The Schobrunn Palace was their summer palace which was located about 10 mins away from our hostel. We spent the morning walking around the most amazing gardens you could ever find. It had a big arch walkway full of roses that when you walked down you could smell the strong scent. I actually saw a lady going for a jog then stop to smell the roses they were that beautiful. We then walked up to the top of the hill which provided a really good view of Vienna from the top. The gardens were so stunning they even included a zoo (which is the oldest zoo in Europe) and a maze. We didnt go into either of them as they cost money and the weather was looking slightly iffy. We decided that we would come back and go inside the palace the next day as it was forcasted to rain so to make the most of what time we had we decided to have a walk around Vienna city.
This walk turned out to be the scaffolding tour of Vienna as nearly everything had scaffolding on it. The opera house, the university, the library, the museums, the Hapsburgs other palace. It was a beautiful city but with a the rainy weather and the scaffolding it was starting to get a little bit miserable. We solved that problem by having a yummy viennese coffee ( better then italy!) and cake at a little cafe in the middle of the main street and people watching. The ladies dressed so nicely it was almost old fashioned the way they had their hair done, nice clothes and high heels on. You could definately tell the locals from the tourists.
The afternoon was spent back at our hostel which was really cosy and friendly. It was two little courtyards (one with a giant chess set) and two big lounge rooms that you could laze around on with free wifi and stuff. They also had a piano, bongos and three guitars that were available for guest use so we got treated to a bit of a show by a couple of people walking through. It was really cute but a little intimidating as I felt extremely uncool not being able to play either even though I had both piano lessons and guitar lessons. But this is coming from a girl who spent eight years speaking german and didnt do much of that in Austria either. It was nice to spend a rainy afternoon inside snuggling down for a good reading session. That evening we visted the girls at their hostel and decided to head around the corner to a bar for a couple of drinks.
The bar was an Australian themed bar and I was excited to find that they had Bundy rum, arnotts shapes, meat pies and vegetime and cheese toasties on the menu. I have to admit that I was missing meat pies so I tucked into one straight away and washed it down with a Bundy and coke. It was A-MAZ-ING. The pub was pretty fun and there were a few people down there watching the world cup so it was pretty rowdy. Some american guys befriended us and peer pressured one of the girls into doing a snuff shot. It was crazy - you have to do a shot of alcohol, put your nose on this wooden machine, the bartender pulls a big lever and it shoots a shot of snuff up into your nose, then you have to move your nose over to a little brush that the bartender wiggles to make you sniff the snuff up. It was intense and it looked a little dangerous really with all the leavers and things waving about but Morgan did it and she said it wasnt too bad. I wasnt game enough (especially after the several shots I did in prague I think it will be awhile before i shot anything) but it was definately interesting to watch.
The next day Caroline and I went back to the palace to check out the inside. It was exquisite! I dont know how else to describe it. It just had the most beautiful furnishings and decor. We only went through 40 of the 1000 rooms in the palace (that doesnt even include the kitchen - which was held offsite) and it took an hour and a half just to see those rooms. We got a guided tour so we learnt a bit more about the family history and the era when the palace was built. I was a bit apprehensive at spending 12 euro to do that because we had already seen a few palaces and castles along the way but im definately glad I did it.
After the Palace we met up with the girls and headed into a irish bar that was recommended by everyone to have some lunch and watch the USA world cup game. We had the nicest pub meal and a couple of beers while we watched the match. It seems that Vienna was very much about touring in the morning and relaxing in the arvo. We had planned to try and catch an opera while we were in Vienna as you can line up for an hour beforehand and get standing tickets for 3 Euro. The only problem was by this stage the weather had decided to be against us and it had poured down for ages and ages and ages. It was basically just a rainy miserable day and we were not interested in standing in line outside a venue for an hour. It was a shame really because I would have loved to have seen one but sometimes things just arent meant to be. We decided to take refuge in a cafe and we grabbed another coffee and cake before heading back to the hostel.
That night we were just sitting there watching the world cup when about six girls from Vienna came in an asked us to help them with a competion. They were actresses and needed us to help them act out a scene. We werent really keen to do it as we had just snagged good positions on the couch but then they all got down on their knees and begged us to help them. Its hard to refuse people who are begging so we decided to help them. We had to act out Romeo and Juliet while they took photos and videoed it. This was done in the foyer of the hostel with quite a few onlookers. I was mercuito so most of my 'acting' was finished early as I got killed and had to lie down on the floor dying while Caroline and Morgan had to pretend to love each other as Romeo and Juliet. It was a pretty random event to happen while we were in Vienna but it was a bit of a laugh so I dont mind. I just hope that the video isnt out there on YouTube somewhere with the caption - dumb tourist losers acting out Romeo and Juliet.
We decided to have an early night after that shennanigans and headed off to bed. While Vienna was fun the weather definately put a dampener on it. Im hoping that one day I can go back and visit and see all the buildings and truly appreciate how pretty they are with the sun shining and scaffolding taken off. I would also love to explore more of the musical side of things as Vienna is the home of classical music and there are some really famous places around the city that would be amazing to see.
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