Vienna

Vienna is a city of classical music. This is not surprising since it produced Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Mahler, among others. It's such a large part of the culture here that there are opera houses and music halls everywhere. On all major pedestrian walkways, ticket vendors dressed in 18th century clothing desparately sell that night's show. It is a constant fight for an audience as shows are usually held daily in each of these places.

Beyond music, Vienna is known for its large gothic cathedral and two palaces of the Hapsburg family, a dynasty that ruled the region for 600 years. The primary palace was the most interesting site of the city because it goes over in extraordinary detail about the lives of its most famous inhabitants, the emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elizabeth. Emperor Josef was a pretty cool emperor. Every day he set aside two hours and anyone in his kingdom could have an audience. He also lived in austerity with a simple iron bed and wooden washbasin.

I also visited the vacation palace, designated as a world heritage site, but that was a mistake. The prices were gouging, the exhibits crowded with people, and the material was a repeat of the other palace. In retrospect, since both palaces had to do with the same people, I guess the repetition makes sense and I should have seen that coming. Vienna did have a very interesting music museum though, that goes through science, culture, and creativity of it in a very slick environment.

All in all, I found Vienna to be pretty bland after the unique characters of Rome, Florence, and Venice. The city was very spread out, making walking a time-consuming ordeal. Maybe someday if I get really interested in classical music or opera (and rich enough to afford the tickets) I'd come back, but for now I'm content to move on to Prague.