We wake early to get organised and travel to Vienna by bus . We got a taxi home yesterday and asked the driver about booking a taxi for the morning , he said " just dial 1717 and it will be fine " . Well we did that but,,, the operator didn't do much English , and I did even less Croatian , next minute he's just hung up!! . It's now 9:30 am and the bus leaves at 10:30 am - getting a bit anxious now !! Think, think , think - ding - download the Bolt app on the phone and order a ride . Anxiety levels have eased a bit , but now it's 9:50 am and the ride is 12 mins away . To add some spice to it all , it's raining . We move outside tracking our ride , the app is telling me it will be coming to the street behind us , as that's where the phone told the app our location was ( anxiety levels rising again ) . He arrived at 10:05am and we hurried across to the next street after sheltering under a tree . Bags in , us in , and we were off , wet feet & all . Arriving at the bus depot , the driver took us around to a closer spot & we got out - now to find the bus bay ???
Heading inside to find our departure bay , I finally found an information booth and he guided me in the right direction , so we headed down and waited - our bus hadn't arrived and it was 10:29am . Five minutes later it arrived and we got our bags on and took our seats - anxiety was now destined for the bin - not just yet , another twist in the story . When the driver came in asking for our tickets , we showed him the Q code on the phone - it wouldn't work , so he went and checked in the rest of the passengers , before coming back to us . He then informed us we didn't have a ticket for today's bus , and would have to pay for todays tickets in cash . Turns out I booked them for the next day , he told me to cancel the other tickets and get some money back . I did that immediately and got a message to say we had a credit for 25 euro to use on our next journey - we aren't planning one - the tickets cost 40 euro each .
Finally we pulled out of the depot - we were underway - finally the anxiety levels had subsided , just annoyed we'd made a booking mistake .
Within an hour we'd reached the border of Slovenia , time to get out with our passports , get them visually checked , and walk 30m to get picked up by the bus again . Another half an hour or so we were at the Austrian border , but they came on board to check our passports this time ??? This was the Slovenian Border .
Some beautiful country was passing by us , this is through the tinted bus windows . Just after the Austrian Border we were travelling in a more mountainous area and there's a village beside the railway line - it looked just like a model railway with all the houses and railway station , shops etc .
Arriving in Vienna , we consulted with Google maps and got our bearings , which tram & bus would get us to our apartment . Found our tram stop & away we went . The architecture was the thing that got our attention first , lot's of apartment buildings , tram lines criss crossing the city & buses covering the other spots . Within 25 mins we were at the apartment , now find a supermarket nearby and get some food .
That done we stopped and took a look back at our day - glad it was over !!
After a good nights sleep , we headed out to get a tram into the city , This is the street around the corner from our apartment .
Buildings are different colours , mostly 4 storeys and basements , small shops , tobacconists , cafe's and restaurants . Overhead tram wires clutter the air .
Making our way to Schonnbrunn Palace , we dived in at the deep end here , there's plenty of people already there . The palace is enormous , 2 tall pillars with gold plated eagles on top off them mark out the entry gates into a huge square . Our Vienna Passes give us admission here , so we take advantage of it .
This is looking at the main entrance , we went in at the left hand side of the photo , for our short tour of the palace .
The floor was interesting , pieces of hexagonal timber were used as paving .
Our first views gave us an idea of the opulence and it seems to be way over top to us .
It was more of a culture shock I think , we were overwhelmed completely , couldn't believe it . The ceilings have fresco's painted on them , huge chandeliers in the middle and many lights on the sides as well .
Gold accents seemed to be burning our retina's .
Here we are with a cast of thousands wandering through somewhere we'd never dreamed we'd be .
Our pass gave us just some of the rooms in the palace , we could've paid to see more , but glad we didn't. Making our way back outside into a garden area . A gazebo with fancy fret work and painted ceilings led us into a rose arbour on one side , and a wisteria walk on the other .
Manicured gardens are everywhere , this is the view from the end of the palace .
Fountains and more gardens are abundant here - the palace grounds cover over 1 square kilometre , there's gravel roads and pathways everywhere , it's got a zoo as well .
This is the Palm Garden , we didn't get into there - there is so much to look at here .
There's a small train that delivers you to different spots around the grounds . Getting out at the Gloriette - the garden palace . These statues are each side , curious to see something clinging to the leg of the warrior - turns out it's a leg of a lion holding on .
Our pass gave us access to the top of the Gloriette , giving us great views back dow to the palace . Here's a view of 3 of the 8 gardens outside the back of the palace .
This is the Gloriette reflecting in the pond below it .
Further down toward the palace and on the same level , was this small fountain and pool at the end of the 8 gardens .
We also got access into the Privvy garden . It had arbours and walkways covered in Wisteria and other plants .
This is from the lookout at the end of the Privvy Garden
And opposite the Privvy Garden is the greenhouse area - not many to look after here ???
There must be plenty of gardeners & ground staff to keep this place looking good , such a lot of work that needs to be done . I suppose it gave jobs & work to a lot of people , it still does .
Overloaded with the opulence and expense of this palace , we went back to the apartment thinking Wow, if the rest of Vienna is like this , we might have made a mistake staying for there next 6 nights !!
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