Vienna Day 1

The overnight train was an adventure. We had a 3 person private car. There were three bunk beds along the wall - Melanie had to climb a ladder to the top bunk. There was barely enough room for us and the suitcases; pretty much had to get in the bunk beds right away and hope you didn't have to move again! The train took off on time and we tried to get some sleep. All of us snoozed a bit but it was harder then we had figured. The train hit curves pretty hard that jolted you around and it stopped a few places to connect and disconnect cars.

We arrived in Vienna bright and early (6:10 a.m.). We couldn't go to the airbnb until 9 a.m. so we talked to the information desk to figure out where we were going, changed money and found a place to get coffee and pastries. Because we were exhausted, we took the underground the two stops to the station near the airbnb. It's a cute place - two bedrooms and a couch and a washer!

Found a cute café near the airbnb that had been there since 1913 to get more coffee and decide what to do. The repeated caffeine infusions were very necessary! We decided to go to Schonbraunn Palace & Gardens - home of the Habsburg dynasty. Because we promised ourselves we weren't going to walk as much, we figured out how to take the underground to the palace.

And then we arrived. The grounds were beautiful - words can't even describe it. We bought tickets to tour a number of gardens, the maze, the inside of the palace itself and the Gloriette. The Gloriette was built in 1775 and was up a big hill. The Neptune Fountain was beautiful; sculpted in 1780, was at the base of the hill up to the Gloriette. The views from the top were amazing - you could see all of Vienna! After that, we went into the hedge maze. A few wrong turns later, we made to an overlook. All of this of course meant we had to walk... and walk... and walk. We toured the interior of the palace - the rooms were ornate and beautiful. We also found some soft pretzels as big as our heads as we needed to eat - so good.

We called it an early day because we were exhausted and hungry. We went back to the main station, got some groceries and wine and went back to our place. This is when we figured out we had walked 10 miles! Well, if we are going to enjoy the food and wine, at least we are earning it!!!!