Vienna - a Palace Birthday Treat

Today is our birthday present from mum and it's fabulous! And it's at Schöbrunn Palace. 

It's in three sections and I decided we should do the first section this morning, to save having a long wait between sections this afternoon, so after breakfast with Sue and Laura - where we find out yet another astonishing accomplishment of Sue's - as well as sewing period costumes, living in all sorts of exotic places, travelling the world, speaking German, playing drums, she also flies her own plane - we head over the road to the underground train. 

This photo was taken yesterday - it's actually overcast this morning! The ticket machines have an English option and I love the direction on the bottom right...

So we bought the tickets and headed off...

..until we arrived at...

..a mere seven stations up. First thing we have to do is collect all our vouchers for the rest of the day...

..before heading inside and picking up our audio tour. Schöbrunn was the summer home of the Hapsburgs and is huge and impressive...

No photos allowed inside, unfortunately. Inside, it is extremely ornate, rococo, gold, amazing. We follow the audio tour around, it's such a great way of doing a tour - at your pace and the information is interesting and to the point. We go through a lot of the residence - there are a lot of portraits, reception rooms, bedrooms, all very ornate but many are very different from each other.

The most notable of the Hapsburgs are Franz Joseph and Sissi. Franz Joseph was born and died in this palace. He married Sisi and loved her greatly. They say it's unclear what she thought of him as she was quoted as saying that marriage was a bit of a chore. She really does sound like the Diana of the day - she didn't get along with her mother-in-law and was considered the most beautiful woman of the time. She was assassinated with a knife to the heart.

Another notable member of the family was Marie Theresia. She was the only female to lead. She had 11 daughters, only one of whom, Maria Christina, was allowed to marry for love. She married the rest off to maintain territory - marry regions into the family. Theresia's youngest daughter was Marie Antoinette, and we all know what happened to her!

There are a lot of people taking the tour and it all moves very well. There are a couple of tour groups and one group of teenage boys who all think they can just take up all the space so we do try to keep ahead of them all.

No photos allowed but we got some postcards of the most impressive rooms (amongst a heap of impressive rooms!) One of the studies, the grand bedroom, with original bed, and the grand ballroom.

After the tour, we go around the back to see a tiny snippet of the massive and incredible gardens. The tiny snippet we see is huge and lovely, it would take days to go through the whole garden!

Fabulous place!

Next, we head back to the hotel, it's raining a bit now and we are very thankful of the borrowed umbrellas! Quick coffee, then it's out again to find some lunch. We find a great deli-type place and get a toasted cheese. It's sort of a 50s style place...

It looks like a cake and ice cream shop but we got toasties! Then it's time for a change of pace for a bit and I found something called Time Travel Vienna so we head towards Hofburg (that was what I couldn't remember yesterday) and go down a little alley to get to our destination.

We are a little early, as it is raining, so we sit and wait for a bit, then it's time to collect our English headsets and enter, down the staircase...

The first room is an old cellar with five portraits on the wall - Mozart, Sissi, a monk, Maria Theresia and Sigmund Freud.

Our guide (who speaks German - that's why we have an English audio guide) says she is going to prepare the time machine and for us to wait. As we wait, the portraits start talking and chatting about their time in Vienna.

Then we go through to what looks like a cinema - except there are 3D glasses and seatbelts on the seats! So we strap in and out on the glasses and a fabulous 5D picture comes on - we are literally flying through the air through ancient Vienna - up St Stephen's Cathedral and down again, through rat-infested streets, over battles, up and down, all over the place. When the rats run past on screen, something nudges our feet so it feels like a rat. And when birds fly past our heads, wind blows on our heads! I can hear Alison squealing and laughing but I think it might be a nervous laugh! Hilarious...

The next section is the coffee house section, where they explain that coffee came to Vienna via the Turks, many years ago. They left the coffee beans behind and the Viennese began drinking it and setting up coffee houses - they are extremely popular and I think they said the coffee culture was UNESCO listed - don't quote me on that...

Next section, a hall with animatronics - Maria Theresia, Franz Joseph, Sissi, and one of the first family member, all talking about the family tree and some of their stories, along with some slides and videos. The mannequins were actually really good - didn't look too fake and even blinked.

Next room - the plague pit, with one of the doctor types, wearing the mask with the beak to contain nice smelling things to counteract the smells of the pit. He told the story of Augustin - the only man to make it out of the pit - he was very drunk and fell asleep on the street, the corpse collectors scooped him up and took him to the pit. Next morning, he was heard singing by passers by who got him out.

Next stop, an arts room - there is a section for Gustav Klimt and then a devote between Mozart and Strauss as to who is the better composer.

Then the Vienna music room - this one is great! There are two huge circles with seats inside, facing inwards to a dome. The domes start to light, music plays, images project on the walls and then the circles start to spin - it's a bit magical.

Next, a section on Vienna during the war and a mock air raid shelter. Then a map showing the division of Vienna after the war. Then we head back to modern day where they have a horse ride video through Vienna and that is the end of the tour - great fun and very interesting and informative.

We have a voucher for a photo...

..and that was a crazy and very interesting way to spend a couple of hours in Vienna - such fun!

Then it's time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the second part of our birthday treat - we hop back on the train and head back to Schöbrunn Palace for dinner and a show. It is quite spectacular and amazing to be there at night with no one else around but the ones attending the event too. 

We head into the dining room, after having a look and admiring the view...

And dinner is served - first course is pumpkin soup - the best either of us has ever had! Then a spinach strudel with a yoghurt dressing and salad. Then genuine apple strudel with cream! It was delicious!

We have decided that Hungarian men and now Austrian men are all rather good looking and our waiters tonight were no exception. Here is our waiter, whom we dubbed Mr Handsome...

And the gorgeous restaurant! It was an incredible meal and experience. Next, a short walk to the Orangerie, and here's another amazing vantage point...

 The Orangerie was a place that used to grow oranges and was then used for concerts and such - Mozart actually performed here. The entrance is beautiful, with the lighting effects on the wall and ceiling...

We are right up the front in the good seats and nobody has booked the really expensive VIP seats in front of us so it's like we are in the front row!

Our voucher includes a champagne, which is lovely, and I also get a program. Then the lights change and the show begins...

The concert is fantastic - first half is Mozart - a bit of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi, some we weren't as familiar with but all magnificent. They had a soprano and a baritone to sing opera - something I'm not always a big fan of, but they were magnificent! There was also a couple dancing to a couple of pieces, which added great variety and was also lovely. We both, at different points, had to pinch ourselves to believe that we were actually in Vienna, listening to Mozart and Strauss in Schöbrunn Palace - just incredible and once-in-a-lifetime...

The second act was Strauss, so a bit of Die Fledermaus, Wiener Blut and the Danube Waltz. The encore was hilarious with the conductor leading a clap along - and they did two encores, and then there was thunderous applause! It was just sensational.

What a magnificent birthday present, thanks to Mum!