Vienna #2

Our 2^nd full day in Vienna we decided to brave the tourist rush at the Schloss Schonbrunn – the summer residences of, who else but the Hapsburgs of Austria. Our usual morning train ran right past it making it perfect to hop off a few stops before the centre of the city.

The Schloss was originally built as a hunting lodge in a heavily wooded area on Vienna’s outskirts. The lodge was given to the future famed Austrian Empress Maria Theresia by her father. Maria Theresia quickly went about expanding and renovating the lodge making it the palace that exists today with extravagant interiors of her favoured rococo style.

SOME garden!

We booked in for a 1:30pm English tour and while we waited we decided to explore the backyard and when I say backyard I mean immaculately sculpted flowerbeds crisply mowed grass and monumental water features and gardens, If this is what Vienna had we couldn’t imagine what Versailles would be like. It even had its own zoo, which just happens to be the world’s oldest Tiergarten , guess that’s the Kaiser’s version of a dog or cat run.

The front driveway

Welcome to my humble abode

Looking out from the back verandah

What a horrible view

Dave at one of the numerous water features

Once it was 1:30 and time to explore the inside of the summer retreat boasting no less than 1441 rooms. We got to see 44 of them each one seeming to try to outdo the last. Of course no pictures were allowed (our English guide from Shetland was very firm on this) so you will just have to use your imagination for the rosewood (from Brasil, now extinct), paneling, elaborate parquet floors, extensive stuccos and portraits and my favourite the several tonne Bohemian chandeliers in EVERY room.

We finished the tour just in time to catch the palace bakery’s Apple strudel making demo. I now have the recipe used by the chefs of the AustroHungarian emperor and empresses and at some stage plan to give it a go (no pressure or anything).

Making strudels

After sending some postcards at the Schloss we returned to the train bound for the city centre once more. We arrived to meet Potter (aka Trav Potter), another uni friend who has been living and teaching in Vienna for the past 3 years.

We headed to the banks of the Anube river for a catch up and some early evening drinks. We were introduced to sturm – the new wine from the seasons grape harvest. It is only available for a month or 2 and is a nice sweet (but highly alcoholic) drink on a late autumn afternoon.

Finally it was time fro us to sample yet another Viennese delight – the Weiner Schnitzel! We went for dinner at a bar called Centimeter where you can buy your beer by the centimeter and the king sized schnitzels come in wheelbarrows. We opted for a tamer version being only 3 of us but it was a great all the same.

After what felt like such a short catchup it was time to head home for a much earlier night than the previous 2am finish.

Thanks to Trav for a great evening!