Hi, I'm Rick Steves, back with more of the
best of Europe. This time we're celebrating the good life
in Vienna. Thanks for joining us. When I think about Vienna, I think
about good living: elegant parks, romantic Danube River, imperial
art collections, and great music. After centuries of rule by the Habsburg family,
today the people are calling the shots... and they seem to be getting it right. We'll marvel at the awe-inspiring Schonnbrunn
Palace and enjoy the imperial city's fine art, then we'll relax in a hillside wine garden.
And we'll visit a world class opera house and catch a little Klimt before touring the
Danube countryside with its striking Melk Abbey. Vienna was the grand capital of the formerly
grand Habsburg Empire - which once stretched across much of Europe. Its superpower days
are now long gone. And today, the city enjoys the cultural and physical remnants of its
Imperial age as both an inspiration and a playground for living well. Vienna sits along the Danube River. St. Stephen's
Cathedral marks the center of town. The old town - with most of the top sights - is bound
tightly by the Ringstrasse, marking what used to be the city wall. The palaces of the imperial Habsburg family
still create a buzz. The Royal family wintered downtown in their Hofburg Palace and they
summered here - at the Schönbrunn Palace. Among Europe's grandiose palaces, only Schönbrunn
rivals Versailles. It's big, with over 1400 rooms, but don't worry - only 40 are shown
to the public. While the exterior is Baroque - the favored
style of divine monarchs in the 17th century, much of the interior was finished under Maria
Theresa in Rococo - the frillier let-them-eat-cake style that followed. The chandeliers are either
of Bohemian crystal or of hand-carved wood shiny with gold-leaf. This one was lit by
72 candles. Maria Theresa, who ruled in the late 1700s,
was the only woman to officially run the Habsburg Empire in that family's six century reign.
She was a strong and effective empress famous as the mother of 16 children - most of whom
survived to adulthood. Imagine that the most powerful woman in Europe was either pregnant
or had a newborn for over half of her 40 year reign. The original practitioner of "make love not
war," Maria Theresa expanded her empire while avoiding wars by cleverly marrying her children
into other royal families. During her reign the rest of Europe recognized Austria as a
great power. Her rival, the Prussian emperor, said, "When at last the Habsburgs get a great
man, it's a woman." In room after luxurious room, the palace heralds
the story of a powerful family. Frescos in the grand ballroom were propaganda: the good
life under Maria Theresa. A contemporary of George Washington - but worlds apart politically,
she presides like the divine monarch she was over a vast multi-ethnic empire at peace:
Tuscany with the bottles of good Chianti, the Netherlands with the wild sea, Hungarians
with their Magyar hats and animals were all part of her realm in about 1750. There was
peace - but only through strength. This fresco shows off her state-of-the art military. Her
infantry moves forward in alternating lines, firing and loading with a horrifying speed
and efficiency. A walk through the imperial garden, now overrun
with commoners, celebrates the evolution of our society from autocracy to democracy. It's
been nearly a century since the last emperor checked out. And, if access to once out-of-bounds
royal gardens is any measure, the people are doing quite well. While the Habsburgs may be gone, their appreciation
of finer living is alive and well, as you'll learn in the cafes. For many Viennese, the
living room is down the street at the neighborhood coffeehouse. Each comes with its own individual
character. The venerable Café Sperl is still furnished just as it was on the day it opened
back in 1880. While a bit tired, often smoky and with a
shabby patina, a Viennese café is a welcoming place. They offer light lunches, fresh pastries,
a wide selection of newspapers, and "take all the time you want" charm for the price
of a cup of coffee. Divine monarchs like the Habsburgs liked their
art divine too, in other words, Baroque. Charles Church offers perhaps the best Baroque in
Vienna with the unique combination of columns, a classic pediment and an elliptical dome.
