| workers regularly patrol the levadas to clear the debris
|
1 is a life size statue in front of the Funchal Casino of Empress Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie of Austria (Sissi).
2 is a Winterhaller portrait of the Empress Elizabeth. She married the Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853 at 16 years of age, the portrait hanging in the Kaiserappartments
inside the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. He was supposed to marry Sissi's older sister, but when both girls arrived and met the Emperor, he told his authoritarian
mommy Archduchess Sophie that if he couldn't marry Sissi, he wouldn't get married at all. Which mommy didn't like, but relented. Her mommy-in-law adhered to
strict rules, but the introverted and restless Sissi, who was not brought up to marry into foreign royalty, had difficulty adapting to the Hofburg and its rigid
protocols and strict etiquette, and avoided her husband and royal duties. Her mommy-in-law was not pleased. Sissi was famous for following her own strict exercise
regimen and time-consuming beauty routines (three hours daily). When she produced two girls but no male heir, mommy-in-law publicly shamed her by pamphlet.
She eventually produced a male heir, but her life was filled with tragedy ... her first daughter Sophie (named by mommy-in-law behind Sissi's back) died of typhus
in 1857 and her only son and his mistress died in a murder–suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling (made into a good 1938 movie) in 1889. Both these events
plunged her into heavy depression from which Sissi never recovered.
3 and 4 ... Hey, St. Peter's Church.
5 to 7 show the streets of central Funchal.
8 shows the Bank of Portugal building.
9 shows the Santa Maria tour boat (not Christopher Columbus' boat). Incidently, Chris left Spain in 1498 and spent some time in Madeira, before
setting sail for the Canary Islands, before making his third voyage to a little place he "discovered", North America.
11 a tour boat leaves the harbour for a three hour tour, a three hour tour.
|
