The second day we spent in Vienna (well actually more like the second half day), was a day with a planned visit. We planned to visit the summer residence of the Habsburg monarchs: Schönbrunn Palace.
We planned the visit to have a length of about three hours, visiting mainly the sites included in the Classic Pass at the time of our visit: a Grand Tour of the palace, a visit to the Crown Prince Garden, a visit to the Maze&Labyrinth and access to the top of the Gloriette.
A fun fact about how the tickets are actually being sold at the place: you buy your ticket at the ticket shop (which was by the way really fast), you get a time-slot imprinted on the ticket showing you when you can actually get into the palace, and then you wait for that time and just go ahead and skip the line (full of all the others, who did not notice the time-point imprinted on the ticket and continuously get turned around at the entrance) to enter the palace.
I have to say having the audio-guide was really helpful (it was available in a lot of languages) and proved to be quite an important accessory along the tour. Another fun-fact: you can actually download the audio-guide to your phone at the location by just scanning a bar code imprinted on the posters. I do not know how good that is, because I was on roaming with no mobile-internet access (and had no headphones either). Anyway, the audio-guide is included in the ticket price, so I did not see the reason to bother…
The big problem here, was that it was forbidden to take photos: I do not know how much it would have cost to get a permit, but I guess a lot, because nobody took photos 🙁 .
Next stop was the Crown Prince garden. This is a nice little garden which can only be entered with a ticket (in contrast with the rest of the HUGE park around the palace, which could be entered freely). We had a quick stroll around it and made some very nice photos. I am not sure if I would pay to get in, but it was included in the class pass ticket, so why not? 🙂 . From the park I would have payed, however, for the labyrinth&maze section: now that was fun: who could have thought, that one can actually get lost in such a simple labyrinth…
The best view of the castle (and of Vienna), however is on top of the Gloriette. One must pay to get on the top to the viewing terrace, but luckily this was included in the classic pass, so we did not have to pay. Although it is quite a long walk to get up to the Gloriette, especially on a warm day, it is worth it, and I would advise anyone to make the effort and just get up there 🙂 .
Photos can be found here.
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