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Published: November 2nd 2013
Vienna
The Hofburg PalaceToday many in our tour group headed to the Schonbrunn Palace for an expensive optional excursion. We decided to "do our own thing" and check out some aspects of the Hofburg Palace that we had only glimpsed the day before. It was All Saints Day, a public holiday in many parts of Europe, so we weren't sure what would be open. Luckily the two areas we chose to visit, the Spanish Riding School with its specially bred Lipazzaner Stallions and the Imperial Treasury, were both open. We saw the horses exercising to music...captivating for a while in a pretty amazing building, but not enough action for our taste, so we moved on and had a terrific coffee & strudel in lovely sunshine in the Palace cafe. The Imperial Treasury was something else again! It was full of precious metals, jewels, artworks and fabrics in the shape of crowns, religious items, coronation vestments and regalia, reliquaries and the cradle of the King of Rome. There was even a gold baptismal basin and pitcher used for noble children, a relic of Christ's manger and cross (with nail hole) and a piece of Christ's loincloth! A fascinating archaeological dig right at the front of
Vienna
Horse and buggy rides aplenty outside the palace. the Palace in Michaelerplatz revealed layers of buildings dating back to Roman times.
After lunch we returned to the bus for our trip to Budapest and another change of currency. Our hotel looked pretty fearsome from the outside and, as is usual for European hotels, was grossly over-heated but it had an excellent restaurant where we enjoyed a reasonably priced, tasty dinner.
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