Vienna Day 4. Schönbrunn

Today was devoted to sightseeing and generally being a tourist, beginning with a short walk to see the Danube, which is really close to the apartment we stayed in. It was a good morning, and the river cooperated by actually looking blue.

I'd been in Vienna before, eight years ago, also on a trip with the music group, but hadn't managed that time to get to see Schönbrunn, one of the city's main tourist attractions. I was determined to make up for that this time, and went there today. I spent a long time walking the grounds, and ventured all the way up to the dramatic folly which sits atop the hill behind the palace. This view shows the Neptune fountain in the foreground, with the palace in the distance. I finished there around 4.00, and thoroughly enjoyed the visit, all the more because the tour around the grounds turned into the walk I needed to do.

The bigger picture.

I'd met the other two music-groupers for coffee in the city centre before going to see the palace, and had suggested that we might go to Grinzing, a wine-producing village on the outskirts of the city. We'd been there on the previous trip for the traditional "grand gala dinner" which happens each time the music group goes away, and wasn't sure how it would work out with just four of us rather the usual larger crowd. It actually turned into a really enjoyable evening, despite the originally rather intrusive efforts of a violin and accordion duo who wandered around serenading each table.

Back in Vienna afterwards we finished the night with a beer in the bar beside the Sacher Hotel. All in all, a really good day.