Selo Travels Europe

Friday, July 25 .... In the morning we drove just outside of Vienna to the Schonbrunn Imperial Palace. This was the royal family's place of residence during the summer months. The property takes up 460 acres.   The gardens are vast, lush and meticulously kept. We hiked up to a royal gazebo (more like another mansion) where the imperial family would come for breakfast. It sits high atop a hill overlooking the palace and the entire city if Vienna. 

We then went to the Vienna Zoo which is part of the Schonbrunn Palace property. Everyone went off on their own, in small groups, checking out the hippos, elephants, bears giraffes, etc. The most popular and entertaining exhibit was a pool of cute little penguins ... hopping around and diving into the water.

In the eventing we all went to the Film Fesrival Square for supper and to hang out. For our transport back to the hotel we decided to have a new experience ... we took the Vienna subway.   It all went very smooth, but our bus rides with Josep and Martin are always more fun!  Tomorrow we take a day trip to Brataslava, Slovakia!

The very impressive Schonbrunn Imperial Palace near Vienna.  

Maybe we'll book a ballroom for our next rehearsal?!

Standing on the front approach to Schonbrunn Imperial Palace.

A very hot day.

The sculpted flower gardens in the 'backyard' of the Palace.  

Just beyond the gardens is an impressive Neptune Fountain ... everyone should have one of these in their backyard!

High atop the hill, is the Gloriette structure (the 'royal gazebo') where the imperial family would often go for breakfast.

If you look in the bottom righthand corner of the picture I think there's a weed next to the red flowers?!  Unthinkable!!

Standing in the 'backyard' of the Palace.  The Gloriette is off in the distance behind us.

We're going to hike up to it for a tea!

We made the hike past all the gardens and up the hill ... it's tea time!

The view of the Palace from atop the Gloriette.

The view of Vienna from atop the Gloriette.

Checking out the elephants at the Vienna Zoo.

Trying out a 'subway experience' on the way back to our hotel at the end of a long day.