Oct 14 -- Last Full Day in Vienna

Another lazy morning! We headed out intending to go directly to the Imperial Treasury. We stopped again at the auction house outlet near the hotel and found  couple things to think about, but the staff was busy so we continued on our way. Next stop was a bank to convert more $$ to Euros, then going down different streets than we had used before, we stumbled onto the main auction house Dorotheum, which Sandy had 'warned' me about, and of course we went in. Most of the items on the main floor were displayed for upcoming auctions,but a back room held a number of pieces for immediate sale. Unlike the Dorotheum Outlet, which was all jewelry, this one had furniture and decorative pieces and only a small collection of jewelry. I found a couple pewter necklaces and asked about one of them.They were made by a Danish artist in the 70's and the Dane connection interested me. The chain was long enough to not need a clasp, which was bad because then I couldn't remove the pendant to use with a shorter chain, so we walked on to the Treasury and amazing things.

Large bowl carved from a single large block of circa 400 AD.

Flash photography was not allowed, so some of the photos I took were quite dark, but several will turn out well. Most amazing to me were imperial robes that dated as far back as 900 AD. Fabrics normally do not survive well, and these were in fabulous condition, attesting to their lack of use over the centuries as well as their careful treatment. Crown and other large jewels were largely not faceted, and some of the rubies reminded me of the inexpensive ones (relatively) I found in a pendant and earrings in Jordan.

Aquamarine as big as a large egg

Possibly the most impressive stone was an aquamarine the size of an extra large egg -- it was faceted on its steep lower side and rounded on the top.

Austrian Crown Jewels

After we finished there, we ambled back to the Nascht Markt which we found closed yesterday. On the first block, one aisle was mostly restaurants -- lots of Asian options, lots of schnitzel, some fish and other seafood. The second aisle was mostly like a farmer's market. I got a small bag of red and of green pepper corns to make my own blend back home. They had quite an eclectic collection of spices including Indian and Thai varieties. I also found a fresh peach, which we'll have at breakfast tomorrow. Back on the first aisle, we settled on a fish house and enjoyed our first non-chicken meal in days.

In the meantime, I had been cogitating on the necklace and how to resolve the length problem and realized I could simply break one link and add a clasp, and because of the chain style, I could clip the new clasp anywhere along the chain to create the length I wanted at the moment. So another piece of jewelry got added to my new European collection.

Our home away from home in Vienna -- we are on the very top floor, probably the 4th or 5th window from the right, a small studio apartment with a functional kitchen and free wi-fi.

Now back at our hotel, it is time to pack up for the train trip to Munich and the start of the primary reason we came to Europe in the first place: the new car.