Vienna, Austria Day 36

Off for our first day of Vienna tourism. Decided to do Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Hapsburgs. The usual problems in a new city, finding tube stops, figuring out which way to go, etc but we finally arrived there around 11 A. It is huge complex with several large building and enormous courtyard. We took pics and found the ticket building only to find out that we would have to wait 2.5 hours to get in. 😫. We did not want to do that so we went on line and made reservations for tomorrow morning, Hard to believe that on May 31 there is this kind of issue. Cannot imagine it will be in July and August! A recommendation to summer travelers: if there is something you really want to see, make reservations early!

Back to town center with a stop for a sandwich and beer. The area around St Stephen’s cathedral is a long, wide pedestrian space with shops and cafes in all directions. The cathedral is the head of the Catholic Church in Vienna and home of the archbishop. The landmark symbol of the church is the multicolored tile roof. There has been a church on this site since at least 1000AD, probably earlier. Next stop, the Kuntshistorichesmuseum. (Art history museum). A new area of the city to explore - lots os museums in this area. We spent a couple hours enjoying the art and a coffee stop at the lovely Viennese coffee bar in the museum. While the art was wonderful, the building itself is magnificent! All the baroque detail and painted ceilings - beauty everywhere you looked.

Home for a bit of “feet up” time and wine before dinner out tonight. Robert found a Viennese restaurant only one tube stop away. Fun dinner outside and all of us tried different types of Viennese cuisine: veal schnitzel, veal goulash, and boiled beef - a specialty of the restaurant. I had the goulash with spaetzel, it was very good. However, we all decided we have had enough meat for awhile. A good and very busy day..Read more