We're dropping in for a peek at the painstaking and costly restoration work going on all the
time to keep the cultural treasures of Europe looking good. Here, tourist admissions help
pay the bill. The church, which dates to the early 1700s,
was built and decorated with a scaffolding system essentially the same as this one. Ascending
the elevator high into the dome, you're in the clouds with cupids and angels. Many details
that appear refined and realistic from ground level - such as gold leaf, frescos, and fake
marble - look rough and sloppy up close. It's surreal to observe these distorted figures
from this unintended angle. As always, the art had a purpose; teaching...or
propaganda - depending on your perspective. Here, Faith, Hope, Charity, and Catholic priests
triumph and inspire - while Protestants and their trouble-making books are trashed. At
the very top, you'll see the tiny dove representing the Holy Spirit, surrounded by a cheering
squad of nipple-lipped cupids. Nearby, Imperial Austria's greatest leader,
Maria Theresa, looks upon the country's greatest collection of art, the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
As you enter, you'll be dazzled by the space and reminded of the former glory of the Habsburg's
multi-national empire. At their peak of power in the 1500s, the Habsburg
family ruled Austria, Germany, northern Italy, the Netherlands, even Spain. And this museum
offers great art from throughout the realm. The Italian collection is particularly strong. Around the year 1500, Italy had a Renaissance,
or "rebirth," of interest in the art and learning of ancient Greece and Rome. In painting, that
meant that Greek gods joined saints and angels as popular subjects. The collection spans the all-stars of the
Italian Renaissance: Titian - the Venetian - seemed particular
intimate with the pre-Christian gods and their antics. Here, in Mars, Venus and Amor, a busy
cupid oversees the goddess of love making her case that war is not the answer. Mars
- his weapons blissfully discarded, sees her point. The 22-year-old Raphael captured the spirit
of the High Renaissance, combining symmetry, grace, beauty and emotion. His Madonna of
the Meadow is a mountain of motherly love. Mary's head is the summit and her flowing
robe is the base - enfolding baby Jesus and John the Baptist. The geometric perfection,
serene landscape, and Mary's adoring face make this a masterpiece of sheer grace. But
the cross the little tykes play with foreshadows their gruesome deaths. As the baroque age succeeds the Renaissance,
it brings more emotion and melodrama. Caravaggio's Rosenkranz Madonna provides a strong contrast
to Raphael's super-sweet Madonnas. Caravaggio shocked the art world with brutally honest
reality - ordinary Madonnas, hands that seem to speak...saints with dirty feet. In David with the Head of Goliath, Caravaggio
turns a harsh light on a familiar Bible story. David shows off the dripping head of the slain
giant. The painting, bled of color, is like a black-and-white crime-scene photo. This
David is not a heroic Renaissance Man like Michelangelo's famous statue, but a homeless
teen that Caravaggio hired off the street. And the severed head of Goliath...is none
other than Caravaggio himself, an in-your-face self-portrait. Art of the Northern "Renaissance" was different.
Funded by the economic boom from Flemish and Dutch trading, it was more secular and Protestant
than the Catholic-funded art of the Italian Renaissance. Rather than Madonnas and saints,
and Greek gods, you'll see peasants, landscapes, and food. Paintings are smaller, full of down-to-earth
objects, designed to appeal to the thriving merchant class. Northern artists embraced
the details, encouraging the viewer to appreciate the beauty in everyday things. Pieter Brueghel the Elder was the Norman Rockwell
of the 16th Century - the undisputed master of the slice-of-life village scene. While
a city-slicker himself, Brueghel dressed down to observe country folk at play. Even as he
highlighted the rustic simplicity of their lives, he showed their quirks as universal
examples of human folly. In his "Farmers' Dance" there's not a saint
in sight, but there is a message. Bagpipes symbolized hedonism. In this scene, the church
is ignored while the piper gets all the attention. Perhaps the best way to match this rustic
conviviality today is to head into the nearby Vienna Woods. Here in the foothills of the
Alps, locals enjoy their natural backyard. And, amidst the famous vineyards, they gather
for the ritual of tasting the new wine. The uniquely Viennese institution of the Heurige
is two things: it's a young wine, and a place to drink it. A long time ago, when the Habsburg
