Jody called us about 9 a.m. to tell us Mandy had found a close breakfast spot, so off we went.  Sadly, it was not open as today was All Saints Day and was a holiday in Austria.  We finally found a bakery called Beka Bake Shop that was open so in we went to buy some pastries.  Then back to the room to make coffee and sample the delicious pastries.

About 11 a.m. we all headed to the train station to take the U4 train to the Landstrasse stop.  There we transferred to the U3 train to Herrenstrasse station.  Then it was just a short walk to the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments (Kaiserappartements) which are in the Hofburg Palace.  The palace was started as a castle in the 1300s and was lived in by the Hapsburgs for over 600 years.  They were inveterate builders and remodelers, so the palace grew to a 60 acre complex which is now owned by the State.  The magnificent staircase (the Emperor staircase) leads up to the 19 state and private rooms of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth.

 The Sisi Museum is named after Empress Elizabeth, nicknamed Sisi, who was married to Emperor Franz Joseph at the age of 16 and contains six rooms which focused on her specifically including her more private life--her poetry she wrote, her rebellion against court constraints, and her obsessive dieting and exercising.   She was considered to be very beautiful and was also rather narcissistic about her looks. Can you believe through "starvation" and corsets she actually had an 18-inch waist!!!  Yikes!  After the age of 30 she was unhappy with her looks including her bad teeth, so she would not allow any photos.  Sadly, she was assassinated by an Italian anarchist in 1898 while visiting Geneva, Switzerland.  Even today there is a cult surrounding her and flowers are left at her tomb.  

The second part of the museum is the Imperial Apartments.  These were the private rooms for the Hapsburg emperors and empresses so you see the rooms occupied by Franz Joseph from 1857 to 1916, and Sisi’s apartments where she lived from 1854 to 1898.  This was interesting because you see all the state rooms with their pomp and glitter and then you also see the intimate living spaces with the more private atmosphere where the couple lived. This museum was very similar to yesterday—gorgeous rooms, beautiful paintings, etc.  But, once again we could not take photos.  

The third part we wanted to see was the Imperial Treasury (Kaiserliche Schatzkammer) including the Imperial Silver Collection.  We had some difficulty finding it, but finally there it was.  All we could say about this was WOW!  The treasury includes 21 rooms of amazing treasures, in fact, it was said that they had some of the best jewels on the continent.  There was amazing stuff here.  Gorgeous jewels (an emerald said to be the largest cut emerald in the world), unbelievable embroidered robes that were 700 years old, the cradle of the son of Napoleon (the King of Rome) and two legendary items considered to be the "inalienable heirlooms of the House of Habsburg"--what they called a unicorn horn (actually the horn of a narwhale) and an ancient carved agate bowl believed to be the holy grail.   The Hapsburgs considered themselves to be the successors of the Holy Roman Emperors, so they wanted the crowns and regalia to support this statement including two magnificent crowns.  And of course, after walking through 8 rooms you come to the religious area that includes a reliquarium.  As most of you know one of Mike’s favorite things to do is to see all the relics.  Although this one was great it was not as good as the one in the Residenz in Munich.

By now we were rather exhausted, so we hopped back on the U3 train to go to the Landstrasse station where we began our search for a place to get something to eat.  We decided on one of the shops set up for commuters called InterSpar Pasta Café.  Although a place to get a speedy meal, it was all made fresh—and it was very good.  Jody, Mandy and I had Pasta Gamberetti or Shrimp with pasta in a cream sauce and Mike had Filletti di Manzo (a beef filet pasta with a red sauce).  Mike and I both had a glass of wine—red for him (Cuvee Capsula Viola) and white for me (Antinori St. Christin) and Mandy and Jody shared a pitcher of water.  When we finished, Mike and I decided we just had to have the profiteroles to take back to the room and have as dessert with some coffee. Jody and Mandy said they were too full and they would pass on dessert.

Back into the station we went to catch the U4 train to Meidlinger Haupstrasse station which is across the street from our hotel.  Once back at the hotel, Nicholas, the friendly desk clerk, told us to wait a moment.  Shortly, he returned with a 2-pound bag of their hard candy for us and also one for Mandy and Jody.  Yikes this will be a packing nightmare!

After relaxing for a while, we got out the profiteroles and made some coffee.  They don’t look very pretty after their trip on the train but oh my, were they ever delicious!!!!  And included with them were some fresh blueberries (for me) and raspberries (for Mike).  I have an aversion to raspberries for some reason.  Sated once again we turned out the lights about 10:30 p.m.