14 April 2017 Day 14 trip Day 12 cruise - Vienna Day 2 Schonbrunn Palace and red squirrels

 Tour bus through Vienna pst some of the buildings that we had seen the day before and then out  to the Schonbrun. There were a lot of people there already and we were told not to wander off and try to stick together. We would get free time after the inside tour so we could wander the grounds which were quite extensive. we had no idea how extensive. We were instructed what location to come back to,  to catch the bus back. there was a scale model of the palace as we entered the grounds.

No pictures were allowed inside so I took pictures of the postcards I bought at the end of the tour. I do not think that is cheating as I paid for the post cards. I did manage to take a few before we were told no photos. A lovely statue and a marvellous ceiling  greeted us right away.

 Schonbrunn palace is very large.  Wikipedia says" Schönbrunn Palace (German: Schloss Schönbrunn) was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The 1,441-room 

( yes that is right 1,144 rooms)  
Rococo palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historic 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."

 In 1569,  Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II  purchased a large floodplain of the  Wien river beneath a hill, situated between Meidling and Hitting, where a former owner, in 1548, had erected a mansion called Katterburg. The emperor ordered the area to be fenced and put game there such as pheasants, ducks deer and boar, in order for it to serve as the court's recreational hunting ground. In a small separate part of the area, "exotic" birds such as turkeys and peafowl were kept. Fishponds were also built.

The name Schönbrunn (meaning "beautiful spring") has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court.  

There was a definite feeling of deja vu as we went through the palace. Many rooms were built and decorated with Versailles as the model and although still not really matching Versailles over the top decor, it was beautiful through out. There were servants hallways behind the walls of the main rooms so that the people in the rooms would never see the servants stoking the fire or cleaning up after them. 

During the next century, the area was used as a hunting and recreation ground. Eleonora Gonzaga,  who loved hunting, spent much time there and was bequeathed the area as her widow's residence after the death of her husband, Ferdinand II.  From 1638 to 1643, she added a palace to the Katterburg mansion, while in 1642 came the first mention of the name "Schönbrunn" on an invoice. The origins of the Schönbrunn orangery seem to go back to Eleonora Gonzaga as well. The Schönbrunn Palace in its present form was built and remodelled during the 1740–50s during the reign of empress Maria Theresa (the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions  and the last of the House of Habsburg. In her lifetime she had 11 children and was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria  and Galacia, the Austrian Netherlands, and  Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress). She received the estate of Sconbrun as a wedding gift. Franz I commissioned the redecoration of the palace exterior in the neoclassical style as it appears today.

Franz Joseph, the longest-reigning emperor of Austria, was born at Schönbrunn and spent a great deal of his life there. He died there, at the age of 86, on 21 November 1916. Following the downfall of the Habsburg monarchy in November 1918, the palace became the property of the newly founded Austrian republic and was preserved as a museum.

After World War II and during the allied Occupation of Austria (1945—55), Schönbrunn Palace was requisitioned to provide offices for both the British Delegation to the Allied Commission for Austria, and for the headquarters for the small British Military Garrison present in Vienna. With the reestablishment of the Austrian republic in 1955, the palace once again became a museum. It is still sometimes used for important events such as the meeting between U.S. president John F. Kennedy and and Soviet premier Nikita Krushchev in 1961. 

Since 1992 the palace and gardens have been owned and administered by the Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur-und Betriebsges.m.b.H., a limited-liability company wholly owned by the Republic of Austria. The company conducts preservation and restoration of all palace properties without state subsidies. UNESCO catalogued Schönbrunn Palace on the world Heritage List in 1996, together with its gardens, as a remarkable Baroque ensemble and example of synthesis of the arts (Gesamtkunstwerk). 

Nowadays one can rent a room there according to our tour guide wouldn't that be something...Schonbrunn palace rooms | Full Kitchen + Washer/Dryer‎Adwww.airbnb.ca/Accommodations/Book-Now‎

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 Andre Le Notre, in 1695. It contains, among other things, a maze. Mom and Dad are sprinkled here in the maze, I think they would like that.

It was in the midst of all of these gardens that I saw my first ever red squirrel. It was so cute. I tried to get a good photo but only succeeded in getting these shots. my first red squirrel let alone at a palace. Lovely.

The complex however includes many more attractions: Besides the tiergarten, an orangerie erected around 1755, staple luxuries of European palaces of its type, a palm house (replacing, by 1882, around ten earlier and smaller glass houses in the western part of the park) is noteworthy. Western parts were turned into English garden style in 1828–1852.

