Vienna

After our short stay in Budapest, our next stop was Vienna. It only takes about 2 1/2 hour drive from Budapest to Vienna. Since both countries are members of the European Union, crossing borders is as easy as going from Florida to Georgia back in USA. If the thought that comes to mind when visiting Budapest is "gorgeous", then the thought you have when visiting Vienna is "elegant and magnificent".  Vienna was at the epicenter for many centuries of the Habsburg Dinasty which dominated a large part of this region. The opulence one encounters is magnificent and is noted in every corner of this beautiful city. It was amazing how just taking a short walk would take you from one famous location to another.

Multiple palaces are found in this area. We visited a couple of palaces. The one above is Belvedere Palace, which was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the late 1600s.

Belvedere Palace houses an exquisite art collection. We were not allowed to take pictures inside but if you go to Vienna, it is worth the visit even if going with kids.

Since we did not know Vienna well yet. We bought a ticket for the Hop-on-Hop-off Bus. We've taken multiple similar buses in other cities around the world and sometimes you come off thinking it was not worth the money (such as the Hop-on-hop-off in Singapore). Anyway, this one was really worth it as it included three different loops you could choose.  The main gathering place for all three loops is the Opera House, picture below.

As I mentioned earlier, just taking a short walk in Vienna takes you from one famous building to some famous monument, etc. 

Here's Robert's dad with a monument to Mozart

St. Stephen's cathedral is a beautiful church in Vienna built in the 1300s. It has a tower with over 300s steps which we climbed to get this beautiful view of Vienna. We were joking that Robert's father is in better shape than everyone else in the family and was panting less than anyone after the climb on this claustrophobic set of steps.

Celine is our animal lover and really wanted to take a carriage ride. These elegant carriages take you on a 30 min or 60 min ride around the center of Vienna. It was a beautiful crisp Fall day for a carriage ride.

We visited yet another Palace, called Schonbrunn. This was a 1400s Summer home of the Habsburg Monarchs. My personal opinion is that this is a more impressive place to visit than Belvedere, although both are really worth visiting for different reasons. The audio tour was very nice in Schonbrunn and it was offered both in English and Spanish which was perfect for Robert's dad.  It was cool to be in the same room where these monarchs lived and where Mozart played for them for example or where Napoleon Bonaparte slept when he invaded this region.  

Our tour guide in the bus told us Vienna is the 5th most visited city in the World. We could easily believe it by the large amount of tours we saw everywhere we went (despite this being low season). This does take away from the beauty, but still Vienna is a great place to visit.