Europe - Vienna

Today's Garmin Step Mileage: 14 km

Today we headed out to the Schönbrunn Palace. A great thing to note about Vienna is that with a city transit pass you can get anywhere you need to go. There are a number of trains, busses and trams travelling all around the city. If there is a tourist attraction or historical attraction you can be that the tram or train goes directly there. It took about 20-30 mins by train to get to the Palace, but very easy to navigate on the train system.

It is such a large and grand place we spent nearly 4 hours touring the grounds and Palace pavilion. We purchased a Classic Pass ticket for $24.00 Euros. Once getting the ticket they assign you a "tour" time. We had about 2 hours to take in all the grounds and other parts of the area before we could enter the Palace.

The Schönbrunn Classic Pass is a special package comprising:
Grand Tour of the Palace (40 rooms) with audio guide
Privy Garden: take a stroll under the shady pergola walks
Maze & Labyrinth: fun, games and relaxation for children and adults
Orangery Garden: relax in the historical garden
Gloriette with viewing terrace: fantastic panoramic view of Vienna

Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial summer residence located in Vienna, Austria. The 1,441-room Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historical monuments in the country. Since the mid-1950s it has been a major tourist attraction. The history of the palace and its vast gardens spans over 300 years, reflecting the changing tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.

The name Schönbrunn (meaning "beautiful spring"), has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court. The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Neptune Fountain is called the Great Parterre. The French garden, a big part of the area, was planned by Jean Trehet, a disciple of André Le Nôtre, in 1695. It contains, among other things, a maze. The gardens and palace have been the location for many films and television productions including such productions as the Sissi trilogy in the 1950s, A Breath of Scandal with Sophia Loren, and also briefly in James Bond's The Living Daylights. n the sixth leg of the Amazing Race 23 teams had to race through the garden's maze and search for the pit stop located at the Gloriette.

What a wonderful way to spend the morning and part of the afternoon. All toured out we hopped on the train back home to kick up a while before heading out to our Mozart Concert in the evening.

Tonight we were going to the Vienna Mozart Concert or "Wiener Mozart Konzert" at the Musikvverien. The concert hall was built by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien, on a piece of land given by Emperor Franz Joseph, and it was opened on January 6, 1870. A historic organ was installed in it by the Austrian firm Rieger, in 1907. The Musikverein is famous for its acoustics and is considered to be one of the three finest concert halls in the world, along with Boston’s Symphony Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. It is currently the home to the Vienna Philharmonic.

We had upper balcony seats adjacent to the musicians. With a small lean over you could get a view of the entire group of musicians. Today's concert had only a small group of the Philharmonic musicians, dressed in period costumes. A few of the musical pieces

had opera performers complementing the pieces. The concert hall is simply amazing in its gilded walls and fresco ceilings. Just being in such a historical hall is a must see and do for all visitors.

Since we were out for the evening we stopped by the Film Festival on the way home to take part in the evening film and night time action. Paul would be so proud in that we made it past 10 pm!
The Film festival was in full swing. The film was a classical concert recording and was attended by a large group. We found seat in the food festival table area and watched the remaining movie from there. It really is a family friendly event with lots of things to see and do for a number of audiences.

Another great touring day, but it is time to hang up our hat for the night. We have one last day in the city.. Stay tuned for more adventures.