We had 3-day passes on the public transportation system, and we used it frequently. We took the U3 to the U1 to the U4 to get to the Schonbrunn, which is located out of the city center. It sounds like a hassle to change trains so often, but it's really very easy. One thing I learned from being in both Vienna and Budapest is that I might just be a big city girl. I already knew I loved big cities, but walking everywhere or taking public transportation was awesome. I took this picture while we were waiting for the subway. Look at how modern and clean! It didn't smell like urine like another subway system I know of (Chicago, that's you!)
Anyway, we got off the train right at the Schonbrunn, which was the Habsburg's summer retreat. Some summer retreat! It's a huge palace with 1,141 rooms and a huge garden.
Our Sisi ticket afforded us a tour of some of the palace rooms with the use of headphones so we could get the lowdown on the furnishings and history.
Side note: You're probably wondering who Sisi is. "Sisi" is the nickname for Empress Elisabeth, who was married to Franz Joseph I, the Kaiser in the mid 1800s. She was revered for her beauty - she was said to have hair that reached the floor. In 1898, she was assassinated by an Italian anarchist. She is somewhat of an icon in Austria, much like Princess Diana in England. You can find everything from chocolates to bookmarks with her portrait on them (and yes, I did come back with chocolates, a bookmark, a notebook, and a piece of china with her portrait on it!)
No pictures were allowed inside the Schonbrunn, but I did get this quick picture. Make no mistake - even though this was a summer retreat, it was still decorated very elaborately.
As we exited the palace, we were treated to another impromptu musical performance.
We were on our way back to the metro station because we thought you had to pay to get into the gardens and we didn't want to pay. Then, we decided to see if we could just get a glimpse of the garden around the back of the palace and we found that it wasn't the main garden that you had to pay to get into, it was the side gardens. Check out this backyard:
The gardens were huge. I took this picture so you could see the manicured rows of shrubs and trees off to the side. It was said that Sisi spent a lot of her time walking the gardens.
If you look off to the side of the main garden, there are several of these statues:
You can tell by my mom's hair that it was a bit windy outside! (Ooo, and that's Empress Elisabeth on the gift shop bag that I'm holding in my hand!)
This is the large fountain at the end of the gardens. I got a picture of a couple taking their wedding pictures there.
This is the view from the fountain looking at the back of the palace:
That's my mom sitting on the steps, resting her tired feet. She didn't bring the greatest walking shoes on our trip, and she ended up with huge blisters. Next time, walking shoes, Mom!
This is the Schonbrunn metro station with the train pulling up:
We spent the rest of the day shopping in the Kohlmarkt area.
We were out until about 4 p.m. when my mom totally lost it on me (I'm not going to sugarcoat this, Mom!) I will fully admit that I made my mom walk a lot on this trip. Sure, we walked in circles a couple of times because I was walking around in an unfamiliar time and sometimes I'm not the greatest map-reader. But, 4 p.m. rolled around and apparently my mom had had it. She didn't want to do any more walking, any more sight-seeing. She wanted to go to the hotel and be DONE. I, on the other hand, thought it was crazy to be in this vibrant big city and sit in the hotel room for the next 16 hours 'till the next day. Where were we going to eat dinner? My mom acquiesced and let me stop by a bakery to get dinner on the way back to the hotel, but from then on, we stayed in the hotel room. She claimed she wasn't mad at me, but having grown up with my mom and see her get mad at me a few times over my lifespan, she was totally mad at me. I decided to leave the room and went to the lobby to check my email...and tinker around on the internet to let my mom be by herself. 45 minutes later, I returned to the room where my mom admitted she was mad. Fortunately, I have been in enough travel-related spats with Brian that I've learned being mad at each other does nothing for the travel atmosphere, so we quickly got over our differences and spent the rest of the night playing Uno, eating chocolate, and watching German TV.
All's well that ends well!
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