Day 5. Being part of the Royal family for a day

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Today is our last day in Vienna and we started the day off with a tour around the Hofburg Palace.

Hofburg Palace was made all the way back in the year of 1438 to 1583 and from 1612 to 1806. My friend Laura who could translate German to English explained to me what the tour guide was saying. She told me:

The Hofburg in Vienna used to be the seats for the kings and emperors until 1918. Now, the building is still in use and is owned by the current president. The oldest section of the palace originates from the 13th century and was constructed by the last of the Babenbergers or by Ottakar II of Bohemia. Previously the castle of the Austrian rulers had been located on the square called "Am Hof," which is near the Scottish Monastery fact that you could go to any room you wanted. The enterance itself was incredible, inside was huge, elegant and full of art and tradition covering every part of the wall.



The palace was the biggest thing I've ever seen in my life. It looked exactly like the buildings you see in movies where all the royal families live. There were paintings all over the walls and the ceiling was so high up it hurt my neck looking up. What I enjoyed most about it was the



After visiting the palace, we went to Ringstrasse, a very wide avenue which circles the oldest, ancient city in Vienna. It was constructed in the late 13th century with order from their king at that time king Richard I of England. We had Lunch there at a 'café rinstrasse' and there, I tried for the first time a open sandwich. The sandwich was literally, flipped inside out with ingredients piled on the outside sandwiching the bread in the middle. Once the waiter served my food, I looked at the sandwich and it was by far the weirdest type of food I've seen before. When I first saw it, I thought they had a mistake with my order and gave me a meat cake instead but no, it was what I ordered. The sandwich was better than I expected. With one bite you could taste a thousand different things flooding into your mouth.



It was time for a "free scenic choice" and my options were:
A guided tour of Schönbrunn Palaceguided excursion to the Slovakian capital of BratislavaVisit the Lipizzaner Stallions getting ready for their morning exercise routine




Even though I am not a fan of horses, I chose to visit the Lipizzaner Stallions because I heard they were the one of the most talented horses and they had to be seen. People who were all unsure of where to go just followed me there. Turns out half of the group who went to see the horses didn't even know what a Lipizzaner Stallion so there was a new experience for most of us today



When we got to the arena, I immediately regretted coming. The smell of the horses was DISGUSTING. It took me ages to get over the smell but once the routine started I was so intrigued by the horses I quickly forgot all about the smell. The horses performed tricks and moved with the songs. It was incredible. The routine quickly ended and we went stragiht to have lunch at the nearest food shop.



We headed back to the ship earlier than usual and I spent the rest of the day in the library finishing off my book from before.

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Photos

open sandwich
open sandwich at ringsstrasse