Vienna

After 6 days of sleeping in a tent and being constantly cold and wet at night (at least I was) we packed up camp and headed to Vienna. We afforded a hotel on the outskirts of the city and took the train into town.   

The first of our two days in Vienna was spent at Schonbrunn Castle and gardens.  A mere summer home for the Habsburgs, a family that ruled from 1273 untill 1918, 630 years!

This is the view from the back of the palace. 

From the monument in the above picture you can see miles and miles of Vienna's landscape.

The gardens were hedged with trees pruned completely flat on one side.

Within the palace gardens is the Palm house.  The outside of which is just as lovely as the inside.

I remember reading that this plant was once considered taboo for women to look at since it resembles a males genitalia, making it all the more inviting for queens and princesses who dabble in exotic plant collections to own.  I have also learned this plant is said to be the most stinky plant on the planet although it had no fragrance while we were there.  It has tons of medicinal uses like curbing appetite for obesity and helping regulate blood sugar levels in diabetes.  I found this website to be very interesting.  http://www.ehow.com/about_4672320_what-amorphophallus-konjac.html

The light rain caused a beautiful rainbow over part of the castle.

That evening we attended a marionette performance of Mozart's Magic Flute.  The girls were captivated and asked lots of questions.  The performance was all in German and it was a great introduction to opera.