Vivacious Vienna

This morning began bright and early as Teah woke up for an early morning breakfast at 6 a.m. Already awake, we remained out of bed and headed over to one of the “must-see” spots in Vienna: Schonbrunn Palace. First-things-first, we stopped in a little café for some scrumptious chocolate croissants and cappuccinos to fuel-up for the day. Afterwards, we hopped on a couple of metros to get to the Palace located on the outskirts of Vienna.

Schonbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,400-room Rococo summer residence for the Habsburg monarchs of Austria. It was originally purchased by this dynasty in the 16^th century and over the years transformed from a hunting lodge to an elaborate palace decorated with gold, foreign tapestries, and rich fabrics. Although we were not overly impressed by the exterior architecture of the palace (well, besides the immense size), the décor of the interior and the details of the grounds were immaculate. 

Upon arrival at the palace, we bought a tour that included a Grand Tour of the Palace, Crown Prince Garden, Maze & Labrynth, Gloriette, and an Apple Streudel Show. We were disappointed that picture taking is prohibited in the interior of the palace, but you can take our word that in room after room the palace is full of opulence and riches.

After our audio-guided tour of the rooms inside the palace was finished, we decided to explore the grounds by heading out the palatial doors to the large park-like backyard. It was a bit windy and overcast, but we took advantage of the weather, bundled Teah up, and headed up to the Gloriette while other tourists headed inside to stay warm. 

The Gloriette is a viewing terrace located at the top of the hill in the park behind the palace and offers amazing views of the city of Vienna. We first walked across the flower-adorned yard to the Neptune Fountain, and then quickly hiked a short distance to reach the Gloriette.  The walk was worthwhile as we enjoyed the beautiful view of the palace and Vienna all to ourselves.

Teah had been back to her happy self during our tour of the palace and the Gloriette, but needed a short snack break before we could move onto our next stop, the Maze & Labrynth. We found a cozy bench under the tree-lined walkways of the park and then made the short walk back down the hill to the Maze & Labrynth.

We thought the maze would be an easy enough game, but were laughing after five-minutes of running in circles around 7-foot shrub walls and unable to find our way out. Eventually we stumbled upon the correct path out of the maze and headed over to the Palace’s underground cooking café for the next Apple Streudel Show.

Like Blood Hounds, we sniffed our way to the bakery for the next hourly show. We barely even sat down before gobbling up our samples of streudel and washing them down with a tasty hot chocolate. The quick show was quite entertaining and Jennifer promised Sam to try out the streudel recipe once we get back home (Sam’s not holding his breath on this one).

Our last stop at the Schonbrunn Palace was the Crown Prince Garden where we strolled under a vine-covered walkway to admire the finely manicured beautiful flowerbeds. Sam thought it reminded him of all the gardening Jennifer has contributed to our home back in Long Beach (he wishes at least!).

Happy to have beaten the crowds at the Schonbrunn Palace, we were ready to head back to the hotel and make some lunch. We walked along a church-lined street as we made our way to the Brilla grocery store and loaded up on healthy snacks and goodies for the next couple days. The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying our lunch in the room and relaxing a bit before heading out to enjoy the night. 

Feeling rested following our afternoon siestas, we decided to stroll the city center and see the many sights of Vienna. We walked along the street circling the town center and first came to the Volksgarten Park where the Theseus Temple is located. Next, we came upon the large and imposing Hofburg center where various government institutions reside. The Hofburg facility consists of numerous classical buildings that are interconnected to one another with massive statues, fountains, and sprawling plazas all interwoven within the structures.

We crossed to street to reach Museum Quarter where the Kunsthistorisches and Naturhistorisches Museums are located (two of the main museums in town). If we have time over the next two days, we hope to make it to one of these attractions as they hold many national treasures. If not, at least we were able to see a couple of beautiful architectural buildings that bookcase a well-manicured park. 

As we made our way to the center of town, we stopped at an Austrian fusion restaurant to enjoy some local cuisine. Teah kept entertained in the beginning of the meal by staring at our beers, but mid-way through decided it was bedtime. After getting Teah to sleep we finished our dinner of cheese-infused sausage and potato dumplings.

Our night ended as we made our way through the center of town and walked back to our hotel taking in beautiful views of the Wiener Rathaus building, Vienna’s city hall. We are excited to get a goodnight sleep and hope to get some nice runs in tomorrow morning before setting out on more sightseeing.