Vienna: From Harried to Heavenly

We decided last night that we would venture out early to Schonbrunn Palace with the car, since we have one, and the place wasn't too far from where we are staying. So, we got up bright and early and were ready to head out at 8:00 when we realized that we were parked in outside in the lot. I'm not sure that the lady who had to move her vehicle was too thrilled with our enthusiasm, but hopefully she was planning an early day as well.

We found the parking lot at the palace empty when we arrived, but the streets were already lined with tour buses and it was obvious that the place would be filling up in no time. We were fortunate to have arrived as the doors opened, otherwise we might have had to wait for a scheduled time in order to enter the palace.

The tour was phenomenal, except when we were stuck between two different tour groups, and were kind of squished in the middle. I think I heard the record amount of languages today supplied by tour guides. At one point, we were stuck in a Japanese tour group, with a French speaking group in front and an Italian group behind. And, let me just say, that none of the people in these groups were very friendly. I can't tell you how many bumps and shoves I got while attempting to work my way via audio guide!

After the inside tour, we had the opportunity to walk around the beautiful gardens. With the temperature around 70 degrees, we couldn't ask for a better day. There weren't any small spaces to have to share outside. When we left for the car, I was amazed at how many people were scrambling into the grounds. Tour buses were everywhere, and the parking lot that had held just one other car was filled! Good planning on our part.

We drove back to the hotel, and parked the car for the remainder of our stay here. We headed into Vienna via bus for a self-guided tour of the city thanks to Rick Steve's and his book. The place was loaded with people. I don't think that I have ever seen so many people in one place except for the time we went to Dorney Park and they were offering a special deal so the place was filled to capacity. But, Vienna is much larger than Dorney Park, and so exponentially, I can't tell you how many people were there, but the numbers were way too many for me to feel comfortable.

We did see just about every site in the book, though. When we had difficulty finding a place, we just looked for gobs of people, and, sure enough, we'd find what we were looking for.

Sorry to disappoint Nathan, Steve, but I cannot say that we saw any memorials to the Turkish invasion of Vienna, but I do remember reading about it recently. I was still trying to fit all of the history together with Maria Teresia and Ferdinand I and Napolean and Marie Antoinette (who, it turns out, was Maria Teresia's daughter). One thing I can tell you is that Maria Christina was the only daughter of Maria Teresia who was permitted to marry for love, and Ferdinand's wife, "Sissy" complained a lot! I hadn't really given much thought to that until Marty told me that he skipped numbers on the audio tour because he got tired of hearing her complain.

We managed to escape the crowds and found a lovely little restaurant where we could sit outside and enjoy our meal. My picture of the day is what Marty calls his "two favorite things". He clarified that I was #1 on the list, not the beer, just in case you were interested.

After dinner, we were walking to the subway when we heard the most beautiful orchestra playing. We followed the music and ended up in a plaza watching the Vienna Youth Philharmonic orchestra playing outside. We decided to stop in at the cafe across the street so that we could sit outside and hear them play while enjoying a coffee and dessert. The combination was truly heavenly, and made the day a happy memory after all.