Royalty, Diplomacy, and Classical Music

I've done so many things today in Vienna and even outside of Austria (technically), so I'll share them with you so I don't forget these great experiences. Just after our second full day in Vienna, I feel like we've been here for a week.

We started our day as always with a breakfast at the hotel, but we then took the metro to Schonbrunn Palace, the summer residence of Austro-Hungarian royalty from the 17th to early 20th century. After waiting in a very organized line system, we got tickets for a guided tour. We were lucky to come to the palace at the right time, because if we came just a bit later, we would've missed the tour.

I learned quite a bit about not only Austro-Hungarian history, but about French history as well. The palace was where Marie Antoinette grew up, and Napoleon lived and raised a son there during his reign of Europe. Some of the many rooms we saw included bedrooms, dining rooms, waiting rooms, and studies. After about 80 minutes, our tour concluded.

Since it was close to 1PM, we wanted to go to another attraction, the UN Headquarters in Vienna, for a guided tour at 2PM. The metro ride took about 30 minutes since it was taking us from one side of the city to the other, but I think it was worth it. To enter the headquarters, we needed to pass through airport-style security, and show our passports, since we were technically leaving Austria and entering international soil. Once we were in the visitor center, we got our tour tickets and I had a quick sandwich for lunch.

Our tour was led by a nice woman from Sudan who gave us a glimpse at how diplomacy is done in practice at the United Nations. We began the tour in the plaza in the center of the campus's many buildings. Here, flags of all 193 member states were displayed, as well as the flag of the Vatican City. The first "exhibit" we visited was a model of the complex where we learned about the history of how the UN came to Vienna, and why the building was designed the way it is. Next, we went to the UN conference center where we saw one of the massive conference halls where delegates from member countries meet to discuss and vote on global issues. Something interesting we learned about was how the interpreting system worked. There are six interpreter cabins above the room where interpreters sit and interpret everything spoken in the room from one of the six official UN languages (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian) to their mother tongue, transmitting it to one of the six audio channels. By doing this, a diplomat who knew any of these six languages could be a delegate at any UN conference without any trouble.

After seeing the conference hall, we walked to the rotunda for the International Atomic Energy Agency, where we learned about the UN's job regarding nuclear power. This was one of the Vienna headquarter's main focuses (Vienna's overall theme in the UN is International Security). We finished the tour at an exhibition showing how a certain UN resolution drastically reduced the amount of nuclear weapon tests in the world. Near the UN Headquarters is the Danube TV Tower (pictured above), where we quickly ascended for a decent lunch and amazing views of the city of Vienna.

After spending about an hour at the TV tower, we returned to the hotel. On our way, we stopped at Stadtpark station to orient ourselves for a concert at night, but got lost while doing it. At least we got lost then, and not while looking for the concert. At our hotel, we bought tickets for this classical music concert, not really knowing what to expect. Before going to this concert in Stadtpark, we decided to go to what we thought was going to be an exciting light show near the concert hall. We found out it was actually a modern art exhibition with a presentation about "time," with a description that seemed too deep to make sense ("intertwining the contradiction of time as a meaningless, precious symbol.... ... into a musical presentation that will open the mind"). All it was was 47 different speakers with clocks and alarms ticking and going off with different tones, something Pink Floyd already did a better job at 40 years ago.

We then decided to go early to the concert. This was actually a great decision as we got front row seats. The concert itself, which started at 8:20PM and lasted two hours was very interesting, and not boring, as I thought it would be. The band, which was a mixture of string and wind instruments played pieces from Mozart and Strauss, with the occasional accompaniment by opera singers and ballet dancers. The musicians were great, and there was a nice touch of comedy added to the show.

Now, we're sitting at the hotel, already preparing for what we'll be doing tomorrow. Just like the tour guide said, there is just too much to do in Vienna. Tomorrow, we'll probably go to a couple of museums, go to a mountaintop view of the city, and possibly go to an astronomical observatory at night. After so many exhausting activities, tomorrow will be a nice day to relax before going to Bratislava on Wednesday. Now, it's time to sleep.