Schönbrunn Palace

Vienna was the seat of the Hapsburgs and their Austro-Hungarian Empire. The main palace is in the middle of Vienna but we didn't think we could talk the kids into doing two palaces together so we opted to visit the summer palace - Schönbrunn. It's about five miles from the center and in the glory days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that would have been out in the country. Plus it's surrounded by extensive grounds. In it's heyday it was home to Queen Maria Therese the mother of Marie Antoinette and was last really used by Emporer Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth (Princess Sisi as she was known and loved by the people) in the mid-1800s.  We spent the ENTIRE day there because there was so much to do and I think this was my favorite day because it was fun for the whole family.

Our apartment was about a mile from the palace entrance and we decided to walk down. On the way we stopped in at a large cemetery with some beautiful mausoleums and statues. 

 

We entered the palace grounds from the side and they are extensive. At one end you have the palace and at the other the Gloriette at the top of a hill with cultivated park, a labyrinth and playground, and a zoo in between. I'm sure it's glorious when things are in bloom because it was pretty impressive even without them.

The Gloriette at one end

 

The palace is huge and very yellow.  Of course there were no pictures allowed inside but the tour was self-guided and went through about 40 rooms. Queen Marie Therese had it done in Rococo (my favorite) and there were quite a few rooms that fantastically amazing. There were also quite a few that more plain. Emporer Franz Joseph was apparently a hard worker and preferred to keep things simple and the portraits on the walls to be of his family members. Princess Sisi did not enjoy court life and also preferred to keep things simple. So overall it perhaps wasn't the most spectacular we've seen but it was very lovely and we enjoyed it.

After touring the castle we left for lunch and then came back to go through the children's museum.  That was absolutely a blast!  It started in a large room with closets of dress up clothes and wigs and a couple of rocking horses.  Everyone enjoyed dressing up (even Megan!) and we took lots of pictures.  

They even had some adult sized clothing so of course Chopper joined in!

I love that guy in the background looking at Abby!

A sedan chair

The children's museum is in one wing of the palace so you better believe I took pictures of the Rococo when I could!

After the dressup room there were a series of rooms that we went through showing life in the palace. One really fun one was the hair room.  It had different hair powders to smell and wigs to style. In one glass case was a wig with a boat - I wish we could've tried that one on!

Megan did a beautiful styling job.

They also had a few dresses on display.

And of course one where we could put on some royal robes.

And then a dining room with plenty of play food for a good royal meal. 

After the children's museum we went to the labyrinth and the kids played at the playground.

After some time playing we walked up to the Gloriette. Surprisingly the kids ran. I'm not kidding - it was 5 pm and we'd been walking all day and they still ran up the hill.  It was a really beautiful day and the hill was covered with people sitting out and enjoying the weather and the view!!

The kids also took some time to roll down the hills and then come back up. Endless energy!

All of Vienna spread out behind the Schönbrunn.

We were able to climb to the very top of the Gloriette (William didn't want to stay long, he's afraid of heights) but we got some good pictures.

On our way back down we stopped at the ruins and had a good laugh.

These were built as ruins and we've been around enough real ones now that even the kids commented on how fake they looked! More like an earthquake had hit a new building rather than an old one falling down.

Overall we walked about ten miles this day and we slept well that night. The kids did a great job with all of that walking probably in part because we did so many things that were fun for them and not just walking and looking.