A taste of royalty in Vienna

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After travelling through much of Eastern Europe we started into western europe proper with a trip to Vienna. We knew ahead of arriving that Austria was a fairly wealthy nation with a high standard of living but arriving in Vienna we quickly learnt all about it. Vienna isnt an overly expensive city but it is amazing. It is really beautiful with great architecture and lovely parks. The city centre is home to heaps of awesome buildings and even a palace.
All these buildings are within a short walking distance of each other which means you just wander around and see all the sights. The highlight of the city centre is definately the Hofburg which was the city base for the Habsburg royal family, for a city base which most people have as an apartment having a huge palace is a bit different. Near this is the parliament and the Burg theatre both of which are extremey impressive. Another highlight of the city centre is St Stephens cathedral.
After wandering around the city base of the Habsburgs and be thourghly impressed we decided that we should head out and see thier actual place, a short train trip from the city centre. When we got to what is actually the summer palace of the former royal family the immense size was the first thing we noticed. The place is absolutely massive walking around the palace itself it is impossible to describe the size of it the closest thing the main house would compare to would be a football stadium. The house itself sits on a massive complex of gardens it is about a 30min or so walk from one end of the gardens to the other. In the garden complex the royal family certainly lived a life of luxury they had thier own pool, hedge maze, a few greenhouses, fake roman ruin, numerous fountains some of which are over 30m high, a huge monument and thier very own ZOO!! which is the oldest zoo in the world. We spent a good part of the day just walking around the gardens and seeing how you would live if you could afford you own zoo.

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