Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 2015
Tour Days 13 & 14: Vienna
 Local guide and HansOur local guide, Gerhart, in Vienna was one of our favorites! He had a great sense of humor and vast knowledge of history! |  Statue of the Hapsburgs |
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 Imperial PalaceWe couldn't get enough of these beautiful, ornate roofs throughout Vienna. |  Spanish riding school |
 Kunsthistorisches Museum |  Kunsthistorisches Museum |
 Kunsthistorisches MuseumThe museum was a work of art itself! There was something to look at everywhere! |  Art history lectureGerhart shared his love of art and art history with us. |
 We saw so many beautiful works of art here, and you really could stay here all day! |  Kunsthistorisches Museum |
Morning stroll through the history of Vienna
We woke up excited to see Vienna but sad this was our last full day of the tour. Our walking tour this morning was with Gerhart, our favorite local guide of the trip. He had such a funny, dry sense of humor. Our favorite quote was when we were looking at a statue in the center of town and noticed the netting surrounding it and someone asked "is that for the pigeons?" and he thoughtfully answered "well, its really against the pigeons, I'd say." Ha! He had us smiling the whole morning! We learned about the powerful Hapsburgs, and that they were famous for inbreeding which is why their statues look so funny. He walked us through the famous Kunsthistorisches Museum, which is just stunning! It was a double bonus - not only did you get to see amazing works of art you have only read about, but you get to do it in this incredible building! This is by far our favorite art museum yet!
Beauty and the Beast?
David and I took advantage of a break in the walking tour to visit the Austrian National Library. What an incredible building! This is a must see stop for book lovers! Everyone that has seen our photos of this library has commented that it reminds them of the library from the Beauty and the Beast, and I think they are right! I could live happily here!
Coffee and gardens
We had many ideas of things we wanted to see in Vienna - you could spend a week there and hardly scratch the surface, I would think! But the sun was shining and it was a beautiful clear day and we were tired, so we decided to scratch all our plans and spend the afternoon strolling through the city, snacking and visiting beautiful gardens. Great choice, I think. We visited Volksgarten (the people's garden) first. Oh my goodness, they had rows and rows of every kind of rose you can imagine. Unbelievable! We could have spent all day people watching there! We took a break at Demel, a famous cafe, and had some coffee and sweets while watching the bakers create their masterpieces. After our snack, we decided to take the metro out to Shonbrunn Palace. We did not have time to tour the inside, but the gardens were free and we had a metro pass included with the tour, so we decided to go for it. It was a great way to spend an afternoon! Shonbrunn rivaled Versailles, which we had visited earlier in our trip. In fact, though we didn't see the inside, we liked the outside better, as there were many more colorful flowers there. We climbed up the hill behind the palace for a view of Vienna. It was a perfect afternoon.
 Beautiful day in Vienna! |  VolksgartenThe "people's garden" is this beautiful garden in the center of town featuring rows and rows of exotic rose bushes! I could have happily spent the entire day here! |  Volksgarten |
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 Beautiful roses at Volksgarten |  Volksgarten |  Volksgarten |
 DemelDemel was recommended to us as a great place to try some coffee and some sweet bakery items. We scored a table right by the glass wall that allows you to watch the bakers make their masterpieces. |  DemelYou must try Sachertorte when in Vienna. It is a very rich chocolate cake with apricot jam. |  Schonbrunn PalaceWe enjoyed a stroll through the gardens at Schonbrunn Palace. |
 Schonbrunn Palace |  View of Vienna from Schonbrunn |  Schonbrunn |
A fond farewell
We met at a cozy restaurant for our final group dinner. We had all enjoyed each other's company during this trip so well that this was bittersweet for us. We took our last group photo together on the walk to dinner. What a fun group of people! We all enjoyed the night reminiscing about our trip and sharing future travel plans. David and I snagged Hans for a photo before we headed back to the hotel. Hans helped everyone arrange transport to the airport. He even talked the hotel into setting up a small breakfast early for those of us leaving in the early morning hours. We shared a taxi with some group members back to the airport where we learned about the different standards European airlines have for carry ons, forcing us to check a bag. We also had a bit of a glitch because I did not understand the German-speaking security official that directed me to a special line for an additional security check, so I was not permitted to board the plane, while David was directed to do so. I was ushered by a gate attendent to this screening area where I was asked several questions and my bag was manually inspected. Luckily I made it back to the plane before David took off without me! We had a remarkably wonderful time on our tour and on our way home were already dreaming about our next one!
