The second day in Vienna was more active. In the morning, I visited the Belvedere Palace – the regal family summer residence. I was impressed by van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Manet paintings, I wish I had more time to admire it. This remembered me of Rodica’s  Ojog Brasoveanu book – ‘Cianura pentru un suras‘ which I enjoyed so much. There are two Belvedere palaces, the Upper and the Lower, designed in Baroque style and the complex also has large gardens designed in a french style. We visited the Upper Belvedere, and I really liked the museum, it can be a very good lesson of art because it contains rooms with paintings dedicated to different art movements.  Additional info can be found here: http://www.austria.info/uk/art-culture/gallery-belvedere-vienna-1134110.html.

  After a brief visit in the souvenir shop, we had a walk in the palace gardens. There were people running there and I got a little jealous that I don’t have such nice places to run in Bucharest.  We stopped to eat at a nice Chinese restaurant close by. Having new energies, we walked to the Saint Stephan Cathedral. We climbed the 343 stairs to have the view from the top. It worth it.  We walked also to the Mozart house, the Saint Charles Church and Rathaus – the city hall. The most beautiful X-mas fair was organized here. While surrounding the Hofburg, we decided to visit the Sisi museum and it was a very good choice. We had audio guide and I admired her sumptuous  rooms, the fact that she was very confident and Franz Joseph loved her so much. Her life story really impressed me. She was chosen as a future princess at the age of 15, and this put a mark on her whole life. She didn’t actually wanted to be a princess but she had to fulfill her regal duties. I admired the dress she wore when she was crowned. She put all her efforts to look good, keeping fit by practicing sports like riding and having very hard diets. Every morning, her hair styling lasted for three hours. She was not a happy princess, feeling like a bird in a cage. To escape, she traveled a lot. Her moods became worse after her two years old girl, named Sophia died and also her thirty years old son, called Rudolf committed suicide. She was murdered in one of her travels in Switzerland. The conclusion that I had in my mind while leaving the museum: being a princess and having the world at your feet doesn’t make you happy. After the Sisi episode we walked and admired the X-mas lights and our steps got close to the evening attraction: the Viennese concert in Orangerie Schonbrunn. When we bought the tickets I must admit – I was expecting something more. I thought that I will see a concert hall similar to Romanian Athenaeum, and there will be around thirty musicians on the stage. Also, the ballet part of the show, I imagined there will be many dancers that will take my breath away. In reality, Orangerie is not that impressive, there were only six musicians on the stage that played Mozart and Strauss areas. The ballet was represented by two dancers that didn’t perform  a harder choreography that the one I choose for my wedding  dance. I can’t say I was disappointed, but the show was under my expectations.

This was our second day in Vienna, a day full of discoveries!  We tried to make the most of it.  The story continues with our third day in the city of music!