The area called Meidlinger Vertiefung (engl.: depression of Miedling ) to the west of the castle was turned into a play area and drill ground for the children of the Habsburgs in the 19th century. At this time it was common to use parks for the military education of young princes. Whereas the miniature bastion, which was built for this purpose, does not exist anymore, the garden pavilion that was used as shelter still does. It was turned into a café in 1927 and is known as Landtmann’s Jausen Station since 2013.

At the outmost western edge, a botanical garden going back to an earlier arboretum was re-arranged in 1828, when the Old Palm House was built. A modern enclosure for Orangutans, was restored besides a restaurant and office rooms in 2009.

The Great Parterre of Schönbrunn is lined with 32 sculptures, which represent deities and virtues.

The garden axis point towards a 60-meter-high hill, which since 1775 has been crowned by the Gloriette structure. 

We did not climb up the hill but did walk down to the fountain which was stunning and on our way back stopped to enjoy the smaller fountains too.  I enjoyed the gardens almost more than the palace.

We made it back to our appointed pickup location and found our bus and back through Vienna and its lovely buildings to the ship we went with our heads full of palatial splendors.

  A lovely sit down and rest before  a scrumptious dinner and entertainment in the lounge afterward. 

Sleep came easy that night as we were quite exhausted from our wanderings during the day.

13 April 2017 Day 13 trip - Day 11 cruise - Vienna day 1 Carriages and Horses

The early morning was spent gliding along the Danube river into Vienna. We knew that Vienna was a large modern city and were looking forward to seeing the mix of architectures. London was so eclectic, Paris had been full of interesting older buildings and Barcelona had a style all its own, We thought that Vienna would be as beautiful as the other great cities we had been to. We weren't disappointed. Very cool towering buildings and lovely parks along the river. 

After a delicious relaxing breakfast of cheese and mushroom omelette, (it is so nice to have someone prepare your meals, what a treat), our chef is getting to know us all and our little likes and dislikes, we headed off to the main lobby to get our tour info.   

 The tour that day started with a bus tour around the centre of Vienna. There were gardens, a building called the Golden cabbage for obvious reasons, and various other points of interest like the Justice building with its great statues out front.

The Hofburg Palace and gardens were very impressive. the Palace more than the gardens around it although they were nice enough. Wikipedia says" The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the  Habsburg dynasty rulers and today serves as the official residence and workplace od hw President of Austria.  It is located in the  Centre of Vienna and was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schonbrunn Palace was the summer residence.(We were going to see the Schonbrunn Palace the next day and were looking forward to that very much)

Since 1279 the Hofburg area has been the documented seat of government. The Hofburg has been expanded over the centuries to include various residences (with the Amalienburg and the Albertina ), the imperial chapel (Hofkapelle or  Burgkapelle), the  imperial library (Hofbibliothek), the treasury (Schatzkammer), the  Burgtheater, the Spanish Riding School, (Hofreitschule), (we were excited to see the riding school) the imperial meta Stallburg and Hofstallungen).

The palace faces the Heldenplatz (Heroes Square) ordered under the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph I  

It seems the Habsburg's were the reigning family for generations in Europe and held onto their power with great ferocity. A quick ride past museums and art galleries kind of a quick overview of the city. then back to our point to the start of the walking tour. We were dropped off at a point downtown for the rest of the tour which was walking and free time.


 The weather was pleasant so the walk to the Cathedral of St Stephens was very nice. Our tour guide was Paul and he was very knowledgeable and did not rush us along but did manage to keep us moving along. It is not a long walk, maybe 30 minutes.

Vienna has the cutest little subway trains or if you want you can rent a bike to cycle around on but we walked. up the street through the downtown area past some older buildings but  mostly newer. There were lots of great statues scattered about in small squares and in front of majestic buildings
  We went through the downtown area past some older buildings but  mostly newer. There were lots of great statues scattered about in small squares and in front of majestic buildings

The cathedral  is rather beautiful as cathedrals go, with a wonderful tiled roof which we could not see very well as the sun was in our eyes, but we saw it later and it was lovely. the area around it it is quite plain, the Stephansplatz,  is all stone and concrete, not even a little park around it but the cathedral itself is imposing in it size and has an impressive tall tower at one end with spires at the other. 

Wikipedia says  " St. Stephen's Cathedral (more commonly known by its  German title: Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral, was largely initiated by Duke Rudolf IV (1339–1365) and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first a parish church consecrated in 1147. 

