We met Jody and Mandy about 11 a.m. and headed to the U4 station where we decided to buy 3 day passes as it would be so much easier.  Then we hopped on the train and we were off to tour Schönbrunn Palace, considered to be Vienna’s finest palace.  Wow! What a place.  Schönbrunn is the former summer residence of the Hapsburg royal family and is fashioned after the Palace of Versailles.  It was named after a beautiful spring (Schön-brunn) that provided water for the hunting lodge built here in the 16^th century by Emperor Maximilian II.  In 1683 the hunting lodge was destroyed during the 2^nd Turkish siege of Vienna.  Once the Turks were defeated in 1695, Emperor Leopold I decided to construct a new hunting lodge and turn it into a showplace and a summer palace.  It was not completed though until the reign of Empress Maria Theresa in the mid-18^th century.  Each successive emperor and empress made changes and additions to the palace, so it is quite huge and with many different styles of rooms from rather stark to over the top Rococo.  

There were wonderful gardens, a carriage museum, and an orangery that one could tour, but it was just too cold to walk around when nothing was blooming.  The palace and the accompanying gardens were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.  

We decided to get the Grand tour ticket which included 40 rooms.  The palace itself has over 1440 rooms, can you imagine having that many rooms in your house?  Sadly, they didn’t allow photos during the tour --I wonder why? as the rooms were just amazing with gold trim, wonderful furniture, amazing paintings, etc.  In Emperor Franz Joseph's room you couls see how he kept family photos all around and in the rooms that belonged to Empress Elizabeth (known as Sisi who was later assassinated) you could see her exercise equipment.  One of the amazing things about all this was even with two world wars, and being overtaken by the Nazis, all the family stuff and gorgeous jewels, paintings, etc. were still here. But even with the no photo stipulation, this was a not to miss tour when you come to Vienna.

Once we had finished our tour and visited the gift shop (I have to buy magnets and Christmas ornaments wherever I go, you know), we headed back to the train.  We decided to get off at the Schwedenplatz and find a place to have a late lunch.  We chose to eat at Greichenbeisl, located in the old meat market (Fleischmarkt) area. The name translates to Greek bistro and was said to be named after the Greek settlement that was in this area.  This is said to be the oldest restaurant in Vienna as the first documentary evidence of this restaurant is from 1447. Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Mark Twain were said to have frequented this place and if you like you could request to reserve a space in the Mark Twain room.  As it was crowded today, we just accepted the table we were given—the last one available at this time. Jody and Mandy chose the stuffed raviolis which were 3 large raviolis filled with cheese and potatoes plus a salad.  Mike had a huge wiener schnitzel plus a salad, and I had grilled salmon on beet risotto plus baby spinach.  Beet risotto sounds odd, but it was really delicious.  We both had Gruner Veltliner to drink.  The food was really good and the atmosphere was fun.

Afterwards we walked over to see St. Stephen’s Cathedral, known as Stephansdom.  We went inside to see the beautiful interior but Mike and I both said we need to return so that we could tour the famous crypt that holds some of the body parts of the Hapsburg emperors and empresses (more to come about that when we take that tour).  Stephansdom was situated at the center of the historic city on the site where a place of worship has stood for over 800 years.   It is said that the church was constructed on the ruins of an ancient Roman cemetery (there was a Roman city here over 2000 years ago).  The first church on this site was consecrated in 1147 but was destroyed and another erected in 1230 AD.  There are parts of the current building that are remnants of the church buildings from the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 18^th centuries.  The number of places and length of history of places here in Europe is always astounding, isn’t it?

By 5 we were back on the train heading to the hotel.  Dinner tonight was in our rooms.  Mike and I had cheese (the new one is REALLY smelly), bagel chips, and smoked salmon and chocolates and drank a Spanish Sparkling wine.  It was a nice light meal after a rather heavy lunch.  We had lights out by 10 as tomorrow will be another day of touring.