Farewell from Vienna

We arrived at the Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg shortly before 10 o'clock. In autumn, there are only performances on weekends, and during the week you can watch the morning training.

We didn't expect the crowd that awaited us. So we obediently stood in line for tickets and waited for admission. Then it went faster than expected, but there were only seats left on the second floor, where the view wasn't as good. We watched the white Lipizzaner horses as much as we could, mainly riding in circles.

In the end, we didn't watch the whole riding lesson and decided to visit the Museum of Natural History instead.

On our way, we passed a large police and military presence in front of the Hofburg. So we took a closer look: the Austrian Federal President was waiting and shortly after, a car arrived with the President of North Macedonia and his wife. After formal greetings and music, the presidential couples continued on their way, and we continued our journey to the Museum of Natural History.

There, we could take a closer look at many animals we had seen on our travels, although they were stuffed. The hall with the dinosaurs was also impressive, with one model coming to life every few minutes...

As our last stop in the city, we chose Belvedere. The baroque palace complex was once the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy.

Today, it houses art exhibitions, although we found the magnificent rooms more interesting.

Of course, we visited the collection of the artists of the Vienna Secession, including Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss". Before seeing the original in the museum, we had already seen the motif a hundred times in the city: it seems that no souvenir shop in Vienna can do without bags featuring Klimt's work.

Then it was time for us to head to the airport. We went to the observation deck, from where you can watch the runway. There are also some information panels about the airport, presumably justifying the entrance fee.

And then we left Austria and headed north.