After a well-deserved sleep in our hotel room, we decided to leave Vienna. First we had breakfast, and then we got up to our room, starting to pack. In about 35 minutes we were all packed, luggage in the car, and check-out completed.
But we couldn’t resist to attend to one more of Vienna’s attractions: Schonbrunn. We had a glimpse of the Schonbrunn gardens the other day, when we visited Vienna’s zoo. If we could “make it” in about 2-3 hours, it will be great, we will have plenty of time to get to Prague, and then even search for a hotel in Prague, as we did in Vienna. Actually, we did search for a hotel in Prague for more than one hour, but fortunately we found a gorgeous one. But let’s take things one at a time, we’re still in Vienna, in the underground parking of the hotel, setting up our GPS for Schonbrunn.
In about 15 minutes we were there, in front of a huge park, packed with tourists. The first impression is really big:
The Schonbrunn palace exhales a powerful vibration, a forceful and exact contour, a big structure made by belnding buildings with gardens:
The space is used as a park by locals, I saw at least 2-3 people jogging around, hapily mixing with the tourists. One of the most spectacular spots in the whole area is called “Neptune” and features a fantastic fountain and a miraculous garden:
I’m not a big fan of history, so I may skip some important details here. I wasn’t there as a historian, but as a curious human being, and I was impressed only by what I saw. I’m sure there is an underlying layer of precious historical information, but I was just not interested in it.
After having the tour, we spend a little time in the Kinder Museum, but for some reason Bianca didn’t seem impressed. Maybe it was hungry. I know for sure I was. So we take the time to eat at a clean and somehow classy restaurant (called, for no specific reason: Cafe). The food was great, the service and environment even more.
We ate an icecream on the way out, looking at the tourists and trying to ignore the heat. In 10 minutes we were back in the car, setting the GPS for Prague.
Before getting into more details about Prague, just a few more words about things that were of specific interest during our Vienna staying.
First of all, there were insects. And by insects I mean mosquitos. And by mosquito I mean millions of mosquito. It was simply unbelievable. After we visited Donau Turm, the other day, we had to cross a park until the first subway station. During that visit, my head was literally pierced by dozens of aggressive mosquito. I thought it was something usual this time of the year – none of the locals seemed disturbed – until I saw the title of a newspaper in a gas station on the highway, while heading for Prague: “mosquito invasion”. My German skills are a little bit poor, so I couldn’t read more, but it was enough to realize that I was witnessing something special. So did my head, my hands and my feet. I had around 20 “active” mosquito “bites” all over my visibile body.
The second thing noticed in Vienna was the people attitude. They were cold. Like really cold. Almost no interaction. Just enough to understand each other. Smiles were events. When somebody smiled it was most likely a social norm to be respected, not the expression of a feeling. It was like all the beauty in the people somehow found a way out and installed in the buildings, gardens and stones. It was like there was none left for the real people. But then again, it was just my impression.
In the next post will talk about our surprises in Prague, a gorgeous hotel and another strange and beautiful museum.