The Wiley Way: We are actually doing cultural tours in Vienna...

Hello loyal readers,

Two shout outs today: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JAIMIE AND GENE!

So, I last left you with those scrumptious descriptions of desserts in Vienna. So, Sunday morning we awoke at 11:45 am. Really? Who does that? I have never slept that late in my entire life. Anywho… we began our sight-seeing at the zoo in Vienna called Tiergarten Schonbrunn. It is the OLDEST ZOO IN THE WORLD! Hooray! We saw giraffes, koala bears, lions, penguins (photos for Sarah attached), crocodiles, rhinos, hippos, and a whole plethora of smaller animals. Most importantly, I spent some quality time with a leopard. I loved him even though he looked at me like he wanted to chew my face off. Beautiful zoo, all flat walking ground, and they sold gelati. Thumbs up.

After this tour, we went to the Schonbrunn Palace to tour. We took the 22 room Imperial Tour of the home of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth. Elisabeth may be better known to you as “Sisi.” She lived a rather depressing life, being married off at 15 and not wanting to conform to the traditional ways of the royal lifestyle. You should google her… the story is quite interesting. The palace was unbelievable and this was the first place where Petey and I slowed down enough to listen to the audio tour. Instead of visiting the palace in 15 minutes, we listened for 35 minutes! Did you know that Mozart’s first musical performance was in this palace?

We wandered Vienna afterwards and stopped at Va Piano, that delicious pasta chain where everything is made to order. I had Penne Arrabbiata and it was sensational. Petey had Penne Aglio E Olio, or pasta with olive oil, garlic, and chili. Both were smothered in fresh parmesan. One of the chefs here is my brother’s doppleganger. Spitting image. I could not stop staring at him, even his mannerisms were like J.D.’s. This was quite amusing to me. This dining experience was a beautiful end to our evening and then we strolled back to the hotel.

This morning, we did a little better on timing- out of the hotel at 10 am. We blew past the Austrian Parliament building, took some nice photos, and then we headed to the friendly neighborhood Starbucks where I indulged in a coffee Frappucino and a piece of banana chocolate chip bread. The Frappucinos are better here… less cream and more straight up coffee flavored deliciousness.

We then did a quick tour of St. Stephen’s Cathedral where a mass was going on. This Cathedral was where Mozart and his wife got married! Very gothic and very cool. Then, we found Mozart’s house to tour. The home we visited was where he lived from 1784 to 1787. It is the ONLY surviving apartment that Mozart lived in while in Vienna. We again indulged in the audio tour and learned all about how Mozart composed “The Marriage of Figaro” while living in this apartment.

We headed back to our hotel and stopped for some Snitzel in a Box on the way. This is like our equivalent to fast food chicken nuggets. It is so good. A Pork Snitzel patty cut up into bites with French fries. I would definitely recommend this cheap alternative to dining if you are visiting and trying to save some money.

After a short nap, we wandered around, tried out the rentable bikes (this lasted about 25 minutes as I was terrified of being run over by another bike or car in traffic), indulged in some gelati on the rougher side of town, and ended our last beautiful evening in Vienna by finding the Belvedere Palace, the summer home for Prince Eugene of Savoy, a rather famous military commander. The grounds here are gorgeous when the sun is setting, perfect for model and jumping photos, as seen below.