Schonbrunn: A palace that Phillip enjoyed!

Today's visit to Schonbrunn Palace met and exceeded Phillip's expectations! He knew that this was the Austrian palace that I wanted to tour, so he didn't grumble about it. Schonbrunn Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and I've loved all of those designated sites we've visited. Once we began the palace tour, he was in awe of the palace rooms, the opulence and detail of what we saw.

Schonbrunn Castle, from the side of the front courtyard entrance

I would love to provide pictures of the palace rooms, but photography was prohibited and each room had attendants to enforce the rule. I checked on-line to get pictures, but there are very few of them! Apparently the rule is strictly obeyed. I'll have plenty of exterior photos, so I'll need to use words to describe what we saw inside. Our tour ticket gave us access to 40 of the palace's 1441 rooms. The tapestries and upholstery were intricate patterns, at times muted colors, at times brighter, based on the use of the room and the taste of the Empress who designed the room. The wall paintings were wonderfully detailed. An amusing story about one of the paintings: We saw the room in which Mozart gave his first royal performance at age 6. In another room, we saw a painting of a royal wedding which occurred a year before Mozart's performance. The painting included Mozart in the wedding audience because when the painting was made, Mozart had performed and was famous.  We saw the royal dining hall, huge with three frescos on the ceiling. State dinners here. We also saw the emperors' family quarters, smaller but with amazing wall coverings and intricately decorated furnishings. An audioguide was included with our ticket, so we had a running narrative as we moved thru the rooms. (The audioguide is a handheld device we put to our ear. We'd punch in the room number, visible as we walked thru, and that portion of the narrative would play, in English, for us.)

Enough of words, let's get to the outside where I could take pictures.

We used our Wein Card (the public transport card with discounts at museums - unlike the Salz Card that gave us free entry to museums) and paid 22.50 euros so that we could see all the sights at Schonbrunn. In addition to the room tour, our ticket gave us access to our next stop, the Privy Garden. No, not that meaning for "privy." Not outhouse, but rather the "sharing in the knowledge of something private" meaning. This garden is immediately to the east of the palace. We walked thru a vine-covered walkway to the viewing pavillon and captured the gardens and the side of the palace in this picture.

After the Privy Garden, we walked toward the back of the palace complex. The Schonbrunn Gardens (what the grounds are called, a 450-acre grid of tree-lined walkways, fountains at path intersections, and statues) were opened to the public in 1779.

Popular at the time, Hapsburg Emperor Franz Joseph had fake Roman Ruins built into the design of the garden. The Schoner Brunnen (FYI, all the "schon" that I type should have an umlaut [the double dots] above the o, but I have an English keyboard, so please excuse this consistent error) was built in 1778.

Turning right from the Schoner Brunnen, we came to the Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain). Built in 1780, it has figures from Greek mythology.

Neptune Fountain

Before we headed up the hill to the Gloriette, Phillip and I stopped at the labyrinth and maze. (Cue David Bowie music in the background, right, Leslie and Robin?) These that we went thru were a more recent 20th century addition, although the Hapsburgs did have a maze here.

Phillip in the maze. I couldn't let him get too far ahead through!

Our goal in the first maze was to get to the viewing platform, and it was challenging! Phillip and I couldn't see over the hedge, and it took us about twenty minutes. We enjoyed laughing as we'd meet the same people who'd also taken wrong turns. At the viewing platform, you can see the route to be taken.

less than 1/4 of this maze from the viewing platform

From the platform, we also saw the second of the three mazes. It did not have wrong turns, just corridors that took us to various activities, like fountains at our feet. The third maze was shorter and less confusing.

The second maze is past the people in the picture

After the mazes, we had fun in the children's area where funhouse mirrors had been set up.

picture in the mirror

After the labyrinth, we returned to the Neptune Fountain and followed a path that led behind the fountain. We had an excellent view of the palace and the flowerbeds spread across several acres between the fountain and the palace.

Our next task was to visit the Gloriette, a marble summerhouse, built in 1775 (hit by bombs during WWII, but rebuilt). It was an uphill trek.

Our destination: the Gloriette in the distance, up the hill

A pond with lilies awaited us at the top of the hill, in front of the Gloriette.

Because the Gloriette was rebuilt true to its 18th century version, it had no elevator. A spiral staircase led us to the viewing platform with a wonderful view of the palace and gardens.

Schonbrunn Palace as seen from the top of the Gloriette

Instead of returning to the Neptune Fountain, we decided to walk down a different route. We noticed that they groom the trees into arches.

We also found a small garden where the shrubs are shaped.

We arrived back at the main palace just as the clouds formed for rain.

I found the return tram spot and we boarded the tram back to our hotel just as it started to sprinkle. All the way back on the trams (the route Seiji gave us worked great), Phillip talked about the palace and how this had been the best palace he'd seen. So, I'm glad I saved the "palace credit" for Schonbrunn!