Prague/Austria/Hungary Trip - Day 4 - Vienna

We took the overnight train to Vienna and got in SUPER early to a crisp Vienna morning. Where Prague had been slightly too warm on the last day, Vienna swung the other way. Even though it was only 7 am, we decided to attempt to check in to our hotel so we could freshen up. A 15 minutes subway ride later we were to our hotel since Megan was a rock star and had booked us the Hilton in downtown Vienna. As usual, she got a great deal on it. We were reasonably sure they would accommodate our ludicrously early check in and desperate and sleepy enough to try.

Thankfully, we got an amazing bellhop who found us a room and then once he noticed I was a gold member at Hilton, upgraded us to a executive suite. Having gold status is the best, it gives free breakfast, wifi and they'll upgrade your room if possible. In this case, it upgraded our room and we took someone's room who had a note already written to him. Laters sucker! If you were ever in Vienna and your hotel room was crappy at the Hilton, I'd like to apologize if it was your room we took. We headed up to the room to nap and play on the internet (guess who did what) before heading up to breakfast and then setting out for the first palace on our list, Schonbrunn Palace.





We had learned it was right off the subway so we hopped on board the subway at our hotel and hopped off at Schonbrunn. After I directed us the complete opposite direction of the palace from the subway, we eventually ended up at the front gates after a 45 minute detour. Schonbrunn is the most impressive palace I have ever seen. Almost all of the rooms are restored to their glory days are are filled with gowns, jewels, furniture and paintings that make it feel so lively and a stark contrast to the drab emptiness I felt touring Versailles. The only bummer is you can't take pictures so we didn't capture any of the amazingness inside.

After the tour, we decided to head up to their "tea house", an enormous building overlooking the palace. It gave us a good excuse to amble through the gorgeous grounds and me an excuse to eat more sausage, this time Viennese. We headed back down to the palace which gave Megan an excuse to hang out with baby animals.

Then we swung by the downtown area for a tour of a church and slowly wandered back to the hotel through the back streets of Vienna. Along the way, I found another sausage vendor, this time in what looked like a sleeping bag. Obviously I had to order it but it made Megan start to feel sick (or so she claims).

When we were planning our trip, there were options to buy tickets to either the National Opera or the State Opera. We wanted to see the big fancy Opera house, so we had booked tickets to the National since that is bigger than State right? Turns out we were wrong so we ended up with tickets to both! For the record, the State Opera is held at the amazing Vienna Opera house that most everyone has seen before. We took the subway up to the national opera and saw the Sound of Music. Only issue was that it was in German so we missed out somewhat. Luckily we both know the story and melodies well enough to still enjoy it quite a bit.

Afterwards we had a recommendation to go to gasthaus zur opera for dinner. I think I had the Schnitzel. Sadly Megan was still feeling not great so we headed straight back to our hotel afterwards.