I’m not going to lie: It was difficult to wake up this morning. Thing 2 and I are both pretty exhausted. We slip into bed at night with sore feet. Additionally, the swelling of my right ankle really hasn’t gone down since I sprained it on Memorial Day. It hasn’t had a chance because it is getting such a workout everyday – especially the two days in a row we went climbing up buildings in Florence. (See the posts for Day 8 and Day 9.) Last night it was really bad.

So since we took late showers yesterday and basically only went down one floor to eat dinner and then went back up to our hotel rooms, Thing 2 and I did not need to bathe again before we set out for the day. This saved us some time. We both repacked our suitcases before heading downstairs to leave them with the concierge for the day. Check out time was earlier than when we expected to be back for the day.

Today our first destination was Schloß Schönbrunn, the home of the Hapsburg emperors and empresses. The U-bahn was about a block behind our hotel, so we walked there, bought tickets, and made the 15-minute journey on the U4 (green line) to get to our stop to see the palace. It was very easy! Our tickets (bought online) specified that we should enter between 8:30 and 9 a.m., and even after stopping to admire the view from afar once we got through the gates, we entered the palace at 8:30 on the dot. There were hardly any people there, so it was great! We got the “classic” tour, which allowed us to view 40 rooms inside the palace itself. We also got access to the labyrinth in the gardens, and the Gloriette on the far side of the gardens. The tour through the rooms in the house came with a free audio guide. Sadly, we were not allowed to photograph anything inside the palace, so I have nothing to post here. Rest assured, however, that everything was appropriately ornate and gilded. One of the most interesting things found in each room was a tall, porcelain steam heating device. It was white with gold accents and about nine to ten feet tall. It was made to look like a piece of furniture, so that it “fit in” with the decor in the rest of the room. These devices, astonishingly, were in use until the 1980s! I loved the creak of the floors as we walked on them, and the slightly old and musty smell to the house. There’s a very distinct, old house-y smell that I like in places like these. Since we didn’t eat breakfast before we left the hotel, I also got some ham and cheese on toast in the café restaurant on site. I also got a piece of the dark chocolate mousse cake they had. YUM. In the gift shop, I bought a book about the palace so at least I have some photographs of the place.

We could take all the pictures we wanted outside, though, and so we did. We walked all over the grounds, starting with the “small” gardens located close to the house. From there, we walked up the main path to the large fountain on the estate. Above that was the Gloriette, which was a bit of a hike up a hill in the sun. Thing 2 and I were complaining as we walked up, but we tried not to complain that much because, even though it was sunny, it was still nothing compared to the sun and heat we felt in Italy. It seemed warmer today than yesterday, but still a full ten degrees cooler (or more!) than it was in Florence. When I reached the top of the Gloriette . . . what a view! Behind the schloß I could see an awesome panoramic view of Vienna. It was incredible. Thing 2 was getting really tired by this point, so I climbed to the top of the Gloriette myself and took the pics of the city while she sat in a shaded grassy spot below, resting. After that, we made a visit to the labyrinth (where she got lost) before we calculated how to get to our next destination: Zentralfriedhof (the Central Cemetery).

Why did we want to go there? All the great composers are buried there: Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart . . . and Falco (from “Rock Me Amadeus” fame). I found it really ironic that the real Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the man famous for singing “Rock Me Amadeus” were buried in the same cemetery. We easily found the major classical composers, but finding Falco took a bit more work as he was off the beaten path. But, thanks to Google(!) I was able to find his coordinates and have Google Maps guide us there. Thing 2 and I felt like nerds going there and actually taking a picture of his grave. (He was killed in an accident in 1998.) Despite this, I said to her, “I’m sure we’re not the only ones who have come here to take a picture.” It wasn’t two minutes after that, as we were sitting on a shaded bench a few feet away, that three different groups of people also came to visit his grave. One man even had his wife take a picture of himself with the grave. (We just took a picture of the grave.) After that, we didn’t feel so geeky. (In fact, I don’t even like his signature song. I abhor it, actually. But it seemed too funny to be there and not get a picture of it, considered the real Mozart is buried there, too.)

By this point, it was nearly 15:00 or 15:30, so it was time to head back to our hotel to pick up our luggage, call a taxi, and make our way from Wien Hauptbahnhof to Salzburg. We took the 71 line trolley from Tor 2 (gate 2) of the Zentralfriedhof to a stop right across the street from our hotel. The Hauptbahnhof, and all other public transit stops and trams have been pristinely clean and orderly. In fact, at the entrance to all U-bahn stations, and at the Hauptbahnhof, there is a sign that says “House Rules,” which was cool to see. I found the public transit in Vienna much easier to use, compared to Rome’s, which was horrid. (We didn’t use any public transit in Florence because everything was so easily within walking distance to our hotel.) I made Thing 2 really happy when I told her there was a Starbucks at the Hauptbahnhof and that I would treat her to a Carmel Frappuccino before we bought our tickets and got on the train. This was the first Starbucks we had seen since we left Los Angeles on 5 June. (There were no Starbucks in Italy. I’m sure they disdain the fact that any “commercial” location could make coffee better than their own cafés could.) I’ll admit that it was nice to have something familiar — and cold. Man, I forgot that it is hard to find drinks here in Europe as cold as we get them in the States. Also, water costs here in restaurants; it isn’t put on the table at the beginning of the meal as a matter of fact like it is where we live. The best thing about Rome is that the water was freely running in fountains in the city everywhere. (We still had to pay for water in restaurants, but I didn’t have to pay for water as much because I wasn’t as thirsty, thanks to the fountains.) Vienna had two public fountains for water that we came across; one was in the park and one was outside the schloß. But, because it wasn’t as plentiful, I couldn’t fill up as much. Hence, I was more thirsty and had to pay for more water in restaurants. (Grumble.)

But I digress. Fortified with frappuccinos, we headed to the automatic ticket kiosks, bought our tickets, and ten minutes later, we were on a train to Salzburg. That is where I am now, writing this post. The scenery is, once again, picturesque. Everything is so green; crops are growing. We haven’t hit high elevations and large evergreen trees, just rolling hills and fertile countryside.

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Edited to say that we still haven’t arrived yet — 27 minutes until we reach Salzburg Hauptbahnhof — but as I look out my train window, there are two hot air balloons floating along over the Austrian countryside. 😊

Our hotel in Salzburg is the Hotel Sacher. It is famous for its Sachertorte, a rich chocolate cake “invented” in the 1830s. When I booked the room, we could order one to be waiting for us when we arrived at the hotel, so we did. Thing 2 and I are both looking forward to it. It comes in a decorative wooden keepsake box. Yay us! Like last night, I look forward to checking in, taking a shower, finding a place to eat, and hitting the sack. We’ve got to get an early train again tomorrow. This time, we’re heading out to Saalfelden, the town my great-grandparents came from. After a day spent there, we’re going to attend a marionette performance of the Sound of Music at a theatre very close to our hotel. It should be an eventful day. Hopefully, it doesn’t rain so that we can keep our plans to go summer tobogganing in Saalfelden! (This is an 80% change for rain, but only a small amount — .22″ — and a deliciously cool 70˚ forecasted.) More on our day in the next blog post!