Day 5 - Vienna — Wayfaring Abroad

Well the rain did not come, the thunder never sounded and we spent a lot of the day outside in the sun. It was about 80 degrees out and seemed at times as if the rain would come but it never did.

We woke up earlier than usual with a good plan for getting to as much as we could before the rains came. We woke up and planned on getting on the metro, due to its distance from downtown, to Schönbrunn Palace around 9 so that we could see as much as possible before noon (when the rain was supposed to hit). However, when we checked the weather in the morning it only showed thunderstorms at 5 which meant we could get to a lot more today.

We got out to Schönbrunn by about 10 and proceeded to get tickets to see the palace and grounds. We got stuck behind the multitude of tours and groups of people droning their way through the palace. We saw the elegance and gaudy nature of a royal palace and learned a little history along the way through the audio guide. After we got through the 40 rooms in the palace we made our way outside to the park grounds.

What we saw was a little shocking. There had clearly been a a concert or performance of some kind the day before, probably for the national holiday, and there was a stage and equipment everywhere. This certainly took away from the immense natural beauty that existed and took away from our being able to experience it.

Saying that, the gardens at Schönbrunn are magnificent. It is an expansive park that we just barely saw. There are expanses to the east and west that we did not even attempt to see, instead we spent our time going up the middle from the palace to the Gloriette where you can see views that stretch across all of downtown Vienna and across the palace grounds. Along the way to the Gloriette we stopped at the maze and labyrinth. It is a small part of the park but a little bit of fun thrown in.

Maze inside the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens.

The views from the Gloriette really are incredible. It was clear why the palace grounds would be a great place to throw any kind of party, let along the perfect spot to listen to music and enjoy the views. We stopped after our trek up the hill and enjoyed the view from the grass and looked out over Vienna. It was a slight reprieve and meditative way to enjoy the city.

Looking down at Schönbrunn Palace from the Gloriette.

From Schönbrunn Palace we grabbed the metro and took it back to the downtown area where we stopped so that we could see the State Opera House, Wiener Staatsoper. It was a beautiful building tucked into the south of downtown. We moved on from Staatsoper back up to Hofburg Palace to grab some lunch that we took with us so that we could eat in the shade among the different roses in the Volksgarten. Lounging in Volksgarten for lunch was a much needed release for our feet and bodies. We sat there for around an hour before deciding that we could hit a couple more things before going back to the apartment where we needed a much deserved nap.

On the way back to the apartment we stopped inside Burgtheater to see about going on the tour. The Burgtheater tour starts at 3 everyday, lasts for 50 minutes and after reading a little bit about it determined that it just wasn't right for us today. While it sounds like the views inside the theater are definitely worth it, having to walk with a guide for almost an hour sounded quite painful. From the Burgtheater we made our way to Freyung where there is a small little open market with, what we believed were organic sellers of various goods. There was a woman selling beets, pickles, cucumbers and tomatoes. There was a meat stand, an organic baker, a fish stand and a wine stand.

We made our way to another square just a couple hundred meters away, Am Hof. This was a small square with people selling trinkets, books, photographs, necklaces, ceramic elephants and a meat stand.

Once we finally made it back to our apartment it really felt like the sky was going to open and a storm would come in. However, that did not happen, in fact it did not rain at all. None of this mattered to us at that moment though, as we went inside regardless and after a short amount of time found ourselves napping for almost an hour. After napping we talked about what else we needed to get done today, get a bus ticket and eat, and what we wanted to do with our last two days in Vienna. Prior to leaving California we'd discussed taking a day trip to Bratislava, assuming we got everything done. It seemed to us that we were well on track for that so we decided we would cram as much as possible in tomorrow and do a day in Bratislava on Sunday. For tomorrow we decided on a market, a couple parks, cafe and to start off with a brewery tour at 10 am. With the next day decided it was time to get on with our day and get our bus tickets to Prague.

Prior to coming on this trip we'd decided that instead of taking the train to every new city, like we had in the past, we would bus because of the price and travel time. Since we had taken the train from Budapest to Vienna, that meant we needed tickets to Prague, so we got back on the metro to the little international bus terminal and bought our tickets to Prague.

On the way back we walked along the river and came across a band playing with a large crowd piled up to the little stage. There were people on the bridge over top listening and others streaming along the river banks. We wandered along the sidewalks listening and watching the sun set over the rooftops before heading to get dinner and a couple beers before calling it a day.

Distance walked: 10.5 miles