The next day, we woke up early and had a breakfast filled with -- you guessed it-- PORK. Pork everywhere in central Europe. We made our way back to St. Stephens to climb up the 386 stairs to the top of the spire where we got an incredible look of Vienna. There were a number of downtown clusters with tall buildings as well as old fancy structures as well. It was a hard climb, but I needed to work off the insane amounts of bacon I ate - especially the guilt (well not so much) I felt with it being passover.
We then went to the Schamburg Palace - the summer palace where the Hasburgs lived for centuries. Being the history buff that I am, it was the highlight of my day. We went inside the residence of the palace to look at the ornate rooms, including the private study and meeting room of the last Emperor - Franz II. I was stricken with how humble and hard working he was before he died during WWI. We also learned about his wife, Sisy, who is a legend in Austria and Germany. Story was that she was forced to marry Franz when she was 16 and resented it her entire life. He absolutely adored her and longed to see her, but she travelled extensively throughout the world and was never home. She was also anorexic. Anyways, when she was 61 years old, she was stabbed and killed by an Italian anarchist and died. Franz was devastated.
We finished walking around the palace grounds and headed back into the city. Our afternoon was capped with a visit to the national history museum, billed one of the best collections of fine art in the world... We saw some very interesting art from famous painters and artifacts from Greece and Egypt.
A quick glance at the Danube River (absolutely filthy whose walls were FILLED with Graffiti) and back to the hotel for a rest.
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