vienna

Hofburg, imperial crypt, Albertina and Freud Today I went to the Hofburg; the main palace for the Habsburg of the Austria-Hungarian empire. To get there I had to walk past: Maria Theresa garden with statue And then past the Bank museum and to the Hofburg itself. Again I wasn't able to take photos inside but it was a nicely laid out focusing on their most famous resident, Empress Sisi (Elizabeth). There were recreations of iconic dresses, key portraits and her jewellery. they also had mock ups of her train carriage (she moved around alot) and you get to see the coat she was killed in. The museum is spread across the imperial apartments so you get to see more of the Baroque rooms of a similar style as they were also designed by Empress Maria Theresa. It was interesting to see Sisi's suite and her exercise room and Franz Joseph's office where his desk has a giant portrait of Sisi in front of it. You also get to hear Franz Joseph say his famous phrase: "I...

Schӧnbrunn Palace Today my friend had to work so this was the day I had entertain myself. Luckily for me one of the main attractions was right nearby! Schӧnbrunn Palace is the summer residence of the Habsbury royal family, now a public park with a zoo and tourist attractions. I got there at 10am and it was already very busy! If you want to tour the interior of the palace you have to get a timed ticket and as my entry time was at 10.50 I decided to wander around the gardens for a bit. I, foolishly, did not have a map and boy do you need one! Sure if you just want to trek up to the Gloriana then you will be fine, just walk through the ornamental gardens, passed the fountain: The Grand fountain Then up to the Gloriana: But I thought that I would do this later and went to find the Palmhouse and discovered that the gardens are ENORMOUS! and have little side gardens and paths and large grassy places for kids to play in and...and well I got lost wondering around and onl...

It was an early flight that brought me to Vienna via Munich (on one of those 'regional' planes that are so little -with one seat and then two on the other side of the aisle). It all went smoothly and I caught the bus to Westbahnhof to meet my friend (word of advice; have the correct change! Go break your large notes in the airport so that you have 8€ for the Airport bus and 8€ for a Day ticket on the the public transport. You can use your card as I did but obviously this might not be something you want to do). I was lucky enough to be staying in the lovely Funfhaus district in a beautiful flat with a terrace that was lovely in the sunshine. I had started out determined to run around on Thursday afternoon but I quickly realised getting up at 2am I was tired ! However I didn't want to completely waste the day so after a quick tour of the very lovely Duplex apartment I would be staying in, we headed out to a museum that we both keen to visit which was the Mumok . The Museum ...