2nd Day in Vienna, Austria

Me at the top of the hill in the garden in front of the Schonbrunn Palace and the city.
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I got up early to see the Schonbrunn before I had to leave for Prague. I had to catch two trains to get there, but I was there before 9:00am. I got the Classic Tour Pass for the Schonbrunn for $13 Euro and saved $2 Euro with my Vienna Card. The tour included the Grand Tour with audio guide of the Schonbrunn Palace, entrance to the Maze and Labyrinth, the Privy Garden, and viewing from the terraceof the Gloriette. I started by taking the Grand Tour of the palace with the audio guide. It was the first tour I had done with the audio guide. It was very informational and I enjoyed all background information to all the rooms. I didn't like how slow it was to switch from one room to the next, I think if it just ran straight and you could pause it if you wanted to that would have been better. The tour went through each room of the palace and some of them were really amazing with the murals and artwork on the walls. A large part of the artwork was from royal family members and it was really good. The Habsburgs put a great influence on learning arts and crafts. Franz Jospeh lived a busy and dedicated life to running the country. He would wake up at 4:00am everyday and would see as many as one hundred people individually through out the day. They said that he never forgot a face and if he met someone once, he would remember them. The grand tour included about twenty extra rooms that the regular tour did not and ended up lasting about 50 minutes. I then headed to the main garden in back and passed through the Privy Garden on the way. The Privy Garden was under construction, so there really wasn't much to see. I stopped at the Maze and Labyrinth area, which was inside the garden. I did the maze first and it was actually pretty difficult to find your way through and I was expecting Jack Nicholson's charater from the Shining to jump out at any moment. I did hit quite a few dead ends and ended up back at the entrance once, but I eventually made it to the middle, which was a tree with a small balcony on it, so you could look out over the maze when you where finished. Next I went to the Labyrinth, and no it was no like the movie and David Bowe was not hidden inside it. It was some very short hedges that were about waist high that twisted around and around and eventually you ended back near the entrance. There were a few things for the kids, like a fountain with a foot pump to shot the water up, some boards with springs on them, a metal plate that played music when you stepped on different parts of it, some mirrors, and a pond with stone steps to jump across. My favorite part was the end, because I was able to leave the wonderful labyrinth. I then walked up the hill to the Gloriette, which was building at the top of the hill in front of a pond that had a terrace that looked out over garden and the city. I had to go back to the hostel, get my bags, and take a tram to the other train station in the city to catch my 1:30pm train to Prague. Since my Eurorail pass doesn't work in the Czech Republic, I had to buy a ticket from the Czech border to Prague, which cost $27.50 Euro and then another $9 Euro on the train. I guess it was a special train that required a reservation that costs an additional amount. There were three people that passed through the train, first the train conductor to check tickets, then the Austrian immigration officer to stamp my departure, and then a Czech immigration officer to stamp my arrival. It was fairly simple and I just had to hand them my passport when they walked by. One of them did give me a look, because of the lack of beard in the passport photo. I had to take the city metro to get to my hostel, but it wasn't to bad just a bit of a walk from the train station to the metro station. I then checked into the hostel, dropped my bags off, and went to buy a city map. The guy at the hostel desk had pointed to a few places on the city map on their wall that were in walking distance. I walked to the Old Town Square and passed through the Powder Gate on the way. The Powder Gate was part of the fortification of the Old Town and in the 17th century stored gun powder and hince its name. In the Old Town Square was full of these wooden boothes that were selling food and it looked like the closed ones sold gifts and other merchandise. There was stage and a tree with lots of balloons and streamers in it. It looked like the end of a big festival that was just about to close up for the night. I got a Brautwarst for dinner and then I had this stuff called Trdelnik. It was a bread that was roasted over a fire on a roller, buttered, and dipped in cinnamon with almonds in it. It tasted really good and was traditional Czech cake. I building surrounding the square these three large buildings, the Tyn Church, the Old Town Hall with a big clock tower, and St. Nicholas Chruch. I then headed for the river Vltava which was just to the west of the square. When I got to the water I could see the Prague Castle up on the hill on the other side of the river. I followed the river down the the Charles Bridge and the Old Town Bridge Tower. At night everything looked really beautiful, because it was all lit up with lights. It was difficult taking pictures at night, but I did get a few that kind of turned out. I had heard the nightlife in Prague was really good, but I didn't know where to go. I looked for any bars that looked festive, but pretty much everything was just resturants and shops. I figured I was in the wrong part of town, but I didn't really know where the right part was. I found a Casino that I figured I could get a beer and see what games they had. I played some video roulette and had a beer, but that got boring. I was able to find blackjack, but no one was playing it. It was $1000 Crown ($50 US) minimum buy in and you had to play two hands at $50 Crown ($2.50 US) a piece. It wasn't too expensive and I did have anything else to do, so I played a couple of hours and ended up losing about $40 US. I had a few free beers and had a good time, so I was happy. I hit the McWalk, which is the McDonald's walk up counter open 24 hours on the way home. I was tired, so I crashed when I got home at around 11:00pm.

I did the maze first and it was actually pretty difficult to find your way through and I was expecting Jack Nicholson's charater from the Shining to jump out at any moment.