Day 44 - Monday 31st August

Second day in Vienna

We caught the Underground to Karlsplatz, where we sat admiring the Cathedral and pond view while the girls played in the park. 

Refilled our water bottle at a handy dispenser - the Viennese are apparently proud of their water - before setting off to walk across the City.  Found the Rathaus (town hall) where the annual film festival was in full swing.  We had a fantastic lunch at the street food fair - Chinese, Austrian and Indian dishes, as well as Emperor Franz Joseph's favourite pancakes with plum sauce.

 

Some views from our walk around the City:

 

We went to the fantastic Vienna Time Travel museum next - the girls loved it.  It started with a 5D film - retelling Vienna's history from Roman times, through Plague time (complete with rats brushing against our ankles), Turkish siege and WW2.  We then moved onto learn about the Emperors an their families, the culture and finally took a horse and cart ride around a simulated modern Vienna.  All very well done - exhibit this rather suspect model of Franz Joseph and his Empress Sisi:

To finish off the afternoon we headed over to the Schonbrunn Palace where we toured some 40 state rooms (a small part of the enormous complex), pausing to look at the treasures and do a quick Viennese Waltz in the ballroom.

Finally a walk around the gardens including the Orangery and the marionette theatre, before heading back to camp with 3 exhausted girls.