Macedonia & Vienna Travel Log

Part Three: More Vienna

I walked around the formal gardens at Schönbrunn Palace (site of the Congress of Vienna) on a cold, rainy morning. Cold and rain didn't keep the other tourists away -- or the joggers. I was hard put to it to get pictures without joggers. The gardens are open as a public park, so it makes a nice oasis of green in the city. I imagine the local joggers regard it as their private place to get away from streets and buildings, and curse the tourists who stand around gawking in the middle of the paths, or back up into folks innocently excercing, while trying to fit the whole palace facade into the frame. (Can't be done except from very, very far away with the average tourist camera.) Not much was in bloom yet except tulips and a little yellow anemone-type thing in the woods, which I need to look up. I really should travel with more field guides. It's possible to take a tour in a carriage, but they also have one of those little trains of carts pulled by a tractor or golf buggy disguised as a locomotive, which I suppose amuses the children. Probably Maria Theresa would not have been amused. There was mistletoe high up in a few trees, ivy on ancient oak trunks, and a dark bank of yew curving up a hillside around the Neptune fountain. The Neptune fountain is very impressive. From a distance, just hearing it, I thought it was a waterfall.The gardens close to the palace are full of classical-themed fountains and classical-themed sculpture. By the time I wandered down amid the sculptures I was late in meeting my drive, and so didn't linger, but I saw Aeneas carrying his father amid others. No picture of Aeneas, though, as at that point the rain was pelting down in huge splats and curtains, and I felt this might not have been good for the camera.

Tonight, I go a ball. My fairy godmother has provided a sparkly black dress, but the slippers aren't glass, so I'm probably safe from princes. And pumpkins.