The Events of Tuesday, July 5, 2011

                Today’s adventures began when we disembarked from Vienna’s wonderful metro system at Schönbrunn. As we had already visited here on Saturday evening, we walked confidently, straight through the palace’s elaborate front gates to collect our previously reserved tickets. Funny how visiting a place more than once makes us feel like knowledgeable locals.

                After visiting restrooms decorated like hedge bushes and checking our ‘rucksacks’ into our very own private rolling bin, we picked up our free audio guides and began our grand tour of the state rooms. This romantic tour of the imperial apartments took us on a voyage through the centuries, beginning behind a huge door at the top of the Grand Blue Staircase. The west wing of the palace held the apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife, Elisabeth, furnished in 19th-century style. The visit then progressed through the state rooms in the central wing. Next, we explored the richly ornamented apartments once occupied by Maria Theresa. Following those sumptuous interiors, the Franz Karl Apartments, occupied by Emperor Franz Joseph's parents, Archduchess Sophie and Archduke Franz Karl, completed the tour.

                Schönbrunn Palace was not only a majestic residence and the location for innumerable celebrations, but also a place where famous artists and craftsmen from various periods created interiors of fantastic splendor. Each room in the palace had its own story to tell, tales on the margins of celebrated historical events indicative of the lifestyle, atmosphere and world view of the era.

                Despite its incredible, jaw-dropping majesty and opulence, the insane number of other tourists at Schönbrunn Palace drove me, well, insane! The presence of too many people there was annoying, because they made the rooms hot, smelly, loud, crowded, and generally uncomfortable. I suppose it is peak tourist season, but, having enjoyed much of our year of travel withOUT the tourist hordes, I found it very difficult to adjust.

                After completing our tour of the palace, we went for a stroll around the Privy Garden along some lovely shaded pergola walks and up to a little panorama terrace overlooking a small section of these vast gardens. This nearly abandoned garden was a welcome break from the crowds inside of the palace. However, we never did quite determine why it was called the Privy Garden.

                Next, we wandered to some benches in the shade in front of the palace to eat lunch. We hoped to enjoy a Canadian choir concert, but that never happened. It was still a lovely lunch, except Lindsey, eschewing the benches, chose to sit on an anthill and did not enjoy the resulting experience.

                After lunch, we crossed the large palace courtyard to a café, where we took in an Apple Strudel Show at the Court Bakery Schönbrunn, with a free sample and a recipe to take back home. The highlights of this bilingual cooking show included a spinning table on which the dough was spun while the chef rolled it from the center to the edges. Also interesting was the strudel cloth, a piece of fine white linen between the rolling board and the dough. It was also used to form a bag in which to carry the completed strudel to the baking tray. The best part of the Strudel Show, however, was when the assistant chef tried to pass behind the head chef and slipped on the oily floor. The chef giving the talk could not stop laughing about it, even ten minutes after it happened! It was quite funny.

                Next, we hiked up through the green grassy gardens and grounds to the Gloriette, a Romanesque arcade on top of a hill, with a viewing platform on top. At the viewing terrace, we enjoyed a fantastic panoramic view of Vienna. Directly in front of us on the palace grounds was a glistening lake. Below that was the grandiose Neptune Fountain, fronted by sumptuous formal gardens. These gardens’ borders were flowers in horizontal stripes of red, white, and red – the Austrian flag. The fantastic flower gardens ended at the back of the splendid palace, beyond which stretched a spectacular tree-lined boulevard leading far off into the distance. Besides that luxurious stretch, the Gloriette was also the center of roads perpendicular and diagonal to this grand avenue. All around this magnificent sight, Vienna’s immense amount of urban sprawl competed for our touristic attention, but we paid it little heed.

                When we had seen all that there was to see from atop the Gloriette, we walked back down towards the palace, stopping halfway to visit the Maze and Labyrinth. There we spent plenty of time enjoying fun, games and relaxation for both children and adults. First, we got lost in a maze, with a platform in the middle, to help in planning one’s route out of the maze. Next, we wandered a meandering labyrinth, which does not present any choices, but simply takes one around and around through well-groomed hedges. This was tolerably enjoyable, however, because there were hidden games in it, such as a giant kaleidoscope, bouncy springboards, and an oversized glockenspielthat you play with your feet. When we had played all the games available to us there, we continued into another game-filled labyrinth, which included a math maze that drove our beloved math geeks mad.

                Our last stop in this fun-filled area of Schönbrunn Palace was the “Spielplatz”, literally “fun place”. In this amazingly kid-friendly area, we played on a little red carousel that went around and around very fast. Next, we found a miniature water park, with water-squirting tubes. This, of course, resulted in a water fight during which both Lindsey and Ben became thoroughly soaked. Our favorite toy in the playground, however, was an eagle-shaped metal seat suspended in the air by ropes. One climbed up into the seat and “flew” when others pulled on the ropes below and made the seat go up and down, side-to-side, and so on. Although it gave us terrible rope burn and Abby bonked her head on a metal clasp, we all had a blast flying in the eagle.

                All too soon, however, it was time to go home. Once we had arrived back in our beautiful temporary home, we prepared dinner and began to pack up for our departure tomorrow. Mom and Dad had planned to go out on a date and leave us kids alone, but the water heater was malfunctioning and they could not leave until that problem was resolved. Eventually, they left, walked down to the corner café, and enjoyed a short dessert date, while we kids diligently packed up before watching a Women’s World Cup double-header: England vs. Japan (2-1) and Germany vs. France (4-2).