Emperors allowed Vienna's vintners sell their young wine tax-free, several hundred families
opened up these wine-garden eateries clustered around the edge of town - and a tradition
was born. Today, there are more than 1,700 acres of
vineyards within Vienna's city limits, and countless Heurige taverns. For a Heurige evening
ride a tram into this wine-garden district, wander around, and choose the place with the
best ambience. Many locals claim that it takes several years
of practice to distinguish between the young Heurige wine and vinegar. To enjoy a more refined wine some vocabulary
helps. Try the grüner Veltliner a dry white wine. Since Austrian wine is often sweet,
remember the word trocken, that means dry. While waitresses bring your wine order, the
food is self-serve. As is the tradition, they don't serve fine
cuisine - only simple dishes and cold cuts from a hearty buffet like this. Clearly, no
one's goin' hungry tonight. So, here we have everything you can imagine
in a traditional Viennese country restaurant: you've got your sauerkraut, your red kraut,
schweinbraten, Alp cheese, mountain cheese and potato salad and something I think is
very important-schmaltz - this is lard actually. And it's something young people don't eat
much but the old timers love it. Mmm, takes you way back. Lard. Vienna has fine art and architecture from
just about every age and particularly interesting is the art from the last decades of Habsburg
rule - art nouveau. Vienna gave birth to its own curvaceous brand of art nouveau in the
early nineteen hundreds - jugendstil. Playful examples are all over town. Whether architecture,
coffee, cakes, or music...it's all part of the good life Vienna style. The Belvedere Palace, with its elegant Baroque
gardens, was the lavish home of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the still-much-appreciated conqueror
of the Turks. Eugene was the greatest military genius of his age and highly valued by his
emperor. When you conquer great enemies, as Eugene
did, you get really rich. Since he had no heirs, the state inherited his palace. In
the 19th century, Emperor Josef II converted the palace into Austria's first great public
art gallery. It houses the Austrian gallery of 19th- and
20th-century art. As Austria became a leader in European art around 1900, that age is the
collection's forte, with fine works by a school of respected romantics, Egon Schiele, and
Gustav Klimt. In the room full of sumptuous paintings by
Klimt you can get caught up in his creed that all art is erotic. He was fascinated with
both the beauty and the danger of women. He painted during the turn-of-the-century, when
Vienna was a splendid laboratory of hedonism - the love of pleasure. For Klimt, Eve was
the prototypical woman; her body not the apple provided the seduction. Frustrated by censorship,
Klimt refused every form of state support. While he didn't paint women entirely nude,
he managed to capture a bewitching eroticism. Here, Judith is no biblical heroine but a
high society Viennese woman - with an ostentatious necklace. With half-closed eyes and lightly
parted lips, she's dismissive yet mysterious and seductive. Holding the head of her biblical
victim, she's the modern Femme Fatale. In perhaps his most famous painting, The Kiss,
the woman is no longer dominating...but submissive, abandoning herself to her man in a fertile
field and a vast universe. In a glow emanating from a radiance of desire, the body she presses
against is a self-portrait of the artist himself - Gustav Klimt. At the Hofburg, the Habsburg Winter Palace
in the town center, Vienna's love of music is beautifully captured in a fine collection
of historic instruments. Vienna was Europe's music capital long before
Beethoven called it home. As far back as the 12th century, it was a mecca for musicians.
Later Habsburg emperors were generous patrons of music, in fact many were talented musicians
and composers themselves. Palatial rooms are filled with odd medieval
noise makers, regal trumpets, famous pianos, and more. Immersed in music history - this
portrait is of a 13 year old Beethoven - visitors can actually hear these precious instruments
being played with the accompanying audio guide. The Clavichord and the Harpsichord were two
predecessors to the piano. For a couple hundred years the Clavichord
was the standard keyboard instrument. It's small, it's simple, good for domestic intimate
settings. The keyboard action is very simple, just a teeter-totter motion. You can do a
little dynamic contrast-soft and less soft-and a little vibrato if you like. The Harpsichord
makes a bitter and a brighter sound because the strings rather than being hit with a hammer
were plucked with a quill. And because a pluck is a pluck the volume was always the same.
