Escape to the Continent: 8/3 A three hour tour…

8/3 We decided to take a long bus tour of the city to get the big picture - three hours long! There were only a handful of people on the coach. The driver didn't speak English, so he had cue-cards to make us understand when we had to get back on the bus after the scheduled stops. Serge and Lyn had trouble with the headsets provided - if you turned up the volume too much, the system shut down and you had to move to another seat and try again. Joe avoided this by using his own headphones…

While the tour passed many historical sites around Vienna, it quickly became frustrating. The prerecorded monologue was evidently dependent upon the driver activating it at appropriate times as well as an apparently idealized version of the traffic flow which refused to cooperate. Consequently, references to "on your right" or "on the next left corner" often didn't synch with where we were at the moment. The persistent Strauss background music - which at first seems so pleasant and relaxing, eventually became torturous by sheer repetition. The one brief reprieve - the Blue Danube waltz as we crossed the river was short-lived as it ended as quickly as we crossed - one of the few moments of synchronicity with the sound system and landscape.

random places we passed by during our bus tour ...

Our first break of two planned was at a location of absolutely no historical significance, chosen only because it offered several stalls of tourist paraphernalia. Still, we bought a few "necessities" and the clerk was pleasant and negotiable. The second stop, at the Schloss Schonbrun - the former summer residence of the imperial Habsburg family - set our compass for the rest of the day as we all agreed we must return after the tour - which we did.

When the bus tour finally ended - a half hour late due to the traffic that had essentially made the site descriptions like puzzles to solve using passing scenery cues, we had lunch and decided to take the underground (subway) back to the palace with the understanding that we would walk the long distance back to the hotel.

Schloss Schonbrun Palace ...

At the palace we decided to take the "Imperial Tour" - for tours were the only way to access the interior spaces and be dazzled by the lives of the historically famous. The self-guided tour had the distinct advantage of user-control over the recorded descriptions. We enjoyed the simplicity of Karl VI's living quarters, the more decorative public rooms, the paintings, the venue of four-year old Mozart's earliest performance, the stories of the independent and beautiful Sisi and the motherly Empress Maria Theresa.

the beautiful Empress Sisi ...

Empress Theresa led the renovation of the summer palace which shows

the wealth and opulence of the Habsburgs family...

crystal and gold chandelier in the living room - no pictures allowed inside the palace beyond this ...

front balcony overlooking the front entrance of the Schonbrun palace...

After the tour and gift shop visit, we spent a couple hours wandering the expansive gardens of the estate with its geometric flower beds, elaborate fountains and statuary. Finally taking the long climb to the Gloriette - a royal dining hall that looks across the gardens back to the palace rear courtyard.

part of the massive imperial gardens at the Schonbrun palace...

Gloriette in the background...

sculpture of a Roman soldier's armor at the Gloriette ...

two-headed marble eagle adorning the Schonbrun palace ...

a picture of a young Mozart when he first performed at the Schonbrun palace ...

Statues of Greek mythology overlooking the geometric gardens ...

Glorious day at the Schonbrun ...

massive geometric gardens...

energy release ... side gardens of the Schonbrun...

an obelisk outside the Schonbrun gardens

Satisfied with our submersion into the historic high-life, we began the loooong walk home. At one point Joe led us for a long stretch along a path parallel to the rail lines, which while definitely leading us back toward Old Town, passed through some sketchy areas that made us a little leery. Still, we eventually made it back to tourist central and immediately found a cafe at which to celebrate the day's accomplishments.