15 November, Sunday.
The Hofburg palace, former winter residence of the Austro-Hungarian emperors, was our stop today. Though less impressive in its simple, classically inspired pale stone architecture than the spindly spires of Neuschwanstein, it has a certain imposing quality to it. It curves around Heldenplatz, commanding a view of two important faces of the city and staring down the main boulevard. Inside, we saw a little too much of the imperial silver and cookery collection and were saved by a trip through the posh imperial chambers, richly guilt and upholstered in damask and plush and silk. The highlights was a tour through the life of Sisi, the empress Elisabeth. A withdrawn but beautiful woman, her life was a tragedy from her marriage to emperor Franz Joseph, and ended with an assassination. The diamond star hairclips for which she was famed surrounded the museum, and her death mask was an eerie ushering back into the sunlight.
Starved at this point, we made our way down the winding streets, utilizing a little bit of German to find a quaint café where we someone secured a reserved table and had the best cake I’ve ever eaten. Salivating for more substantial food, we took the waiter’s recommendation to a restaurant down the street where we gushed over schnitzel, beef stew, and hearty rye bread. Sadly, a little more souvenir shopping and a last stroll down the picturesque streets was all we had time to manage. In another few hours, we were out of our hostel and on our flight.
