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Of all the sights within the Hofburg, it is the Kaiserappartements (daily 9am-4.30pm; oS80/?5.81; combined ticket with Hofsilber- und Tafelkammer oS95/?6.90) that are the most disappointing. Virtually every room is decorated in the same style: creamy-white walls and ceiling with gilded detailing, parquet flooring and red furnishings. There aren't any guided tours in English to bring these mundane surroundings to life, nor is there any information or labelling in the rooms themselves, forcing you to fork out still more money for an audioguide (oS40/?2.91). To give you an idea of the paucity of treasures on display, the Empress Elisabeth's gymnastic equipment is one of the highlights of the rooms. The Kaiserappartements' current state is a legacy of their last full-time imperial occupant, the Emperor Franz-Josef, who, though a stickler for pomp and protocol at official functions, was notoriously frugal in his daily life (the simple iron bedstead on which he slept is on view). Rising at 4am, he would eat a simple breakfast of coffee, Semmel and a slice of ham (except during Lent); lunch was invariably Tafelspitz , or boiled rump. He distrusted telephones, cars, electricity and modern plumbing, and his only concession to modern life was the telegraph. If you're looking for opulence, you need to visit Maria Theresia's apartments at Schonbrunn. Beyond the ticket office for the Kaiserappartements are six rooms devoted to the Hofsilber- und Tafelkammer , the "Court Silver and Porcelain Collection". You really have to be seriously into dinner services to get the most out of it, though if you're visiting the Kaiserappartements anyway it doesn't cost much more to get a combined ticket, see above. Among the star exhibits is the eighteenth-century, green and gold Sevres Service, originally made up of 290 separate pieces, given to Maria Theresia by Louis XV, and the monster Milanese centrepiece in gilded bronze, which stretches for 33m along a table strewn with classical figures and (more) gilded bronze and crystal urns. For the sake of variety, check out the stone jugs and salvers, with which the emperor and empress used to wash the feet of twelve ordinary men and women every year on Maundy Thursday.
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