Eurotrip Day 2: Gaining some culture in Vienna (9/16/13)

Woke up to begin my day by walking down to explore the Schonbrunn palace, which was huge and extremely gorgeous (I guess that is redundant since it is a palace). Walked around the grounds just seeing all the different fountains and stumbled upon a zoo that the palace grounds held within itself. Did not go in, but kept walking and eventually found the Gloriette Garten, a nice viewpoint from on top a hill in the middle of the palace grounds.

Approaching the Schloss. Getting excited to be royalty for a day :)

Looking back at the entrance from within the front grounds of the palace. The "front yard" is bigger than most parks in Houston it seems.  

The front of the palace from the side. Huge building!

One of the paths of the palace grounds. You can easily forget you are in the middle of a city in here.

Tranquility at its finest! 

A fountain behind the palace with a view of the palace through the trees lining the paths.

I believe this is a green house on the grounds. I did not go in, and not sure if people are even allowed. It is a pretty sweet looking building.

Did I mention I ran across a zoo? This was on the perimeter of the zoo. I didn't think it was possible for polar bears to be cuter than normal; I guess I was bound to be wrong eventually.

An enormous fountain with statues galore all on top.

The back side of the palace. Seems so far away.

Taking a picture of where I came from. Nice views of the city starting to come into view.

Getting closer to the top. This huge park even has a reflection pool in it. What does it not have? (The building pictured has a restaurant in it.)  

View from on top of the hill. With reflection pond and all. 

One of the many fountains on the grounds. There was plenty of ground to cover with fountains and buildings to see.

View from the back quad of Schloss Schonbrunn of the monument on the hill. Must have been nice living here. 

Was a gorgeous day (a little warm) to enjoy this natural beauty before I walked up to the Ottakringer brewery for a tour. I had a couple hours to kill before the next tour, so instead of waiting around for it, I chatted with the bartender working the shop and tried a bunch of their beers before walking to one of the main/famous markets of Vienna, the Brunnenmarkt.

The Ottakringer brewery in western Wien. They had a nice beer garden across the street (not a part of the brewery but had many signs for the brewery's beers) but I wanted to get the beer from the source.

Drinking a beer at the brewery after a long day of walking. Well earned if I do say so myself. 

Austria sure loves their Mozart. More of this guy to come in Salzburg.

It is this long street full of vendors of anything and everything you could be looking for; I was looking for a doner kebab of course (one of my favorite meals to find in europe as they are fast, cheap, delicious, and they allow you to eat on the go as you explore more of the city you are in). After grabbing some food and walking up and down the market taking it all in, I headed back to the hostel where I chilled for a little bit with other travelers and talking with the staff about things to do. They turn me onto the standing room tickets for the opera, so I walk back to the old town center and got in line to get a ticket to see Carmen. The opera house is incredibly beautiful, inside and out, with gold plating all over the place and murals painted on the walls everywhere.

The night's offering. Dont mind if I do. Even if it is SRO, gotta check out this opera house.

I went in before people got there to crowd the photo. Pretty nice no?

Decorated ceiling in the opera house.

View down from the nosebleeds of the first floor coming up from the lobby. Incredibly beautiful.

Some murals in the lobby that you can only see up in the nosebleeds. Winner winner! 

Opera house filling up with orchestra in place. This was before they started the show. I really wish I liked Opera, but alas. I was here more for the experience.

The stage seemed to go back forever (I liked the depth of the stage compared to many of the stages I am used to seeing here in America) with the orchestra sitting on the same level as the people in the orchestra seating area (I now know why it is called that). I could understand the basic storyline and even though I do not like opera, it was a pleasure being able to see part of an Opera in the Vienna Opera house. After the first act, I had about all of the opera this guy can handle, I walked in the rain (the one time I didnt have my rain jacket on me and it pours) to a nearby brewpub, 1516 Brewery. I had their stout, which I enjoyed, their pale which was ok, before ordering something that felt out of place, a Victory Hop Devil. That is right, Victory had exported one of their beers to this random brewpub around the corner from the opera house.

The 1516 stout. This was a nice brewpub in the middle of Wien with a decent beer selection and pub food (for Austrian standards). 

Had some Weiner Schnitzel and potato salad while I enjoyed the beers before heading to the UBahn stop nearby to head home as the rain cancelled the rest of my plans that night. Unfortunately, I didnt have any small bills and the machines were being finicky about accepting my credit cards (I needed a pin which I have never needed with my credit cards before so I was lost/confused and couldnt get my ticket). After creepily loitering around the ubahn station and asking random people “sprechen sie englisch?”, I finally found a couple who helped me out by having enough small change between the 2 of them to break my 50 so I could get home without walking the 3km in the rain. I got back to shower to realize the cleaning person who straightened up the room had taken my towel as it was the same color as theirs. After getting a new one from the front desk (this one was not as soft as mine was - stupid sandpaper towels), i showered and got to bed.