Third time in Vienna!

This is the third time that I have been to Vienna, though the first time on business travel. Thankfully M and N got to come along for the week. I still have to work during the day, but it is nice to come back to the hotel and meet them in the room. Ironically, every time I have come to Vienna, it has been with one objective in mind- to go to the National Treasury (Schatzkammer in German).

The first time I came was in 1998. I spent the day in Salzburg and then caught the night train to Vienna. I roamed the city in the morning and then in the afternoon I went to my museum. At the time, I was using the Lonely Planet “Europe on a Shoestring” guidebook and the currency for Austria was the schilling. It is important to note that after Vienna, I was leaving the country with plans in the near future to return. When I arrived at the museum, it was to my surprise that the price that was quoted in the guidebook was incorrect. Of course the price had been raised and I did not save enough money to cover the entry fee. The museum did not take credit cards (they still do not), so I ran over to the American Express to exchange $1, since that is all that I needed. They said no way. The only option would be to cash in a travelers check, which the smallest denomination I had at that point was $50. So, the museum had to wait for another day.

For my 30th birthday, several years later, we traveled through Eastern Europe. We started in Estonia and traveled down to Croatia. The one excursion outside of Eastern Europe was into Vienna. The sole purpose was to go to the National Treasury. My 30th was on a Monday and since we know that museums are always closed on Monday, we decided not to go into Vienna on the Monday, but to wait and go into Vienna on the Tuesday. The Monday was spent roaming the streets of Bratislava. When we came into town on the Tuesday, the hardest part was to find a parking spot and to fill up with fuel. Now, it had been 7 years since I was last in Vienna and I was not 100% sure what museum it was nor where it was located. It took a few minutes to orientate myself and finally we found the museum. The problem was that it was closed on Tuesdays. What museum is closed on Tuesdays? I have studied Museum Studies at the university and I can say, no museum is closed on Tuesdays. Well, no museum should be closed on Tuesdays (ironically I thought that the ethnographic museum sounded cool as well, but it was closed until summer ’07).

So now it is winter ’06- 1.5 yrs after the last attempt. In the evening we have been enjoying the Christmas market and having chestnuts and glühwein. M and N met up with one of M’s friends that she worked with in Germany and I worked. On Saturday I did not have to work, so we attempted to go to the museum. We started the day going to some non-touristy markets. One was a Christmas market that was more for the local hippies and the other was a food market where you could buy live eels (we contained ourselves). After lunch we went to the museum- thankfully it was open.

One might have to ask, what is so special about this museum? Well, for starters, I have been trying to go to it for years. The other part is that it holds “magical” things. Let me explain, the museum hosts the spear that the Roman Soldier used to kill Christ (that is what actually killed him and not the cross). It is said, he who has possession of the spear, will have the power to control destiny. This was one of the first things that Hitler stole and took to Berlin when he gained control of Austria (let us not forget that Austria was not invaded, they went to the Nazis on their own accord). It is suppose to have magical powers. One could imagine that Indiana Jones would search for it as well. Also in the museum was the tooth of John the Baptist, the nail that was used on Christ’s right hand, a piece of the manger and even a piece of the table clothe used at the last supper. Of course there were some non-religious stuff as well. Several pieces of clothing from the former Austria-Hungarian Empire and some knights tunics as well. Also, I learned something that I did not know. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire had strength in Mexico as well.

So was it worth it (as it was pretty expensive at €9 per person)? I have to actually say that it was. Even without the spear, it would have been worth it, but since I have been waiting for years to see this spear, it was well worth it. Any person coming to Vienna should go to it, just make sure you have enough cash and it is not a Tuesday!