January 17, Vienna and Kecskemet

This morning we had a few free hours to finish exploring Vienna before boarding our private bus for Kecskemet. Most of the group decided to take a tour of the Imperial Palace, where we wandered through the Sisi Museum (Sisi was Empress Elizabeth's family name) and the Imperial Apartments, where Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth lived during the winter. During the other seasons, they lived in Schonbrunn Palace, also located in Vienna. But given the short time we had, we weren't able to make it to that one. The Sisi Museum provided an audio guide of Sisi's fascinating life, from her happy childhood to her marriage to Franz Joseph, which resulted almost immediately in a feeling that she had lost her freedom in life. Depression set in for Elizabeth, and only worsened when her first child died at the age of 2 from dysentary and her second child committed suicide later in life. After her son, Rudolph, committed suicide, Sisi became completely withdrawn from her family, friends, and life in general. She did not fulfill any parental, family, or even royal duties other than the ones she desired. Nonetheless, Franz Joseph loved her with all his heart and continued to dote on her and give her whatever she pleased.

Sisi's only moments of happiness were when she "escaped" Vienna and the palace life, either through horseback riding, traveling (preferably by ship), or her excessive exercise routine. The first two pasttimes allowed Sisi to feel danger, which she liked because she wished to die, as her youngest daughter had sadly recorded in one of her diaries. The final pasttime, exercising, was due to Sisi's obsession with maintaining her slender 5'8", 99-105 lb figure. She exercised for hours each day and often fasted. Sisi was also obsessed with maintaining her beauty, particularly her long, thick hair. She spent several hours each day treating and maintaining it.

After having four children and becoming even more withdrawn and displeased with life, Sisi was stabbed while traveling in Geneva, Switzerland. While it was a rather gloomy story, the museum did a beautiful job of telling about her life and portraying portraits and items to reflect the timeline. The museum was immediately followed by the Imperial Apartments, where we first viewed all of the rooms in Franz Joseph's wing and then entered all of Sisi's rooms after. They did not sleep together, and in fact Emperor Franz Joseph had to ring the doorbell even to get into Sisi's wing to visit her on the rare occassions she was not traveling. The rooms were very Baroque style, with gold and royal red painting, furniture, and carpet.

After the museum, we boarded our bus and headed for Hungary. We were initially a little nervous, because the Hungary borders had been closed only an hour before we left due to the bad weather (continuous snow all morning). We made it safely by 7 pm, but not without several traffic delays. Our groups then split up for a quick dinner on there own and we all took an early night to bed to get ready for a big day at the Kodaly Institute tomorrow.