Our first stop was Schonbrunn Palace, a magnificent palace on the outskirts of Vienna. It was the former summer residence of the imperial family (The Hofburgs). The construction on the palace began in 1695 and was fully completed in the mid 18th century. The palace grounds contain numerous fountains and statues, in addition to flowers and trees, all arranged according to French patterns. In 1695, when the palace was commissioned by Leopold I, he asked for it to surpass the Palace of Versailles (Paris, France) in glory.
Below is a picture of the front of the palace:
There were horse carriages lined up outside the castle to take people on rides:
The gardens behind the palace were beautiful, as they were all framed along a path leading up to the major fountain.
Sue, my Mom and I in front of the fountain:
After Shonbrunn Palace, we made our way over to Belvedere Palace, which is a smaller, but beautiful palace used as the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy, a military commander. It consists of two palaces, which are linked together by a long garden. Unfortunately the garden area was under construction, so it was difficult to take a good photo of it.
Here is a photo of me and Sue in the back area of the palace:
The front of the Palace:
The gardens of the palace (which were under construction):
The palace serves as an art gallery, housing 19th and 20th century paintings, mainly by Austrian painters. Some of the painters include: Monet, Renoir, Romako, Markart, Von Amerling, Petter, Von Schwind, Cornith, Schindler, Moll, Egon Schiele, Kockoschka, Klimt, Khnopff, Lieberman, Von Hofman and Hirschl.
We went inside and explored the palace and the artwork (unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos of the artwork, only the building itself).
After spending hours walking around, my mom and I rested on some bouncy balls in one of the gallery rooms.
From there we went to eat a late lunch at a Greek restaurant to gain a bit more energy for the rest of the day’s activities!
Our next stop was the Sigmund Freud Museum. It is located at Berggasse 19, in the apartment where Freud established his medical practice in 1891, and continued to receive patients and develop scientific principals about the human psyche until 1938, when he was exiled to England. It contains documents, photos and objects from Freud’s possessions. Unfortunately the main furniture (including the couch which he saw patients on) has been moved to London, England. The museum was small, and a little disappointing, as it is only contains one small room of photographs and documents, and one room decorated with the original furnishings (the waiting room, shown in a photo below).
From there we went to the Neo-Gothic Votive Church of “Christ the Savior”, which was built in 1856-1879. The towers at the top of the church remind me a tiny bit of the towers on La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.
Our last stop for the day was the Prater Amusement Park, containing the famous Wiener Riesenrad, Vienna’s Giant Ferris Wheel. It was built in 1897 by the English engineer Walter B. Basset. It has a total height 64.75 meters, and the total weight of all the iron structures is 430 tones. It has 15 cabins in total, and each cabin can easily fit about 10 people. From it, you get a view of the entire city of Vienna, as well as the rest of the amusement park.
A view of St. Stephan’s church:
After the amusement park we stopped quickly at the grocery store to buy some wine and snacks. We were pleasantly surprised with how cheap the wine is here!! We found wine for 1.49 Euros!! (We decided not to buy the cheapest wine and we went for a more expensive bottle at 2.49 Euros)
We then went back to our hotel with our wine to rest.
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