Franz Matsch depicting the scene of the death of the emperor.
After passing a few rooms, in which the emperor performed ablution, it comes to a master bedroom arranged in 1854 r. on the occasion of the wedding of Franciszek Józef with Elżbieta. The impression of harmony is achieved thanks to the upholstery in blue Lyonian silk. There are two twin rosewood beds in the room. Elizabeth managed to avoid fulfilling her marriage obligation for two nights. legend has it, that during the family breakfast after the first night, Elizabeth's grumpy mother-in-law, the menacing Duchess Sophia asked her, how did the son do in bed. At these words, the poor bride burst into tears and burst into tears. Admittedly, after five years she fulfilled her royal duty, giving the emperor a son and heir (Rudolph, who then committed suicide], but consistently avoided the common bed and, ignoring the short period of consent v 1867 r., most likely she hadn't spent too many nights in the marriage bedroom.
Private apartments of the Empress Elizabeth, starting with the salon, they give even less information about her personality than the interiors at the Hofburg. It is no wonder whatsoever, since she had spent so little time in them. Almost all of the decor comes from the times of Empress Maria Theresa, so it is about a hundred years earlier. The walls of the next three rooms, Marie Antoinette's room, the nursery and the Yellow Salon, They are hung with portraits of Maria Teresa's many offspring. Her father, Charles VI, he did not leave a male heir, therefore the ruler faced the hard task of proving to Europe, that he is masculine enough, to cope with the exercise of power in the empire. At the same time, she decided to leave behind numerous offspring, to avoid problems similar to these, what appeared before her father. Apparently, after the birth of her fourth child, she said: “I would like to be in the sixth month of another pregnancy”. She gave birth to sixteen children, nine of them lived to adulthood.