Travel Diary: Vienna Trip

Day Three: Vienna, Christmas Eve. 24/12/12

Today was all about taking it slow. We wanted to have a Christmas Eve to be remembered, and that is what we got:)

As was told previously, we bought tickets to see a Christmas concert at the Shönbrunn Palace. It was to be held this evening at the Orangery, so we began heading to the Shonbrunn Palace via metro, at around 10am. The metro here is really good, compared to the metro system in London:)) It is actually just around from the hotel, and there are only like 5 lines running. The place where we wanted to get to was on the same line, /phew/, so it was even less complex.

We got out of the metro, arrived at the palace, and bought the grand tour tickets for all of us. The palace has a wide area behind where there is billions of meters of gardens, including a maze, and fountains in Summer. I wished to go to the zoo that they also had there, but it wouldn't have been as amazing as it would have been in Summer, so we decided to skip that
;o

Inside the palace was awesome! We were not alowed to take our own pictures, but I manage to get some postcards showing the inside ballroom, which I have to say was my fav room.

Included in the pic clockwise: The Empress Elizabeth, nicknamed Sisi, of 1879, the grand ballroom (the ceiling is actually straight) and my scrunched up ticket to the concert.

After the tour we went to some markets outside the palace.

It was around 2pm, and the concert attendent that we met said we should make sure to be at the Orangery at around 3pm, so we began heading in that direction.

One person from information told us that we could get in here, where mummu is standing, but we could find no entrance to the orangery:) When we eventualy, finally did get in, the concert was great, althougj we had to wait like an hour inside! Again, we could take no photos, though in the intervals no one stopped us from snapping a few pics ;p

This was taken from our seat of where the orchestra would be seated. I am sorry it is a bit blurred.. It was an awesome place! There were many chandeliers, and the place was actually where Mozart and Wolfgang had competitions playing music.

This was the view from the Orangery.

After the concert, we were quite hungry. There was luckily one cafe that we could find open on Christmas so we had dinner there. I had a ganache soup, not sure if hat is how it is spelt. It was amazing! When they brought it out, we got a huge basket of bread to share. It was a great Christmas dinner :)

Overall, I don't think that we will be forgetting this Chrstmas Eve in a long time..

Travel Diary: Vienna Trip

Day Two: Vienna

Since we were so had it from the previous day, we all slept in. When I say SLEPT IN, it actually means around 8am we woke:) Nothing too great. - rolling eyes-

In the morning we ate a gorgeous continental buffet -pronounce the T- in the hotel, including nutella sandwiches and hot chocolate with milo cereal. Delish:) Best start of the day:)))

We then took some time to oganize our stuff neatly into the compartments in the rooms, before heading out to one of the many Christmas markets. And just as we were stepping out the door, we found that is was raining:( NICE. Great thing for tourists, all that sightseeing in the foggy, wet weather:)

Anywayz, we didnt let that put us off. The hotel attendent had been so nice, see, and had shown us exactly which stop we should get off at from the D tram. Right. Annndd, we got lost.. Well not technically, since we were spit up to begin:)

Just as we had arrived at the tram stop to begin our glorious feat, Harri realised that he was cold. So my mother and him went back to the hotel, and we said that we would meet them at the stop that the hotel attendent had told us to stop at. Bound for something to happen, right? New city, new sights. So, yes. Myself, pappa and dad got off where we were supposed to get off. My brother and my mother took the tram after the one that we took, and decided to get off at the first markets that they saw.

We were waiting for them for some time, and when I eventually rang Harri.. In the end, we did find them:0 On the bright side, the markets were really pretty. We had a great time. There was what we think is the House of Commons behind the markets. We found iin that building an indoor market. This market hall was some exibiton for children to create items such as candles and necklaces for Christmas presents. The place reminded Harri and I so much of Hogwarts, since we could glimpse a courtyard outside, and there was even a picture of a phoenix on the wall:)

After this visit, we all found that this was not a good idea, being out in the rain. We did stop at the market to get some drink which was like glogi, but we decided to head home after that to change. As we were walking toward the tram stop that would take us back to the hotel, a man stopped us. He started asking whether we wanted to buy some tickets for a concert in the Schonbrun Palace. He said that we coud get some amazing deals, and get free drinks! Mummu, knowing mummu, was very interested:))

Finally, we ended up on the tram with tickets to the concert tomorrow evening. Yay! So tomorrow we will be going to the Shonbrun Palace!!:)

In the afternoon we all went to the arts and cultural museum in the center of Vienna. It was not as totally extraordinary as the British Museum, and the artifacts were better there I think, but the building!! Simply bliss:)

We ended the day by going to another market area, buying sausages, and eating those looking under the archway to what we think may have been the entrance to some military building:))