Last Full Day in Vienna

Day 4 arrived and it's another early start to the day.


The first objective of the day was to find a place to sleep the final night of my trip, which was still a few nights away but nevertheless I had unfortunately not booked a place to stay and now almost every place in town was completely booked or priced well out of my budget.  So it was off to a few nearby hostels in hopes of find an off-the-books bed but to no avail.  Oh well, if worse comes to worst, I'll just spend the night criss-crossing the city on the subway, tram, or bus....


Not wanting to waste anymore time, I started my way back to the subway station and passed by a basketball court. Now as you can see in the photo below, the Austrians play in cages!

Anyways, it's off to the subway so that I don't get stuck in the queue for Grand Tour tickets at Schloss Schönbrunn.  The tour gives you access to 40 rooms of the palace.  Each room has its own unique story and decorations, and provided for an interesting start to day.  I got there around 8:40 and didn't encounter a line-up.  On my way out however, I noticed the line-ups were out the door.  Luckily I came early! 

Photography of any kind was strictly prohibited inside the rooms so sorry, no pics to show you from the interior but in my opinion, the grounds surrounding the palace are far more interesting.

Also, on the palace grounds is the KHM Wagenburg, the home to the core of the carriage fleet of the Viennese Court.  This small museum provides a glimpse into the elegant horse-drawn carriages that whisked Austrian royalty throughout the generations. In addition to the ceremonial carriages, the collection includes little carriages for the kids and meticulous designed carriages for weddings and funerals.  Here's a sneak peak of what you can expect inside ;)

Midday passed and it was time to head back into town to take in the sights and sounds of old Vienna perhaps one last time. Next thing on the agenda was to stumble upon a baptism in Jesuitenkirche.

Now, just to show that Vienna isn't as impeccably pristine as you might think it is, here's an alley I came across while strolling in the Innere Stadt. 

Unlike in North America where Sunday shopping is the norm, Vienna appears to have limitations  as to which stores can open on Sundays, as only souvenir stores, bakeries, and chocolatiers were open.  Nonetheless, the Innere Stadt was lively with people being entertained by the buskers and enjoying the warm autumn sunshine while window shopping with their families.

With all this walking I was building up quite the appetite so it came as no surprise that I quickly darted into the Villacher restaurant asking for exactly what the two gentlemen were eating out in the courtyard. 

Now, I'm sure that "Texas Ribs in Sweet Hot Sauce mit Potato Wedges" isn't authentic Austrian cuisine but those ribs certainly demanded my attention.

And boy was I right!  The ribs were even better than they looked. I've had more than my share of ribs in my lifetime, and these were definitely the best by far! And to top it off, the courtyard was nice and peaceful so one can enjoy one's hearty meal without any distractions.

After my lip-smacking good ribs, I was off to stroll the Innere Stadt some more and came across a few things to satisfy my sweet tooth.

How can one say No to a "Buy 2, get the 3rd free" bakery special!?!

Or how about visiting Vienna without tasting some of its gelato?

Now I must admit that I am not a gelato connaisseur but I've had more than a few scoops of gelato back home in Canada, and this gelato was certainly the best ever.  At this point, I was wondering why there aren't more fat people in Vienna but it must be from all the walking because that's what I did for the rest of the evening as I window-shopped all the way back to the hostel to get ready for Budapest!