Day 15: May 28th, A Palace Fit For Complicated Royal History?

The one thing we did as a group today was visit Schonbrunn Plaace which resides in the city limits of Vienna. Now I have to be honest here, I really didn't know much about the Austrian Royal Family before I came here, and I still don't know much. I guess if I had to complain about something about the place it would be the lack of history of the family and what occurred in the palace, not just the purpose of each room. Other than that the tour was quiet enjoyable. The audioguide was very helpful in getting us to understand the history of the construction of the palace and what the various rooms were used for. All of this was done while filling in some important historic points and using many first person sources which I thought was very interesting to hear from. Overall I had fun exploring the different rooms and imaging what it was like for those to live there years ago. I guess I didn't enjoy myself as much as I could due to the large amount fo people there since the Palace is one of Vienna's biggest tourist spots. Also they kind of went a little overboard with the gift shops and souvenirs, and this is coming from a girl who loves souvenirs! I did enjoy some of the history I learned like the fact that many of the heads of the imperial family order remodels to reflect the styles the time. Or how Napoleon's son was separated for his mother and kept at the palace due to his father's actions and beliefs. I did throughly enjoy the gardens attached the palace. The baroque styling of the garden amazed me despite all the construction around it. My friend Kirsten and I even went through the mazes they had in the garden which actually proved to be pretty hard at times. It was interesting to think that even with all the visitors the park didn't seem crowded, which really got me thinking what it would be like with only the imperial family there. Royals sure were lucky in some ways I guess. I do appreciate how the city of Vienna has turned these gardens into parks for the public to enjoy. As a whole I enjoyed the palace but I think I would only want to visit there the one time and maybe return to the garden someday.

While the rest of the day was a free day I knew I wanted to make the most of my time since my time was running out in Vienna. So Kirsten and I went on a adventure to see more of the city. The first place we visited was Prater an amusement park inside the city limits. The whole park felt like a weird thrown together rejection pile for Disney with most of the rides and attractions right on top of each other with no rhyme or reason. Admission was thankfully free but the prices to ride the rides was steep, on average it was 5 euros and there were hundreds of rides there to ride. There were also many carnival games to play and a surprising number of haunted houses. The park was also home to a very historic ferris wheel which while a little overpriced was still a lot of fun to go on and learn the history of. As a whole the park was fun but expensive but I did enjoy getting to the city from so high on some of the rides.

After Prater we went to St. Stephen's Cathedral in the city center. While we had seen the outside of the church several times on our adventures in Vienna we had yet to actually go inside. So with much anticipation we hurried inside the cathedral and basked in the beauty that is St. Stephen's Cathedral. While enjoying the beautiful interior I couldn't hep but think about how much of the church was reconstructed due to bombings during World War II, much like the rest of Vienna. It can really make you be proud of how far Vienna and its people have come and how well they have recovered from the ghosts of its past. I do find the attitudes of Viennise people very interesting. Take for instance my host mom, much like her Vienna is very environmentally and medically conscious. People try nd eat healthy organic foods and save water and energy in the home, but then they turn around do things like smoke everywhere in public. While they act like they are perfect (much like the US does) they still have many flaws about them. Which I think is something we will never be able to escape as a society.

This trip has been an amazing experience for me, and as it draws to a close I have been started how much things have changed for me. I talked a lot about this in my blog yesterday but somethings that happened today have cleared my image of myself. I am learning to stand for myself again, while also learning different kinds of patience I am not used to using. I believe I am changing and learning for the better on this trip. Still there are still couple days left and many adventures left to write about, until next time!