On Tuesday, June 28, 2022, Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands continued their three-day state visit to Austria.

This morning, Their Majesties accompanied by the Federal President of Austria, His Excellency Alexander Van de Bellen, and the First Lady of Austria, Her Excellency Doris Schmidauer, visited the Community Cooking integration project at the Ankerbrotfabrik in Favoriten located in Wien’s (Vienna) 10th district.

The Community Cooking project promotes the intercultural exchange between the residents of the 10th district; moreover, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, many refugees have visited the Community Cooking project center for a hot meal and a comforting atmosphere.

During their visit, Their Majesties, President Van der Bellen, the First Lady, and Community Cooking volunteers put on their aprons and cooked a delicious meal for the refugees. So what did they make you may ask? Well, the foursome whipped up a delicious egg dish with onions, tomatoes, and peppers. Falafel filled with tomatoes and onion mixture, Tahini sauce with various herbs and vegetables, and flatbread with oat bran. Curd yogurt cream with various berries spices and honey was served as dessert. Gosh, I’m hungry now.

Anyway, after they cooked the meal for the refugees, Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, President Van der Bellen, and the First Lady sat down with the refugees whereupon the foursome heard about the ongoing situation in Ukraine and how they fled.

Thereafter, Their Majesties visited the  Sonnwendviertel residential complex behind the Central Station in Vienna. The complex comprises of 5,500 apartments for 13,000 residents, 20,000 jobs, a school campus, office buildings, and numerous stores as well as a park. After meeting with the locals, Their Majesties hopped onto a tram to their next appointment: The Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek.

Upon their arrival, at the stunningly beautiful baroque Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library) in Vienna’s first district, Their Majesties were warmly welcomed by the Director-General of the Austrian National Library, Ms. Johanna Rachinger.

Soon, Ms. Rachinger ushered her royal guests into the baroque state hall which contains hundreds of valuable artifacts, with historical references to the Netherlands, including writings by the first court librarian, Hugo Blotius, and Gerard van Swieten, both of whom were Dutch. Their Majesties also viewed the Austrian National Library’s most valuable cartographic object, the fifty-volume Blaeu-Van der Hem Atlas from Amsterdam dating from 1662-1678.

Thereafter, Their Majesties visited the famous Demel coffeehouse in Vienna’s first district. Whilst there they met with staff and watched a gentleman make their famous Sachertorte.

In the afternoon, Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima visited the Federal Chancellery of Austria in Vienna’s first district. The royal couple were welcomed, upon their arrival, by Chancellor Karl Nehammer and other government officials. After a brief photo-op, Their Majesties and Chancellor Nehammer held a private meeting.

This evening, Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will attend a concert at the Konzerthaus with a performance by the Dutch Chamber Choir. The choir will sing songs by various turn-of-the-century composers with digitally edited and animated paintings behind them by Vincent Van Gogh and Gustav Klimt.

On Wednesday, Their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will travel by train to Graz for a one-day visit.