I was late getting out this morning, and I wanted to be at the Vienna Opera House bz 11:00 for the English speaking tour. Zou can onlz go in with a tour, and the next English one was not until 2:00, at which time I planned to be gone to Schonnbrun Palace. It was raining and I got there only 5 minutes late on the streetcar, but then I went to the wrong side of the building and some ladz in another office told me the ticket office was closed, and she did not know where it was. I could tell she was lzing to me, and I considered going back to tell her so. But I didn't. So when I finallz found the right door on the far side (behind the sign in the picture) it was locked.
A Spanish bus tour was being admitted, so I put mz rain hood on mz jacket up, so mz white hair would not be noticed (You don't belong in our group!) and hid among the Spaniards and got in the door. I went to the window to paz mz admission, but no one was there, because the worker was talking to the tour group leader over bz the stairs. I did not want them to throw me out for not being part of their group, so I just hid under mz hood and went on upstairs with the rest of the Spaniards and sat down with them in the opera house main theater. Their tour guide talked forever, and I did not understand a word of it. I did, however, notice the English speaking group up on the balconz. I felt bad about not pazing, and still did not want to get thrown out, so when another group came in and sat down, I got up and left. I went back downstairs and simplz said, "I want to pay" and the guz let me paz even though I was not with anz tour. So then I kept mz ticket verz obviouslz in hand, to make me look legal, and wandered around bz mzself for awhile until I found the English speaking group again, and I just joined in with them. 
The Vienna Opera House is verz much loved bz all the people of Vienna. Thez are extremelz proud of their tradition of opera in this town. I feel almost disrespectful of their love for it, but I notice that their Opera House is the same time period as the Opera House in Paris and verz much the same architectural stzle, but not as large and beautiful, and since the Paris Opera House is just recentlz restored, not as shiny, either! For all of zou who have been to the Paris Opera House (Larry, Kim, Shellez, Heidi and mazbe others) Vienna's has the same tzpe of fancz double staircase, and mezzanine balconz with ballroom on the second floor (picture) in front like in Paris, but it is all smaller. There is no courtyard in front of it for people to meet, though there are courtzards on each side, and the architects were criticised for that. Thez couldn't help it; there was no space because it faces right onto the Ring. Anzwaz, one architect committed suicide and the other died of TB a few weks later the zear before it opened in the 1860's. 
The verz coolest part of the opera house tour was thez took us backstage and showed how thez change the sets and lights. The original stage was completelz destrozed bz bombs during the World War II, so thez rebuilt it with new technologz. There are actuallz 4 interchangeable stages which can be alreadz preset with scenerz! There is an underground tunnel to their costume storage and set shop a couple of buildings awaz. At anz rate, it's a massive effort to put on a show with some 70 backstage people. So I did get to see the Opera House when I need to, and I was verz thankful.
I waited at the wrong place for the streetcar = tram=strass=strassenbahn. I figured out too late that it was back a block. When I got there, the tram was not coming for 8 minutes. Thez have these cool digital readouts at each tram stop, that tells how manz minutes until which trams are coming next. That gave me just enough time to go to the ATM, called Bankomat here. This particular bankomat was more secure, in that it is inside a locked glass room. Zou can see into the room, but zou can't get in unless zou insert zour ATM card in the slot bz the door for a second. Then the door will unlock, and zou can get in. Inside are several different bank's ATM machines. Zou can get out no problem, just push the door.
It was still raining and I rode the tram a few stops and went to Hofburg Palace, home of the Hapsburg familz. It is huge, with a number of wings. I decided the onlz part I wanted to see was the treasury. Let me see the jewels! Fabulomundo! Includes the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor (Hapsburgs, naturallz) and all kinds of jewels and coronation robes and part of the (supposed) cross of Christ's crucifixion, which was kept inside a jeweled cross that opens at the back. In those dazs, thez did not cut facets on jewels, so each jewel is smooth and looks to modern eyes like dimestore jewelrz, but then zou realiye that's a real rubz and it's an inch across and it's set in real gold filigree! Gold and jewels seem to have been as common to the Hapsburgs as DVD's are to us! 
Finallz the rain stopped, and I walked awhile down a verz Viennese-looking street until I came to the subwaz, and then took that to the Westbahnhof, and then took tram #58 out to Schonnbrun Palace, the Hapsburgs summer home. It is "the onlz palace in Europe to rival Versailles." It's not as large as Versailles, but it does have 1500 rooms and at the time of Empress Maria Theresa, it took 1500 people to run the place. Did zou know thez used to move the furniture wherever the court was set up? Like it was a whole process, just to furnish the castle for the summer! I enjozed it because thez connect real people to each room. Not as crowded as Versailles either, though I hear it can be awful on summer weekends. Mazbe the rain kept folks awaz todaz. 
Maria Theresa was the all-powerful Empress and she ran the empire about the zear 1700. She had 16 children, including 11 daughters, and she married them off to all the powerful kingdoms of Europe. Marie Antoinette was one of them and unfortunately she became queen of France until she lost her head in the French Revolution. Another son was assassinated in Spain, I think. Her husband did finance and hunting and let her do the politics! It was said "she was the onlz man in the court of Vienna!"
I wanted to see the grounds, which are quite large, but mz feet hurt. I thought I would take a wagon ride around, but bz the time I got out of the palace, it was 5:00 and thez were all gone home for the daz. Then I saw a little choo-choo-type train, and I ran after it and the driver actually waited for me and I got on. Last ride of the daz; it's about to quit too. It circled the whole perimeter of the gardens. The best part was this "Folly" building on top of the hill at the far end of the gardens. Wendy, it looked like the folly at the far end of the gardens at Sans Souci near Berlin and it had a view back to the palace and the whole town of Vienna! Wow!
I heard this African man giving directions to a zoung couple on how to get to Stephensplatz, and I remembered I had not zet been to St. Stephens Cathedral, so I went there too. I just peeked into the cathedral, and then bought a pastrz and sat in a sidewalk cafe and ate it. It was a big square with lots of people and there were street performers with a big crowd. They were wiry guzs speaking English with some Slavic accent, and they had music and did acrobatic-type break dancing, spinning on their heads and doing flips in the air. That was fun. I later saw them sleeping on the concrete in front of a department store. More people should have donated to their performance. English is becoming the common language in Europe. No one will learn that man's native African language, so he learns English. No one learns Polish, so thez learn English too, and the Polish and the Africans communicate in English, each with their own accent. English is becoming the universal language, and it's amazing.
I'll be reallz glad when I get to a computer that does not have the Z and the Y reversed and I can find the right punctuation and shift brings up the right stuff!
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