Vienna - Schönbrunn Palace

On our third day in Austria's capital city, we visited Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsburgs. To avoid waiting for too long, we went there early in the morning and got a ticket that allowed us to enter the palace immediately.

We squeezed through the entrance between two Asian tour groups and started our tour through the magnificent rooms of the former imperial residence.

Afterwards, we visited the Crown Prince's Garden next to the palace and admired the flowers in the orangery, which were already densely packed in the rooms because they are supposed to overwinter there at 10°C.

We walked to the palace park and made our way to the Gloriette.

Along the way, we stopped at the mazes, only one of which was designed to get lost in. The exit was even signposted in the lower labyrinth.

In one of the mazes, we could solve a mathematics task: starting at 1, we could take as many steps as indicated on the number. The goal was to reach the middle. We skipped the advanced version, where we had to add up the numbers with positive and negative signs and try to reach 0.

From the Gloriette, we had a beautiful view of Schönbrunn Palace and the city of Vienna behind it.

We took the little train that runs through the palace park back to the main entrance. There, we rushed to the "Apfelstrudelshow", where we not only learned the secrets of preparing apple strudel, but also got to taste a little piece. (The still warm strudel here tasted much better than the one we tried on the first day at Café Prückel - maybe it was because of the secret ingredient, rum raisins...)

Near the entrance, there was also the "Wagenburg" museum, where mainly old carriages of the Habsburgs were exhibited. We were able to admire some splendid specimens there.

Then we headed to the zoo, where we first visited the Desert House, which showcases plant and animal desert inhabitants.

There were many more animals in the zoo, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. We took a break in the Emperor's Pavilion for a "Kaiserjause" and Kaiserschmarrn.