Another Highlight of Vienna--Woche 40

Planning things to do can be fun.  Mom had been here for two full weeks, and she still hadn't seen any of downtown Vienna.  Monday we spent the day cleaning and getting things ready so that we could play for the rest of the week.  We started the laundry, and even today, there is still one load still sitting in the dryer.  We had the laundry folded and put into piles on the dining room table, and a friend asked, "Why do you have all these piles of clothes everywhere?  Are you sorting through closets?"  Well, that was just one week of laundry for us--even minus the load still in the dryer.

I took mom down to the Hofburg Palace.  We were able to go see the Imperial silver collection, the Sisi museum, and the Imperial apartments.  It was a tour that I had done before, but I still learned new things.  After that, we found the stables to the Lippizaner Stallions.  We weren't able to attend a show, although mom would really like to go see them.  They don't allow children under the age of 6 into any of the shows or practices, so Danyon and I couldn't get in.  Mom opted not to go until next time she visits.  We did see the horses in the stables, however.  We completed the day with a stop to Demel.  We ate our pastries while watching the other bakers at work.

Mom and I visited the Beethoven house next door.  We were very, very disappointed.  The museum only had 1 lock, to something, 1 lock of Beethoven's hair, a copy of a letter that Beethoven composed to his brother, but never sent, a copy of a death mask, a copy of a bust, and some recorded Beethoven music.  There was a sign that read that Beethoven might not even have lived in this particular house.  Talk about disappointing!!  Here we thought that we were Beethoven's next door neighbors, and we probably aren't.  Not to worry though, he did spend much of his time living in our area.  I think that there are three or four Beethoven houses in Vienna, and one just down the street.  I don't know if I will pay the money to visit any others, as I was so disappointed in the first one.  I couldn't believe that they didn't have any information in the museum.  There were also a few pictures, but they were of other random people, and there were no signs explaining how they were affiliated with Beethoven, so you didn't know why the pictures were even there.

We also went to a production of the Vienna Boys Choir.  I have to admit, I was very disappointed again.  This was not just a straight concert.  This was a production of The Boy and the Sea.  There were parts of it that were good, but for the most part, the staging was poor and the boys did not seem to have any discipline on the stage.  The background boys were very distracting to the story line.  I found it interesting that the main character had a microphone, but the choir did not have a mic and the soloists were not miced as well.  This made it very difficult to hear them.  I have to admit, there were some talented kids in the choir.  One kid played the piano for the entire play from memory.  The only song he didn't play, was the song when he went on stage to sing his solo.  He was very good.  And at the end of the play, the choir just stood in a line and sang a couple of songs for the encore.  When they just stood and sang, Wow.  That was very good. 

We took Grandma to St. Stephen's church.  We, of course, stopped at the Manner store.  We took her to a couple of Heurigens.  We also took her to dinner in the downtown.  We had dessert at the Zanoni and Zanoni.

We even found a carriage to take us to the Ball.

Since Grandma is here, and we feel comfortable leaving the kids with her, Dan and I went to our first Austrian Ball on Friday night.  We drove down to the hotel with another couple from our ward.  It was a fun evening.  We enjoyed dancing, spending time together, and spending time with friends. 

Saturday, we took Grandma to the Brunnenmarkt.  We bought fruit, vegetables, fresh baked breads, and of course, lunch.  Grandma got to experience everything, including the smell of the cheese stand on the street.  When our bags were full, we headed home.  After that, we had tickets to go to the matinee of Elisabeth.  Dan and I have been looking forward to going to this, since we got here.  Elisabeth is the most successful German musical of all time.  It is about the Empress Sisi.  It has been playing in Vienna, on and off for the last 10 years.  They decided to finally end the run in January, so time was running out.  We are so glad that we went.  The music is beautiful and the staging was incredible.  We really loved it.  You can look it up on Youtube and find one with English translations to get the story line, but it is a really cool play.  Both Grandma and Dan said it is one of the highlights of the trip here.