I have some catching up to do. I forgot my I-pad on the second day of Vienna. Carol is not too much into museums so she elected to stay back and enjoy the state gardens just outside our hotel doors. Actually that was a beautiful garden, but I wish she would have gone with us to see the free gardens at Schönbrunn Palace. They were exquisite and occupied very much land. Maria remarked a couple of times that the property was much more than a private garden, it was a whole country.
We thought we would visit the palace as soon as we arrived. Not!! We had to get our tickets validated and then had to wait 45 minutes for our allotted time to go into the palace. No pictures inside. It was a personal audio tour. The palace was magnificent. Here are some pictures I got from the internet
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The last picture will give you a look at the whole room, if you can find it on the internet. It is a gorgeous room.
Here are some facts about Schönbrunn Palace. It has 3 milllion plus visitors every year. The state owns it now, and took it over when there was no longer a monarchy in 1918. It has 1,441 rooms. It began as a hunting lodge. In 1745 it was the summer palace occupied by the Imperial Family during the summer months. Maria Theresa was the Empress who had 11 girls and 4 boys in 16 years. She finally completed the castle in 1770 and she died in 1780. It was not occupied until Franz II, who became Franz I, was preparing for an expo and finished the remodeling in 1819. The palace is virtually the same since then. Franz Joseph became Emoeror in 1848 at age 18 and he reigned until his death in 1916. The last emporer was Charles I, who was the grand nephew of Franz Joseph. The monarchy collapsed in 1918. (I hope I got all the facts straight.)
The next day we traveled to Germany. Thanks for visiting today.