For around an hour we had a Grand Tour through the 40 rooms of the 1441 rooms in the palace that are available to the public. The tour was enhanced by a very good audio guide.
Of the places we have seen on this trip Schoenbrunn is by far the most impressive
The Gloriette high up on the hill over looking the Palace
The Sun Fountain at the end of the gardens (Great Parterre) before the climb to the Gloriette
The Schloss from the Gloriette.
Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the Palace but if they were it would show rooms far less ostentatiously decked out than say the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris.
After the tour we enjoyed a typical Austrian dinner in the restaurant on site before moving over to the Orangerie to listen to a Mozart & Strauss concert.
Now classical music is not us but I can't deny that the 90 minute performance consisting of orchestra, two classical singers and two ballet dancers was enjoyed by the approx. 300 others and ourselves!
Again no photos allowed during the performance but I got one during the encore -
the encore was demanded by the others not us.
Today we moved onto Linz another city that has sights and history in abundance.
After walking into the main square from our hotel we took the Poestlingbergbahn from the square up to Poestlingberg for a view nice view of Linz. The Bahn was first put into service in 1898
A pilgrimage church, dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary and perched high above the roofs of the city, is the landmark of the Upper Austrian capital. It was built in 1748
Also on the hill is Grottenwald, a grotto containing scenes from various fairy tales
such as Rapunzel, Hansel & Gretal etc. The kids loved it! The grotto was developed in 1906.
Returning to the main square by the Bahn we wandered around Linz "old town"area
finding among other sites, the Mariendom, the largest Cathedral in Austria and
which is said to be able to hold 20,000
Then there was the Landhaus which also contained what was once a
monastery (Minoritenkirche) and in a street very close by there was the house
where it is said Mozart took 3 days to compose a symphony.
Before returning to the hotel we had time to look in another church - Jesuitenkirche.
Another day completed in a very pleasant part of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment