Europe 2022 - Day 10 - Vienna and my birthday

 May 29th

Today’s activities started at 8 am with a short bus ride to Schonbrunn Palace, home to the Hapsburgs. We took a tour of the public rooms then had time on our own to walk in the gardens. I met a lovely young woman from Munich who asked me a question in german (I'm useless at it) so switched to English and we walked together for awhile and chatted. Kind of a special thing to happen in the middle of the garden. It's the simple things sometimes.

After our palace tour we did a walking tour through the Volksgarden on to the winter palace, offices of the president and other officials and museums. We then walked by the home of the Lippizaner Stallions where we were able to see about twenty of them walk from their stables to the area where they perform. The other times I’ve been here I’ve been lucky to see one or two in their stables so this was a treat.

The tour ended in the main square in the old city where there is a big pedestrian shopping area and the famous St Stephen’s cathedral. Last time it was covered with scaffolding as they worked to clean the stones but those are gone and it looks beautiful.

I had planned to go back to the hotel to meet up with Jackie Timme for lunch but after 11,000 steps I was ready for a break so I enjoyed a light lunch followed by a piece of Sacher Torte and just enjoyed people watching. I joined up with the tour group for a quick bus ride back to the hotel and then it was nap time