2011 - Switzerland, Austria - Day 5 - Vienna, Austria

This morning, Amber and I went on a tour of the Schonbrunn Palace. It was the summer palace of the Hapsburg’s. They were the ruling family in Austria for centuries. It has 1,400 rooms, of which we saw around 2o. It was beautiful, especially all the wall decorations and gold plated décor everywhere, and beautiful inlaid wood floors. After the palace tour, we walked through the gardens. Our guide only gave us 30 minutes, and this garden is several square miles big. All we had time to do was go up the hill to the triumphal arch and back. There were so many side trails and arches that I would have loved to explore. We met up with the rest of the group after the palace tour, including mom. She opted to do the dinner/entertainment tonight instead, because of all the walking with the palace tour. We drove to the old part of Vienna and took a walking tour and a driving tour of the city. We saw St. Stephen’s cathedral, which was impressive, and the winter palace of the Hapsburg’s. This palace has over 3,000 rooms. But its all built into the city, with several wings, so it’s hard to really see it all. We saw the stables of the palace with the famous Lipizzaner horses. We also went down into the crypts of the royal family. 140+ people are buried there. The first were the founders of the crypt, buried there in 1618. I found it interesting that they take out the heart and put in a little urn and bury it in another church. The intestines are put in a bigger urn and buried at yet a different church. Then the bodies are embalmed and put in a wooden coffin, and place in the sarcophagus in the crypt. So they are buried in 3 different places. Afterwards we were given free time. We went to the Café Mozart for lunch. We tried some chocolate cake that is famous in Vienna, and another torte, or layered cake. I had some white asparagus soup, which was excellent. Amber had a mozzarella ball salad. Mom didn’t eat anything; I think she was saving room for her dinner that evening. We then decided to walk back to St. Stephen’s cathedral and take an elevator up the tower. Halfway there, we got stuck in a torrential downpour! It completely halted all activity. Everyone ran for any kind of shelter they could find, which was in a shop’s doorway for most, like us. We waited for 30 minutes or so, thinking it had to lighten up a little, so that we could at least walk with our umbrellas and not get drenched. But it didn’t! Mom was getting nervous about getting back to the meeting point of our bus, that would take her back to the hotel so she could get ready for her evening out. So we slowly ventured out with our umbrellas, and go down a few shops, then stop and wait in another doorway for several minutes, then venture out again and go down a bit further. By the time we got to the meeting area, the rain had slowed down quite a bit, but we were still pretty wet. My shoes and socks were all wet. I wished I had worn sandals that day. Also, my pants from the knees down and our backs were all wet. We had a bit of time before the bus came, so we stopped in a souvenir shop. Amber got a hat for Tom and mom a keychain. Mom left on her bus back to the hotel, and Amber and I decided to play in Vienna for the rest of the day. We finally made it back to the cathedral, and decided to climb the 400+ stairs up the tower, instead of taking the elevator. It was beautiful at the top. I didn’t realize how big the city was. It went as far as I could see in all directions. We then walked though the city park, sat on a bench and ate some snacks, and ended up at the fine arts museum. We had 1 hour there, until it closed at 6:00 p.m. Amber and I then walked to the State Opera House and went down to the subway station, figured out how to get back to our hotel, and stepped out of the subway station into more down pouring rain and lightning. My shoes became all wet and soggy again. Fortunately, our hotel was only a couple blocks from the station. Amber tried to call Tom when we got in. He didn’t answer, and she was very disappointed. She is now sleeping next to me. We had planned to go out for pizza, but it’s getting late.