Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

Sunday, August 18, 2024
Kaisermuhlen, Vienna, Austria
Waxing Gibbous (Full moon tomorrow)
Partly Cloudy 70º

6:43 am. Photos.

Traveling the world, moving to a new country every month, seeking and questing…. It helps you learn a lot about yourself.
I have learned, or re-learned, that I am never happy in places that are overrun with tourists. I think there are a lot of layers here. A part of me wants to discover new things or uncover forgotten mysteries of the past and considers places with tour buses to be ….  I don’t know, I sound like a snob in my head. Like I’m way above your average tourist. That’s not it, I hope. But when there are a lot of people around, I can’t seem to drown out the noise and buzz and feel what’s really happening there. 

I had this thought first when I visited St. Stephens Cathedral and had to flee before seeing more than the main sanctuary. 

It happened again when I visited Schönbrunn Palace this week. I knew I had no interest in the inside of the castle. To me, it’s just a place where rich rulers lived and I don’t really care that much. But I did want to visit the gardens and the labyrinth. I love labryinths. The website said the gardens open at 6:30 so I arrived pretty early, before 8:30 and thought I would have a lovely, quiet stroll in the gardens. But they didn’t actually open until 10 and the place was already swarming with tourists and the lines for tickets were long. So I got a few photos of the grounds and went wandering the city again, in search of beauty and inspiration.
I stumbled upon the gardens at Volkstheatre and saw a lot of beautiful things, but I’m yearning for the wildness of nature. 

This is my last week in Vienna so I’m going to do the most touristy thing ever and ride the hop on, hop off bus around the city. Hopefully this will give me an idea of what specific sites I “must” see before I leave next weekend and I can take in those on Thursday. 

I’m very excited to be cool and remote in Norway next week.
I’m very excited about the Full Moon Ceremony tomorrow night, praying for clear skies and a chance to be by the Danube for this last gathering. 

Making the most of my last days in Austria!
Photos.