Let's continue our exploration of Vienna.
Having been the capital of the Austrian Empire and one of the two capitals of the Austro-Hungarian empire Vienna has castles, and fancy ones at that, palaces.
On our first day in Vienna we went to see the Schönbrunn Palace.
It was the summer residence of the Habsburgs, but nowadays it's a museum of course. The palace was built in the 18th century and has 1441 rooms. I can't quite comprehend how you can utilise that many rooms...
When we got there we had to queue up to get tickets. But just because you have ticket doesn't mean you can enter the castle. The ticket has a timestamp on it and you can only enter the castle at that time. In our case we had to wait an hour and forty minutes. In the summer that wouldn't be a problem because you could spend time walking around the extensive gardens. But we were there on Christmas day and the weather was miserable to say the least. It was windy, rainy and almost freezing. So walking around the gardens wasn't an appealing idea. Luckily there was a Christmas market in the court yard, but even generous amounts of glühwein couldn't keep me warm.
We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I can't show you what it looks like on the inside, but I did get a picture of this sculpture by the entrance.
The other imperial palace in Vienna is the Hofburg. It was the winter residence of the Habsburgs, but unlike Schönbrunn it is not just a museum, it's also the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria.
Like any good castle it's been extended and remodelled over the years but the core of the castle is from the 13th century. Personally I think it looks more impressive in the dark. Notice the stalls in front of the castle? That's another Christmas market. There were Christmas markets everywhere in Vienna.
Alright, that'll do for today. The next post will be about the museums of Vienna.
Wiederschauen!
No comments:
Post a Comment