Around 1700 they developed a more complicated mechanism that when you hit the key it would
throw the hammer up to the string and you could strike it softer or louder. They called
it the soft loud piano forte. Today we call it the piano. These days' visitors to Vienna find musical
treats wherever they turn. Even if you don't have time or money for a performance, a visit
to the opera is a must. The Vienna State Opera house built in the
1860s's is the pride of the city. Here in the grand entry hall, it's easy to imagine
an age when opera was as popular as movies are today. Picture white gloved dandies with
their dates. Tours are offered daily. Guide: We're standing now in a very elegant
intermission room which takes us back into the time of Francioza. The auditorium altogether
holds 2,200 places. You have a fantastic view from your seat. You have to imagine that the
entire auditorium was damaged in World War II. So this place was terribly hitten by the
bombs. The entire auditorium burned down, also the stage area so it had to be completely
rebuilt after the war. We are now on one of the biggest stages in
Europe. It's possible to compare the entire size of the stage to the interior of St. Stephen's
Cathedral. The Vienna State Opera - with musicians provided
by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit - is one of the world's top opera houses
offering 300 performances a year. While the orchestra and the opera take the
summer off, Vienna's music scene thrives year around. And most summer evenings in front
of the City Hall, free concerts are broadcast on a giant screen. Just before the show, people
gather to enjoy dinner in the park. It's a lively local scene...sure, there's some schnitzel...but
it's mostly "world food" with Vienna at play. Singles consider this the best pick-up place
in town. The city government subsidizes the event believing even those just looking to
hook up will pick up an appreciation of a little high culture at the same time. Tonight, three thousand seats are filled as
people who couldn't make it to the original performance enjoy the Vienna State Opera and
its orchestra perform the Love Potion by Donizetti [doan-it-tzetti] for free. The Danube River is an integral part of Vienna
- for both trade and for recreation. The mighty river flows nearly two thousand miles through
10 countries - from the Black Forest in Germany to the Black Sea in Romania. Western Europe's
longest river, it's also the only major river flowing west to east, making the Danube invaluable
for commercial transportation. The town of Melk - just a short trip by boat,
car or train from Vienna - is a fine base for exploring the Danube River Valley. Its
traffic-free and cobbled town center with cheery eateries and budget guesthouses is
dwarfed by its magnificent abbey. Melk's newly restored abbey, beams proudly
over the Danube Valley. Established as a fortified Benedictine abbey in the 11th century, it
was destroyed by fire. What you see today is 18th-century Baroque. Today, as they have for 900 years, monks have
pray, meditate, and follow the rules of St. Benedict right here. The institution survives
- that's the point of the modern frescoes gracing the courtyard. Like the monks, visitors
stroll past six centuries of Habsburg emperors as they tour the building. For the Benedictine monks, the library was
- after the actual church - the most important room in the entire abbey. That's made clear
by the extravagant investment in its elaborate decor. Many of Europe's finest old libraries
are housed in monasteries like this. In the Middle Ages, Monasteries horded and
controlled knowledge. Monks were Europe's educated elite and it was in information power
centers like this that that they decided what was...and what wasn't. Long before Dewey and his decimals, the books
here were organized starting with Bibles, then theology, and from there into law, philosophy,
medicine, and so on. Many of the collection's oldest books were written and transcribed
here. It's a visual reminder of how monasteries were the storehouse of knowledge through the
ages. There would be a Gutenberg Bible...but it was sold to Harvard University to raise
money to restore the library... ...and this. The gilded church is classic
Baroque. Everything works together theatrically - the architecture, frescoes, pipe organ,
and opulent chapels - all combining to make the Benedictine's theological point: A just
battle leads to victory. In the front, below the huge papal crown, Saints Peter and Paul
shake hands before departing for their final battles, martyrdom, and ultimate triumph.
And, high above, St. Benedict makes his glorious entry into heaven. The Danube River Valley is at its romantic
best between Melk and Vienna. This stretch, called the Wachau Valley, is easily explored
by bike or boat ....or both. The Wachau is steeped in tradition, blanketed with vineyards,
and ornamented with cute villages and fabled castles. Cycling is popular - with clearly marked bike
paths and no shortage of colorful pubs for a meal or a drink. And whether you roll on or walk on, cruise
ships have you humming the Strauss waltz that causes everyone who visits to wonder...why
isn't the Danube blue? Thanks for joining us. I hope you've enjoyed
our visit to Vienna and our quick cruise down the Danube River Valley. I'm Rick Steves.
Until next time, keep on traveling. Auf wiedersehen. Credits: These original owner donors, owner donors?
Organ donors!
