Day 19: Sun 6 Jul - Vienna

19-34 deg C, fine with a chance of a shower late afternoon, no rain

Walk G: 7km; total: 150km

Walk W: 10km; total: 152km

Ride G: 16km; total: 517km

Today was all about Schoenbrunn/Schönbrunn Palace, described on Google Maps as a Baroque palace with opulent interiors, lavish rococo ceremonial rooms, plus gardens with a maze. While the interior is quite OTT, it is not quite as good as some of the palaces we saw in Southern Germany in 2015. The gardens were pretty colourful, and the Neptune Fountain and Gloriette overlooking the Palace and gardens were quite speccy. The actual size of the palace and its surroundings blew us away, even though Greg had been here twice before. It was quite hard to capture the gardens in front of the fountain because of their immense size, maybe it’s beyond the scope of phone cameras. Also the flowers are currently having to endure a severe heatwave so looking a little worst for wear. Anyway it was still very nice and we consider ourselves blessed to have experienced it all. Just before 1pm we were finally all Schoenbrunned out and started making our way to a tram location that would take us home. This took us through some of the 395 acres that make up the grounds. This is when we came upon the Palm Houses.  

Because we took the underground to the Palace, we decided to take a tram home, that took 1h15! “What else do we have to do and at least we’ll get to see stuff ” Greg said. We went home via the Old Post Office because old post offices are generally quite photogenic, so this one left us a little underwhelmed, but it was an old building that has been kept looking good. The much more salubrious building was the one over the road from it that is a Federal building housing a number of different Ministries.

Back to the hotel for lunch and a nap. This tourist thing is very tiring! Wendy went over the road to the Spa Pronto for an ice cream and Greg went for a ride through Prater Park and back. Dinner was had on his return.

Not sure what we will do tomorrow, rain is predicted with an 80% chance, however, if these meteorologists are anything like ours in Aus, that could mean anything. Things that are left to do on our list are the Spanish Riding School, Chocolate Museum complete with tastings, Hundertwasser House, a couple of Churches, Prater Park, and some others. At the time of writing, there are spots of rain on our hotel window! At the time of finishing the blog, there is thunder and lightning, and horizontal rain!!

Schönbrunn Palace front (L) and back (R)

All the different rooms, chandeliers and lights

This is our favourite room

This is the most expensive room with gold and silver adorning everything 

In this room, everything was covered in Brussels tapestry, even the chairs

This was a room heater, pretty flash for its time 

Orangery

A couple of aliens overlooking the Orangery

In most of Europe, Lantana is a colourful flowering plant and is sought after for gardens, lucky Greg didn’t have any Roundup with him

View from the Palace to the Gloriette

Palace gardens

The back of the Palace

Neptune Fountain

View from Neptune Fountain back towards the Palace

View from Gloriette hill

Gloriette Schönbrunn

Aircraft burnouts over Vienna

Probably originating in India, these pigeons were brought to Vienna many years ago; a UNESCO site

Gardens on other side on the Palace from the Orangery side

Palmenhaus - Palm House Garden 

A Federal building housing a lot of departments - Ministries of Digital and Economic Affairs; Agriculture; Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care, and Consumer Protection. Imagine all that lot sharing a building in Australia?

Old Post Office

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