August 20…So much to see and do in Vienna on Pam's Birthday

Today, Rod and Pricilla went their own way and Pam and Miles and Bill and I walked back over to the Schonbrunn to visit the Palmenhaus Schonbrunn (Palm House) and the Wustenhaus (Desert House) .

The giant green iron and glass construction, currently home to the Desert House in the Schonbrunn Palace gardens, was built in 1905 to provide a winter accommodation for the more sensitive specimens among Emperor Franz Joseph’s exotic plant collection. Today, it’s essentially a showplace for some of the succulents owned by the Federal Garden Service and also attempts to educate and inform the public about desert life and its peculiar survival strategies.   We followed the winding path through the 2,000 square meter desert habitat filled with a variety of fauna and many specimens of cacti. We were surprised, and a bit proud, to count how many of these cactus plants, here is this beautiful garden in Vienna, were the same variety that we have in our Cactus Garden at home in Mexico. One of the highlights of the Desert House is the 70-meter glass tube labyrinth of the very bizarre and creepy looking naked rat mole.

Next, we went across the way to visit the Palmenhaus Schonbrunn . This large and magnificent greenhouse, measuring 111 meters in length, 28 meters wide and 25 meters high, is the largest glass house of its kind in Continental Europe. Built between 1880 and 1882, it’s divided into three climatic zones, which house over 4,000 Mediterranean, tropical and subtropical plants from the collection of the Austrian Federal Gardens. The collection includes the largest water lily in the world which, unfortunately, hadn’t bloomed yet. Walking through Botanical Gardens is one of Bill and my favorite things to do when we are traveling so, we thoroughly enjoyed wandering through this beautiful structure and examining all the exotic plants and trees. Bill was, as always, on the alert for seeds on the ground that he could take home and plant in our garden. He got lucky and found a few…..we’ll see if they will actually grow once he gets them planted.

After several hours at the Schonbrunn, we hopped on our trusty bus and did the circuit of the yellow line, passing by the Military History Museum and all the construction sights of huge glass contemporary buildings near the train station, and then hopped off at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The Museum was commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I and was built between 1872 and 1891 to house the Habsburgs’ formidable art collections and to make it accessible to the general public. The magnificent interior of the building is lavishly decorated with marble, stucco ornamentations, gold-leaf, dramatic stairways and topped with a dome that is 60 meters high . It’s the largest art museum in the country and one of the most important museums in the world and, with exhibits from five millennia, is a testament to the passion that the emperors and archdukes of the Habsburg dynasty had for collecting art.

The range of exhibits was enormous and we could have, easily, spent the entire day there. We were all awe struck by the collection of sculpture and decorative art, displaying goldsmith work, precious vessels and goblets, sculptures, bronzes, automaton, clocks and so much more. It’s easy to understand why this particular collection is one of the most important of its kind in the world. The collection of Greek and Roman antiquities was equally as amazing.

The Picture Gallery on the first floor, housing masterpieces from the 15^th century until 1800, including the largest collection in the world of Bruegel’s works, just about brought us to sensory overload. So, we had to take a break and went to the lovely café for a delicious pastry and coffee before visiting the Egyptian and Near Eastern collection .

I was delighted that Bill, who was not that enthralled with the Albertina museum, particularly the exhibit of modern works, thought this Museum was the most incredible one he had ever seen….as did we all.

After our visit to the museum we walked around the city and saw the magnificent city hall, and countless other grand buildings and gardens. We really hadn’t eaten much so Pam and Miles went off to find a fancy restaurant to have an early dinner for Pam’s birthday and Bill and I went to the Naschmarkt, one of Vienna’s most fascinating public markets. They had a huge variety of exotic foods and spices from all over the world, beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables, intriguing looking sweets and candies, coffees and teas, clothing and much more. There were countless restaurants and bistros scattered throughout the market and we stopped and had some wiener schnitzel at one that was really good and, surprisingly, reasonable. Then, we went back to one of the cake and candy stalls and bought a little Sachertorte, a chocolate cake that is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties. to take home for Pam’s birthday.

We all met back at the apartment after a very full day of experiencing Vienna, ate birthday cake, played our card game and went to bed.

One last note.....we packed so much into this day and I took a million photos . It was difficult to decide which ones to post so, there's more than normal.....sorry...but I hope you enjoy looking at them.