Schonbrunn and more

 This morning, we finally made it to Schonbrunn (one of our big ticket items). While it was built as the summer getaway for the Habsburgs, these days it just a few stations down the line from our apartment. It is such an impressive location. It takes up huge amounts of land and is completely picturesque. As we found at Chatsworth and at Sans Souci, 7 years ago, the grounds are every bit as impressive as the building. The tour through the palace is beautifully curated giving you a real glimpse of the way the Habsburgs lived. Unfortunately, we have no photos as they don't allow any photography inside.

We took our time strolling around the grounds. Like all royal grounds, there are multiple grand features and additional buildings to check out. We swore we wouldn't climb anymore hills but, of course, we couldn't resist The Gloriette. On our way back, we decided to walk through a beautiful, wooded forest. It was a lovely, cool walk especially as it was a 29 degree day in Vienna. As we walked through the forest, there was a great gust of wind and we were showered with autumn leaves. It felt like a symbol for the end of summer and the end of our trip. 

After lunch back at our apartment, we headed for the Prater and the amusement park there. The Prater was originally built as an elegant, outdoor meeting place for Vienna's finest. While the park is still nice, the amusement park is a bit more like Luna Park than the gorgeous Tivoli in Copenhagen. Nevertheless, we had fun. Clare loved the opportunity to go on some rides. We shared some of them with her which was a fun, family moment.

Tomorrow is our last day in Europe. We are splitting up so everyone gets to do what they want on our last day. Last post tomorrow.

A couple of videos from today - video 1, video 2