The Summer Palace of the Habsburg’s – Day 3

There have been so many stressful driving adventures since I got here and the day we visited the Schonnenburg Palace (the summer residence of the Hofburg Imperial family) it was no different.

Russell has decided that you must drive here like you do in New York. We were partially in front of the Palace at a traffic light and a large delivery truck had been tailgating us. I guess we were just going too slow and being tailgated is something Russell really dislikes!

I was busy consulting my guide book not looking up. The next thing I know we’re doing some kind of sharp turning (avoiding the barricades I imagine!), hit a bump and jolt to a complete stop. I look up and behold, I am sitting at the entrance to the great Schonnenburg Palace! 😳

(this picture was taken at a later time when my nerves had recovered and there were way less tourists out and about)

Schonnenburg Palace was the summer residence of the Habsburg Imperial family, even though it was only about 3 miles from the Hofburg Palace. 🙂 There are over 1,400 rooms. The main thing we enjoyed here were the grounds behind the palace. They were so vast! All the trees weren’t fully leafed out and there were flowers to be planted, but it was still impressive.

Here is where Mozart played his first performance at the age of 6.

Sitting before the gate of the Schonnenburg Palace was a lady statue. Have you seen someone do this before? So interesting. They can stay so still that you’re sure they are not real but then they’ll do a slight movement and you know.

A little tip made her come alive but every movement of thanks was slow and graceful.

Russell got all excited when he saw this sculpture. “Oh, it’s Sampson when he tore the lion’s jaw.” Then he read the sign… and found out they were not depicting a Bible character but Hercules.

The view from the back of the summer home was stunning. The gardens at the palace were opened to the public in 1779. There weren’t a lot of flowers to be seen at this time as it is still their spring.

Horse carriage rides are common at the palace’s. If we were to visit again, I would definitely do this.

A long skinny structure just to keep their owners cooler during the summer temperatures. Today there is a cafe at the top and seating inside as well.

We were a little warm after climbing the big hill and so we enjoyed an Iced Coffee (Eiskaffee) and a fruit pastry (Joghurttortchen). They both were delicious!

There was an area there with 4 different mazes you could try. I’ve read about mazes in England and so I was so excited to try them here. Three of them were easy enough. You could see over the top of the hedges so it made it much simpler. One was challenging. There was a platform with stairs to climb once you reached the end so that you could watch everyone else trying to solve the maze. There were some boys from another country that were telling others how to go but they were purposely leading people astray. They were having a good time and their enthusiastic “encouragement” actually made it even more fun.

Beautiful strolls could be had.

After leaving the palace grounds.

And here I end our visit to Vienna with this most unattractive picture but it has a story to go with it. One involving one-ways and do not enter signs and a little red car with two Americans riding inside it. I’ll let you figure out the rest. 🙂

Our Austria Trip…

We Have Arrived in Austria – Day 1

We Have Arrived in Austria – Part Two of Day 1

An Italian Eatery in Vienna, Austria

The Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria – Part One of Day 2

Street Views of Vienna, Austria – Part Two of Day 2