Today was my last day of vacation in the lovely Austria. I
didn’t have an exact plan on what I wanted to do but since the weather turned
out to be so nice my thoughts were that I would take the subway out to the
Schonbrunn Palace, which was the summer palace of the royals. The gardens were
supposed to be just beautiful and it was the perfect day for it.
The Schonbrunn palace is the large yellow colored palace
that you probably have seen in travel magazines or online at some point in your
life. It is rather famous and one of the most popular attractions in Vienna. I
had already toured the Hofburg and wasn’t really planning on fighting the
crowds to see the inside of Schonbrunn. I was going to get some outside time
and wanted to do that early before the sun was at it’s hottest.
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| Shopping for my summer home! |
Once I got there it was already really busy and it was only
9 am and that was when they opened up! I bypassed the crowds and headed for the
right side of the palace that was where the carriage house museum was. I love
me some royal carriages! Since everyone and their mother, brother and uncle
were heading to the main area it was the perfect time to visit the carriage
house museum. Turns out that there was only me and another 2 couples so we had
the place to ourselves. Before the school kids showed up. Because everyone
hates them!
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| This was for the royal kids. Yeah, really! |
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| No need for the "my other car is…" bumper sticker! |
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| The mourning carriage |
They allowed photos to be taken here and really there were
some stunning carriages including some for the children of royalty as well as
the mourning carriage that took Empress Sisi through Vienna after her
assassination. I think that the ticket was E6 and well worth it!
After that I just walked around the grounds of the palace.
It was just a little too early in the year for the flowers in the gardens to be
fully in bloom but still it was lovely. Very sunny and windy but the grounds of
the palace were stunning and huge! You could really spend a whole day there.
After that I jumped back on the UBahn and headed towards
someplace that was on my radar for apple strudel. Called Café Museum it is
located near the museum quarter and near the Karlsplatz UBahn station stop. The
coffee and strudel was everything that it was supposed to be. And more. But I
am planning a pastry blog post so we’ll talk more about that later!
I though that on my last day I would just stroll around the
center shopping area, both window and people watching! It was a lovely day and
the sun was shining and I really enjoyed walking around. Didn’t really buy much
(some coffee for Ed) but it was still a nice way to end the day.
I had planned to go to a place for dinner that was mentioned
in my guidebook. Called Brezl Gwolb, it is listed as a 16th century restaurant
that serves classic Viennese food. It was a little difficult to find but after
I located it was worth the search. I had something called “roast joint” which
looked and tasted like a type of pot roast with potatoes and a glass of wine. I
also had desert, which was a fruit filled pancake type similar to crepes.
Amazing! When I mentioned to the waitress that I found her restaurant in my guidebook,
she was very excited about that. She then took me downstairs to the cellar area
where they had another seating area altogether. It was dark and crowded but so
very old world and if I had known I would have asked to be seated there
(although it was too early in the night for that, I don’t think they use that
space until later in the evening). Great food and really great service, highly
recommend it.
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| Brezl Gwolb |
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| Brezl Gwolb |
Last stop was the park across the street from my hotel. I
didn’t want to spend too much time there but I wanted to just relax in the
early evening. They appeared to be setting up for some type of festival they
were having the next day (Friday, the 9th) so there were tents going
up all around me. I found a quite stop near a duck pond and relaxed a bit
before I had to go back and pack for the very early morning flight home
(leaving the hotel at about 4 am!).
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| Duck pond |
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| Austrian ducks: they speak German! |
As the vacation comes to an end I can only hope that you get
to visit Austria one day. I found the city to be busy and bustling but also
clean and welcoming. It is extremely easy to get around, either by walking or
public transportation. And take the wine tour. Remember, take the wine tour!!!
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