We were in the church for almost 45 minutes it was so interesting. With beautiful stained glass windows and stunning statues of saints and angels. We found and lit some candles and said some prayers for family and friends, admired the craftsmanship of long ago and marvelled at the big gothic architecture and very high arched ceilings.

Paul brought us outside and we continued on up to a wide pedestrian walkway with lots of shops and with fountains and statues in the centre of the square. He pointed us  towards the palace with the Lipizan Stallions. We had tickets to the show that evening and were looking forward to it so very much. I had missed the lippizan stallions every time they were in my home town for years and I was not going to miss them in their home town. 

Paul took us up the road up to toward the Palace and pointed out as we passed by one of the oldest bakeries in Vienna, the Demel, that served traditional viennese treats. Margie and I both thought that might be a great place for a Viennese coffee break.  We would try to remember where it was and come back to it.Paul dropped us off at the palace and we all scattered to the wind. Everyone on the tour had a different agenda.  

Some folks continued into the "Stallion behind the scene show "but Margie and I went back to the pastry shop where we ordered some of those traditional treats. It was very nice. They brought us to our table on the second floor and brought us a menu which we discussed at some length. While we were waiting for our order we wandered around a bit. it was in an old four story but well maintained building and finding the washrooms was a bit of a challenge in the maze of hallways and stairs, but it all turned out well in the end.  We saw the kitchens where they prepared all those goodies and when we got back to our table we had a Viennese coffee and some Viennese treats ... so scrumptiously delectable.

After our fortifying morning coffee break we wandered up to the Hofburg palace and found the Spanish riding school so that we would know exactly where it was for the evening performance and then scoped out where the pizza place was that we had decided to have dinner at. The concierge on the boat said that a lot of the crew went there as the food was good, fast, cheap and the restaurant was clean and friendly. so if it was good enough for them it was good enough for us.

 We wandered through the streets of Vienna just looking around and found a lovely old restaurant for lunch which did not seem too busy so we popped in. The food was very good  and the beer was better. It seems we eat a lot when out travelling around but really we do not, only when we are hungry or thirsty. then we headed for the palace by a circuitous route which took us a little while and ended up in need of a washroom. We found one down a little alleyway with a  little shrine painting of the Virgin Mary just outside it. Maybe to say thanks for letting us find a washroom.  

We walked up to and around the Hofburg palace and gardens  that we had driven by earlier that morning. the gardens looked much nicer up close and the grounds were much larger than I thought. There were so many impressive statues that I had not seen at all on the bus portion of the tour.

There was an outdoor concert hall in the Hofburg palace sounds. We had just missed a concert by an Australian classical orchestra of what looked like high school kids. From what I heard they were very good. We walked over to the museum but realized that if we wanted to get to dinner and the show on time and still squeeze in a carriage ride we could not go in so wandered back to the palace and booked a carriage ride.



Carriages on cobble stones are very bumpy and almost all the photos that I tried to get were blurred plugged from the movement. we did pass by Mozarts apartment in Vienna, and many interesting windows with mannequin with cats heads... must be a thing in Vienna.  I enjoyed the ride very much. narrow streets and old buildings... Europe.

Our pizza place was on a little side street and the food was good, fast, and cheap. the restaurant was clean and friendly. We even saw some of the crew there which  was nice and we tried out some viennese beer. It was Ok, it seems that Austrians drink more beer than anyone else in Europe so we helped them out a little with the stats.
 From there we went back to the Spanish riding school.

We had booked months ahead so that we could get good seats and it was a good thing too as the horse show was booked full and the line up for people still trying to get tickets was long. I felt bad for them but c'est la vie. We were shown to our seats on the side of the arena. They were good seats front row of two rows with seats and behind us were three rows of standing room only. how odd. The show included an orchestra and an opera singer. Very nice. the horses were gorgeous and so well trained. there were lots of signs saying no photos during the performance but people still took photos and a few were asked to leave or got their camera or phones confiscated by the ushers. I did not take any photos during the show but I sure wanted to. Loved the Lippizan stallions.

After the show we went to the riding school store and I picked up a coin necklace of an Austrian coin with the stallion jumping and a calendar even though the year was already half way gone. it was ok, it had lovely pictures of the horses. Some postcards and then a cab ride home. Getting to where we could catch a cab and then catching the cab was interesting with all the people pouring out of the riding school. but we did succeed.
the ride home was uneventful and took very little time. all the cab drivers know where the viking river cruises are so we just had to say viking cruise and we were good.

 Arriving back at the boat was very pleasant with all the lights on the pier. We were tired after our full day of walking around Vienna and fell asleep pretty quickly looking forward to our full day the next day at the Schonbrun Palace.