Chapter 23 - Vienna Hofburg

The Vienna Hofburg is magnificent. It was the residence of the Habsburg monarchs for over 600 years, of first Austria, then the Holy Roman Empire and finally the Astro-Hungarian Empire. Begun as a fortified castle in the 13th century, it was added to and renovated throughout the centuries. Today it has 18 wings, 19 courtyards and 2,600 rooms; 5,000 people still work in it daily.

You can hire a carriage today and ride around historic Vienna (if you're not with someone who's unsentimental and thinks it's a waste of money). If you close your eyes and listen to the horses' hooves clopping, it's easy to imagine yourself in an earlier time riding through the arches into the main courtyard. It's a little harder to hear the trumpets' clarion call announcing the arrival of the monarch, especially when Bob asks you what you're doing standing in the middle of the street, but I'm pretty fanciful and managed to do so.

This is the beautiful iron fence that surrounds
the grounds of the Vienna Hofburg.


Before Kate came, we made a trip to Vienna to reconnoiter,
and Ljuba, the manager of Sigma and a delightful young
woman, accompanied us as a guide.


Views of the Vienna Hofburg.






Kate and me in the courtyard.


This is the famous Michael Cupola. When you drive
through the arch into the courtyard, you drive under
this cupola. We wondered if the screen you can see in
the picture was to protect the cupola from birds or
people from the possibility of falling plaster or for
some other purpose we couldn't tell.


The arch where the Michael Cupola is.