Vienna v. Prague

Vienna was the political hub of the Empire until the 20th century, and Prague was the Bureaucratic hinterland. How cool to compare the architecture of power between the two! In Prague there is this big lump on a stoney hill where the rules came down to the town from on high. In Vienna, this is was where the Emperor centralized his control, and his is where the boyz from Prague came to get the rules. So to get a handle on the material culture of this contrast, we went to the Schönbrunn to see the summer palace, which they claim has no relation to Versailles, but any careful observer looks at it and thinks, "Yeah, right."



We went on the "imperial tour" which means short, least expensive tour that goes through the first set of apartments only. The crowds were artfully managed, there were automated ticket machines, and the progression of movement was gently organized with velvet ropes. It was smooth and admirable. I wonder very much what the curriculum is at the international hospitality science program is. Does it include crowd management and satisfaction? It seemed that the brilliant addition of the audio tour resulted in slow but continuously moving zombies who were very quiet and controllable. Debbie and I got the written guide, and we had constant running chatter on the rooms (discretely of course), but our audio guide colleagues shuffled slowly from room to room in silence. I'm sure the audio tour is very good, but it seemed to raise tourist passivity to a whole new level. I will admit that it was a little creepy to be passed by a silent slow moving tide of people with vacant expressions and electronic devices glued to their ears.


The gardens are great! (and reminiscent of Versailles, shhh). Gardens that were once the demesne of aristocrats, it are now a public garden where people sun themselves, soothe their unhappy children, read books, eat lunch, and chat. The shift from elite to plebeian is hilarious and complete. But being one of the plebes, I enjoyed the gardens greatly. Debbie and I put up our parasols, which conveniently double as umbrellas at need, and walked around the gardens our own personal shade. While the palace exudes power in it's grand sweep, elegant gilt decoration, and almost mythic history, the gardens are also an expression of power.


The trees are bent to make great green walls, the roses are macramé vines, and the flowerbeds are perfectly geometrical. Here is Man bending Nature to His will. Nonetheless, the lesser creatures are taken care of.


Here is a duck ramp in one of the fountains so that ducks can get out. We witnessed a duck use this nice concession. The sad history of assassination and suicide of the inhabitants of the palace, and the incomprehensible opulence made me happy to be an unnoticed ordinary person with a tiny postage stamp of a garden. Life is so much easier this way, and, frankly, with fewer hedges, my hedges are better trimmed than the hedges at schönbrunn. They are currently restoring the main hall for 2.3 million€ so I think they have laid off some gardeners. There were many hedges that were in desperate need of a trim. However, they were very polite about the reconstruction and put on their signs "we apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment our renovations may cause." How sweet! I have ever had a tourist venue apologize for any disappointment.


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