Catch Up - Tuesday 2nd September

We had quite a slow start to the day, making sure we ate a proper breakfast. Dan had ditched his crutches on the last day in Prague and today we decided to walk to Schönbrunn Palace. It was, of course, drizzling, so mackintoshed and umbrella-brandishing, we trekked down Mariahilferstraße to the palace, via a supernarket for buying lunch. Having eaten breakfast an hour earlier than the others, Lucy and Siân were so hungry they had to stop and eat some bread and cheese on the way.

 

The palace, on the outside, was how you'd expect it to be. Painted a sunny (unlike the weather) shade of yellow and decorated with white flourishes, it was quite imposing. We ate lunch then bought tickets for the Imperial Tour - a walk through forty of the palace's 1400 rooms. As we were under nineteen, this cost less than €10 (Austria loves sharing culture with under nineteens, it seems). We were given audio guides, which explained the purpose of the rooms and described the major characters of the Austrian imperial family. As it focused on the 18th and 20th centuries, we got rather confused by the chronology. We also struggled to remember who was who, especially as one Empress had over six daughters called Maria.

The rooms themselves were amazing. There were bedrooms and dressing rooms and living rooms and offices and bathrooms and children's rooms and rooms for playing cards in and rooms for meeting people in and rooms with no purpose except looking pretty. We were especially impressed with the Grand Hall, a huge white and gold ballroom with magnificent painted ceilings. We also passed through a room where Mozart had played his first concert aged six, and Siân fangirled.

 

In spite of the rain, we took a stroll through the gardens. There were some nice fountains, fake ruins and a very posh summer house, all of which we couldn't help commenting would have been nicer in dry weather. 

When we returned to the hostel, Mitch and Lucy cooked our first properly self-catered meal, bean fajitas, and we went to bed.