I was only 45 minutes from Vienna ,by motorway ,and a bank holiday seemed a good time to drive into the city,with the roads being quieter.I parked in a camp site (Camping Neue Donau) which is just across the Danube from the city centre, and just 5 minutes’ walk from a U-bahn (underground)station.
Just as at the campsite last night ,this one is fairly busy, probably three quarters full, mainly with Austrians and Germans.How much influence the bank holiday is having, whether the main season is now getting underway,or whether campervanning is just very popular in Austria I’m not sure.
By 11-30 I was on the train heading into the city, and the train was almost empty.With my visit to the Esterhazy Palace still fresh in my mind I thought that I would start by visiting the Schonbrunn Palace,the Royal summer palace just outside the city centre.I had read the usual warnings on the internet about avoiding popular tourist spots such as this on Bank Holidays but I thought I might as well give it a try.I was somewhat dismayed when virtually the whole tube train,which had filled up by then,disgorged onto the Schonbrunn station platform. However, after a couple of minutes at the ticket office I had a timed Grand Tour ticket with an entry in half an hour, just time for a coffee and Apfelstrudel.The tour with an audio guide takes in 40 rooms of the Palace,which can be placed in the same league as Buckingham Palace. The area was pretty busy,but there is a lot to spread them out at Schonbrunn,such as the Vienna zoo,(the Tiergarten)a big palace park with free entry and as many as 10 minor museums and ancillary parts of the palace .
Just as at the campsite last night ,this one is fairly busy, probably three quarters full, mainly with Austrians and Germans.How much influence the bank holiday is having, whether the main season is now getting underway,or whether campervanning is just very popular in Austria I’m not sure.
By 11-30 I was on the train heading into the city, and the train was almost empty.With my visit to the Esterhazy Palace still fresh in my mind I thought that I would start by visiting the Schonbrunn Palace,the Royal summer palace just outside the city centre.I had read the usual warnings on the internet about avoiding popular tourist spots such as this on Bank Holidays but I thought I might as well give it a try.I was somewhat dismayed when virtually the whole tube train,which had filled up by then,disgorged onto the Schonbrunn station platform. However, after a couple of minutes at the ticket office I had a timed Grand Tour ticket with an entry in half an hour, just time for a coffee and Apfelstrudel.The tour with an audio guide takes in 40 rooms of the Palace,which can be placed in the same league as Buckingham Palace. The area was pretty busy,but there is a lot to spread them out at Schonbrunn,such as the Vienna zoo,(the Tiergarten)a big palace park with free entry and as many as 10 minor museums and ancillary parts of the palace .
The Schonbrunn Palace
 The Gloriette,a big folly on the hill at the far end of the gardens |  |
I learnt quite a bit more about those most famous Austro-Hungarian monarchs. The Baroque palace was built in the 1740s-1750s in the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria.I was rather struck by the parallel between her and Queen Victoria.Although she reigned 100 years earlier,she was one of the major players in Europe through her 40 year reign, which included the 7 years war.Like Victoria she inherited the throne ,married a prince consort,and had 16 children(one being Marie Antoinette)who were each married into the royal families all over Europe, and when her husband died suddenly she went into mourning in an obsessional way and wore black for the rest of her life.
Much of the palace story was about Maria Theresa ,given she had it built,but the other royal couple the Austrians seem to like to repeat the story of are Emperor Franz Joseph 1st,and his wife(and cousin)Empress Elizabeth.There seems to be somewhat of a cult surrounding her, known by her pet name of Sisi.There are images of Sisi everywhere,and a special Sisi museum,notwithstanding the emphasis on her in the other royal palaces.I recognised another parallel between her and a much more modern member of the British royal family.She married young, never loved her husband,was dominated by her mother-in -law,and eventually after some psychological problems led her own life travelling round Europe.She was conscious of her good looks,and status as a fashion icon,and never attended family meals so she could stay slim,probably anorexic.Eventually she met a violent fate,assassinated in Switzerland by an anarchist.
After the Schonbrunn I went back into the city centre and wandered around the Ringstrasse,the inner ringroad built by Franz Joseph in the second half of the 19th century to host the most grand buildings in Vienna.The streets today were very free of traffic but busy with people out for the holiday. One thing I have unfortunately noticed is that prices are at least 3 times those of Hungary.
Much of the palace story was about Maria Theresa ,given she had it built,but the other royal couple the Austrians seem to like to repeat the story of are Emperor Franz Joseph 1st,and his wife(and cousin)Empress Elizabeth.There seems to be somewhat of a cult surrounding her, known by her pet name of Sisi.There are images of Sisi everywhere,and a special Sisi museum,notwithstanding the emphasis on her in the other royal palaces.I recognised another parallel between her and a much more modern member of the British royal family.She married young, never loved her husband,was dominated by her mother-in -law,and eventually after some psychological problems led her own life travelling round Europe.She was conscious of her good looks,and status as a fashion icon,and never attended family meals so she could stay slim,probably anorexic.Eventually she met a violent fate,assassinated in Switzerland by an anarchist.
After the Schonbrunn I went back into the city centre and wandered around the Ringstrasse,the inner ringroad built by Franz Joseph in the second half of the 19th century to host the most grand buildings in Vienna.The streets today were very free of traffic but busy with people out for the holiday. One thing I have unfortunately noticed is that prices are at least 3 times those of Hungary.
 Buildings along Ringstrasse-the Burgtheater |  The Austrian parliament building |
 The Hofburg Palace,the Habsburgs' city palace |  The National Library |
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