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When I visited the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, the story of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth captured me in an instant. Sisi, as Empess Elisabeth is well known in Austria, was famous for her beauty and her antics. A fine horsewoman of her time, she is as rebellious as an Empress could be. She traveled across Europe, rarely joined her husband both at dining table and royal occasion. Her missing at dining table was contributed as well by her obsession to stay beautiful by maintaining rigorous training and strict diet regime.

On marriage, Empress Sisi had her own opinion which surprised me to no end. She said to her daughter Marie Valerie: "Marriage is a nonsensical institution. One is sold off as a fifteen-year-old child, taking an oath that one does not understand, cannot revoke and then regrets for thirty years or more". Did she ever love her husband? Her suggesting him to take a mistress was another sign as well? The Emperor did took a mistress but he never remarried after Sisi murdered. He stayed alone until the end of his days where he said just how much he loved his wife when he was about to leave the world for good.

I can't help but cried once I finished touring the palace. Why love can be so painful? The book by Bridget Hamann helps me to understand why the royal love in Austria is that painful