We started off the day by heading out to Schönbrunn Palace, the formal summer residence of the royal family. Now it was huge! I’ve seen photos of the castle, but it was nothing like I expected in person! Just more exquisite and grand. The palace wrapped around the whole lot, that there was no way I was able to capture it all in a photo no matter how far away from it I stood. Eventhough we didn’t go inside when we walked up to the exterior staircase we could peek inside to see and see the gorgeous ceilings and furniture inside. We walked through the perfectly maintained gardens and headed to the fountain. What I thought know as interesting is that the fountain had statues of the Greek Gods and depicted them each it a pose that demonstrated their attributes. We continued our way up and walked up to take in the view. And also we were able to seek shelter from that rain that decided to make another appearance…After the rain stopped we walked through the forest in our way down and I realized how little actually green space similar to what I consider a forest, aside from Hamburg, during my time here. The palace grounds even have a botanical gardens and the oldest zoo in Europe. We managed to peak into the cages and spotted a fellow Canadian, a buffalo!
As we made our way back to the city centre I of course had to find a donar kebab, as it my goal to have one in every country and judge the best of them all! After lunch we walked along the Rathaus where we realized it was pride week. We walked into the village, but it seemed very empty and there wasn’t that much going on. Apparently on the weekend it is where everyone goes to celebrate. We were able to snag a free ice cream from one of the booths and made our way to the University of Vienna. It is the oldest university in Austria and also within the German speaking world; founded in the thirteenth century. Inside the main entrance there was a courtyard where busts of famous alumni we surrounding the perimeter. I personally would feel intimidated to be going to the same alma mater as scholars like Sigmund Freud.
We then later headed off to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, sadly the front of it was covered for restoration, but the inside did not disappoint! We then took a well deserved break in the park outside the church where the city had supplied lawn chairs. So we rested for and enjoyed the sunshine that made an appearance from behind the clouds. Afterwards we went back to Charlottes to go to her university wherever the rest of the roommates to watch a jazz concert that was playing. Apparently this band only comes to play once a year so we were lucky! They thankfully some classics that I knew and they also had a singer for a few songs who sang in English. So Andrea and I sang along to be joined with the rest of the crowd. It was a super fun atmosphere, there were people of all ages just enjoying the music! The Vienna imagined. After the concert we all headed into the park to watch the bats fly back an forth and gaze at the stars. However, the rain decided to make a reappearance and forced all to head back home.