This post was composed by Natalie Brown
We departed from the Center in Salzburg early the morning of Thursday September 22nd. We were headed for a weekend full of fun and adventures in Vienna and everyone was excited for our first overnight tour.
Once we got to Vienna our first stop was beautiful Schönbrunn Palace, which is a surprising yellow color. We found out that the color is actually called Schönbrunn Yellow (named after the palace itself). We were able to take a tour of the palace and explore the huge gardens surrounding it. We could have stayed at the Schönbrunn all day as there were plenty of things to keep us entertained, including a labyrinth and the oldest zoo in Europe. Not to mention, countless breath-taking views of the castle grounds and the city of Vienna itself.
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But soon we were back on the bus and headed to our hotel to check in for the weekend. Next, we jumped back on the bus and headed to the Belvedere Palace. We went on tour of the palace, the highlight of which was being able to see the incredible artwork of Gustav Klimt. We were able to see such pieces as The Kiss and many others.
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On Friday we all received a wakeup call at 6:45am, pulled ourselves out of bed and headed for breakfast before meeting up at the bus for another busy day touring around Vienna. First on our agenda for Friday was the State Opera House, which was absolutely incredible. We had a guided tour of the opera house and were able to appreciate all the original architecture as well as the restorations that had been made to the beautiful building.
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After the tour of the Opera House, we walked over to the Secession Building where we were able to see a Frieze by Gustav Klimt. The work was inspired by Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”. It was incredibly striking. Seeing Kimt’s artwork in person was an amazing opportunity for all of us.
After walking through town so we could see the outside of Karlskirche (St. Charles), we were given time off to explore the pedestrian area and eat lunch on our own.
We met back up for a tour of St. Stephen’s, which was another unbelievably beautiful church.
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But our day wasn’t over yet! After seeing St. Stephen’s, we headed to the Hundertwasser Museum. We received a guided tour where we learned all about Hundertwasser’s life, his beliefs, and saw some of his powerful and expressive artwork.
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At the end of the day, we returned to our hotel with just enough time to get dressed up for dinner and a night at the State Opera House. We were lucky enough to see a ballet at the famous opera house. It was a wonderful night!
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Despite the busy day before, we were up again at 6:45 Saturday morning (courtesy of our friendly morning wake up calls). After breakfast it was off to the Museum of Fine Arts where we received another wonderful tour and had the pleasure of seeing a great deal of beautiful artwork. Saturday afternoon we had some free time to explore and get to know the city of Vienna. There was so much to take in and so many sights to see!
Sunday morning we were on our way back to Salzburg, but we stopped on our way at the Melk Monastery to attend a traditional German service as a group. After the mass, we received a tour of the elegant Monastery.
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We had a marvelous time in Vienna, but after our extremely busy weekend, we were all exhausted and ready to head home to Salzburg. Looking back, we were all amazed that we were able to do so much in one trip. We got a wonderful introduction to Vienna and most importantly, we got to spend the weekend experiencing all new things with our newly formed family here in Austria. We could not have asked for more from our tour of Vienna!