As we had a reasonably early start we headed on the underground to the Schonbrunn Palace and Gardens the former home of the Habsburg dynasty. It was originally intended to be bigger than Versaille but is just smaller. It was built by Maria-Theresia and painted her favourite colour yellow. In all honesty the Hermitage in St Peterburg was so much more impressive.
We took the "grand tour" around the 40 accessible rooms that cover the lives of Emperor Franz-Josef and Empress Elisabeth (Sisi), plus a previous generation of Maria-Thesesia and Franz-Stephan. We got an audio guide but after a while we came upon an English tour guide so stuck with him!
Turns out Empress Elizabeth's eldest was married off to King Louis XVI of France and was none other than Marie-Antoinette. With the number of Cafe Konditoreis (tea rooms) around Vienna no the wonder she was obsessed with cake!
Empress Elisabeth had a special bed made like a throne as she was permanently pregnant from the age of 19 to 39 and by law she wasn't allowed to get put of bed for the last 3months of each oregancy but still needed to meet and greet!!
We next headed it to the Privy Gardens:
Then we took a walk around the maze and labyrinth then up to the Gloriette which was built to commemorate something, but it was all in German.....We climbed to the top anyway.
We had used up our Classic Pass Light ticket which covered all this (and was good value for money and cheaper than nirmal cos of our Vienna card!). We headed towards the Danube in search if a boat trip, but were rather disappointed with what was on offer (and the price!) so headed back to the city centre. We had another sausage from Franz's Wurstel Stand just off the Karntnerstrasse - highly recommended.
We went to the Albertina art gallery, part of the Hofburg Palace complex. In here was an Andy Warhol display of his car pictures and on the top floor an excellent permanent exhibition of modern art: Monet, Cezanne, Durer, Renoir, Picasso, Miro (hoorah!), Braque and loads more. Well worth the entry fee.
Yet again it was pouring and we wandered aimlessly through Vienna's centre. Lo - a sweet shop called Dumel's. This wasn't any old sweet shop-this was a proper chocolatier. The assistants even had black & white uniforms.
By now we wanted so e dinner and found a restaurant called Diglas where Victoria had (mire) sausage and sauerkraut and Andy had Scnitzel. We finished it off with the best cake so far.
Victoria needs to run through her talk for the conference tomorrow so we've headed back to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day - not just at the conference but we've got tickets to hear a Mozart & Strauss recital at the Schonbrunn Palace Orangerie tomorrow night!
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