On our walk to Mozarthaus, we asked our tour guide a question we had from our first day in Vienna what is the purpose of the red and white poles that are attached to buildings every so often (no, not barber poles!)? And we eventually were able to point one out to him. He said they were to block off an area of the street that was in danger of an avalanche from the roof.
(Here's a repost of a picture from our first day in Vienna where you can see one of these poles I was asking about.)
We walked to 5 Domgasse, the address of the only surviving building in which Mozart lived in Vienna. It is now a museum called Mozarthaus. It used to be called Figarohaus because he wrote The Marriage of Figaro there. It is also the apartment that he lived at for the longest period of time of all of his residences in Vienna.
Unfortunately, our tour guide was not permitted to conduct a tour through the apartment, so we had to use their audioguides, which were terrible. They were way too long, spoken too slowly, and didnt seem to relate to the items in the rooms. Still, it was fantastic to be where Mozart once was, to look out of his window (in the room they think his billiard table was in) out onto Blutgasse (Blood Street). (They think the name of this street comes from Crusaders assembling here to march to the holy lands.)
No photography was permitted inside the museum, but the guard did permit me to take this picture out of the window. (In the preceding pictures our group was standing where the people are in this picture.)
A highlight of the museum is that they had the table upon which he wrote The Magic Flute. Its normally at a museum in Salzburg. It was also interesting to see a note he wrote to a pupil of his, in English. It was something like, I have an appointment tomorrow, come by around 2 or 3. (So, not everything he wrote was a masterpiece but it was still interesting to see his handwriting in English.)
Also on the tour we saw the spot in St. Stephens cathedral where Mozarts body was laid for viewing prior to being taken to St. Marx cemetery for burial. The guide said that the modern notion that he died a pauper, as (supposedly) evidenced by his unmarked grave, was untrue. At that time, for hygiene reasons, the emperor required that all burials be performed outside of the city. And, only royalty had big funerals. So, Mozarts funeral and burial were consistent with the times.
We continued walking and saw the site where Mozart died, although the original building is gone now, and a restaurant where he once performed.
This sign says something like Mozart died here.
This sign says something like Mozart played here and something about Beethoven too.
We ended the tour at another museum, the Albertina.
They had lots of manuscripts and scores of Mozarts, but the most incredible item is the unfinished painting of Mozart at a piano. It is the only known painting that he actually sat for all the others were painted after he died and so the painter may not have known what he actually looked like. He looks different from one painting to the next. Id seen this painting a hundred times in books and CD covers, etc., and now I stood with my nose about six inches from the original!
Judy and I retraced our steps to a toy shop we had passed while on the tour, and bought some gifts for the kids. It was hard to find suitable gifts for them, especially James. We got him a knight on a horse toy.
Glenn finds Mozart pimping chocolates.
Link to next chapter
All wearing the same bright yellow hat and backpack..which is a good idea for keeping track of them all!
Well, as part of the trip package we'll receive 3-day tickets, but I doubt that they're non-expiring, PChef probably wouldn't pay for that when they're intended to be used right then. So, my plan is to use our Annual Passes while we're there, but upgrade the tickets we get from PChef to add the non-expiration option, and to add some days for use next time.
sdchickie! I hope you enjoy it here.
Yes, someone else mentioned that I might not have to add the non-expiring option. I may not know for sure until I get the tickets, which won't be until we arrive. I talked to someone at Disney about it a few weeks ago, but they couldn't really help me without seeing the back of the ticket.
