9/20 – I departed Salzburg for Vienna arriving mid-day. Again, I had to find accomodations for a night's stay. That afternoon, I took a city tour that took me to the city centre, and finally to the Hofburg Palace. Vienna was the showpiece of the conquering Hapsburg dynasty, host to a string of Holy Roman Emperors for 640 yrs, and where music was the driving force of the city. This is the city that nurtured the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms and Mahler, among others.

The Hofburg Palace (Imperial Palace) was the residence of the Habsburg emperors until 1918. Originally a medieval castle, of which only the chapel has survived to this day, the residence of the court was expanded and made ever more lavish as the power of the Habsburgs grew and the territory of their dominions increased. Today, the Imperial Palace houses the offices of the Austrian president, an international convention center, the chapel where the Vienna Boys' Choir sings mass on Sundays and religious holidays, the hall in which the Lipizzan stallions of the Spanish Riding School perform, various official and private apartments and several museums and state rooms which are open to the public.

I focused on the Imperial Apartments which are lavish, Versailles-type "wish-I-were-God" royal rooms. Strolled through the audience room, where citizens once exercised their right to speak privately with the emperor. Here, Franz Josef — who is the greatest Hapsburg emperor (ruled 1848-1916) — stood at a high table and met with commoners who came to show gratitude or make a request. I was only in town for half a day and thus missed the Lipizzaner Museum, which depicts its 400 yr history of the renowned riding school; the Imperial Chapel, where the Vienna Boys' Choir sings and the Hofburg Treasury, which contains the jewels of the empire.

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