We spent the day walking around Bad Ischl itself, on a rather cold and rainy day. I can hear the ducks on the river through the (slightly) open window of our hotel room, and watch a big flock of starlings. I'm not really uploading pictures right now, since I'm on a dialup.
We first visiting the Teehaus (Tee House) of Empress Elizabeth, popularly called "Sissi". Apparently there is a trilogy of movies about her starring Romy Schneider, and she is very big as a romantic heroine in this part of the world. She was beautiful and intellectually curious, learning how to photograph soon after it was invented, and building a villa on Corfu for when she needed to "get away". She was assassinated by an Italian anarchist while on a trip to Geneva in 1898.
We then saw the Kaiservilla, or the summer palace of Franz Josef I. It is a beautiful small Biedermeier palace, and It is still privately owned (and partially occupied) by a descendant of the family. The texts on the homepage say that the Kaiser allowed any subject of the empire to visit the interior, including his private apartments, when he was not in residence.
The thing that most struck me on the tour was when we saw the desk where he signed the declaration of war against Serbia, which began World War I. Looking at the desk, I remembered how many people died in that war (mostly young men), and I felt ill -- similar to the way I felt when I have visited sites of Nazi horrors, such as Dachau. Every town in Europe has a memorial to its sons who died in that war.
Finally, after lunch, we visited the Museum der Stadt Bad Ischl -- the town museum. We were both surprised by how good it was, and we actually ran out of time and were told it was time to leave. There are rooms on the history of the region, the city itself, the Imperial family, folk music, traditional costume, etc. There are a few neat rooms that are reconstructions of a peasant house, and one of a combined home/inn/tavern.
