Our second day we went to visit the Habsburg Imperial Apartments and their royal treasury. I have never seen so many centerpieces, cutlery, and dishes in one place. The Habsburg treasury is the most impressive collection of jewels on the continent. It includes a 2,600 karat emerald, a nail from when Jesus was crucified, a piece of cloth from the table cloth at the Last Supper, a piece of Jesus' loin cloth, a fragment of the cross, part of the spear that pierced Jesus' side and a couple of "unicorn" horns. Vikings used to capture narwhal's take their horns and sell them to Europeans, passing them off as unicorn horns. After seeing the apartments and treasuries we were headed to the Kunsthistorisches Museum when we got stuck in a rainstorm. We waited it out underneath an overhang and enjoyed some gelato. Once the rain let up we headed to the museum which houses the Habsburg's art collection. For dinner we went to a wine garden a little outside of the city and then back into the center for dessert: Sacher Torte, world famous chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and apricot filling.
Our third day in Vienna was our seventeenth day of traveling and by this point we were pretty tired so we made it an easy day. We went to the Schönbrunn Palace gardens. Later we went on the Ringtrasse tram tour. We took two different tram lines to make a complete circle around the old city.
St. Stephen's cathedral
The Opera House
Habsburg Imperial Apartments
One of the Empresses, Sisi was murdered by a radical who was tired of royalty getting everything. He had intended to assassinate another royal but couldn't find the person and unfortunately Sisi was conveniently at hand.
A 25 pound gold baptismal set.
The 2,600 karat emerald.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum
Schönbrunn Palace
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