We had a little trouble getting there. Our plane was delayed, so we missed the bus into the city from the airport. So we had to spend some money on a cab... bummer. But, we got there and it was great. The first night we literally fell right into our beds. On Saturday morning, we lazily got out of bed and headed to my favorite place in Vienna, Schloss Schönbrunn.
Schönbrunn is the Imperial Palace of Vienna. It was home to Maria Theresa and her oodles of children, including Marie Antoinette. It was so beautiful, the rooms were gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of the rooms inside of Reggia di Caserta. The most impressive part of the palace was the gardens. We went too early in the spring to see many flowers and all of the fountains were empty, but it was still extremely beautiful.
Christine and I decided to climb to the roof of gloriette (the little building) on top of the hill to see an incredible view of the city.
Then, we relaxed on the hill staring at the beautiful view before exploring more of the gardens.
After spending time in the gardens, we went to see how the palace bakery makes apfel strudel... and tried some samples, delish.
We left the palace behind and moved into the city center for the first time. The heart of the city is Stefansplatz, it's dominated by a huge gothic cathedral with the most beautiful roof.
The inside of St. Stefan's was really beautifully illuminated with the most lovely spectrum of colors from the stained windows. When we were inside, there was a mass going on, so we didn't stay very long.
We crossed the street, got some money (seeing a 100 euro bill for the first time!) and walked to the candy store. Mozart Chocolates were EVERYWHERE. They are not too delicious, but we did find one we liked and ate two bags of them in three days, yum.
For the rest of the first day we walked around exploring. It was so nice. We visited a few churches that had PEWS! We don't have pews in Roman Churches, the ones in Austria are beautifully crafted and look like artwork themselves.
We shopped, laughed, and we found the most famous schnitzel restaurant in Vienna. Despite it being booked until Tuesday, we got a table and feasted on the Austrian specialty.
The next day, Sunday, was really relaxing. As in most European Cities, most businesses were closed on Sunday, so we spent most of the day walking around and even got to watch some of the Vienna Marathon. We ducked into an American Bar for some nachos (with real nacho cheese!).
Of course, the minute we found a Starbucks we had to go in. It's a repercussion of living in Rome where there are absolutely none. I had a Chai Tea Frappuccino, I didn't even know that existed!
We found a cute little park with a golden statue of Strauss and a clock made of flowers. Near Karlsplatz we found some graffiti that gave us our Viennese version of Rome's Carpe Diem.
Our last day in Vienna was great. We went to Schloss Belvedere, another palace. This palace is an art museum. We spent some time in those gardens, but they weren't as impressive. Then we went inside and saw 'The Kiss' by Gustav Klimt. It was amazing!
Then we headed back to Stefansplatz to go to a Resturant that Chris' friend recommended to us. Inigo was located right across from the Jesuit Church in Vienna. It was a real Viennese Restaurant. There was absolutely no English on the menu, and the servers spoke absolutely no English... weird.
I got some chicken wings and potatoes with mushroom soup... delish. Chris got some weird noodle - potato thing. The waitress realized she didn't love it when we were done, so Christine got her meal for free. We love Austria!
Then we headed to the airport to find out that our flight was delayed again... boo. We got some Starbucks and cracked open some more chocolate and waited it out. I loved Vienna, it was so sweet, pretty, and different from the other parts of Europe that I've seen so far! :)
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