Day 23: Vienna, Austria

Today, we took a deeper dive into all that Vienna has to offer. We started by seeing how the Imperial family, the Habsburgs, lived in the summer months (tough life, having multiple palaces). When Lisa and I turned the corner and saw the grandeur of Schonbrunn Palace, our first thought was, "It looks fake." Nothing that beautiful and crisp could be real. The inside rooms, gardens, fountains, marble statues, labrynth, and Gloriette all proved us wrong. Walking the grounds was well worth all the pebbles in our sandals.

After a delicious lunch and a complimentary third glass of Austrian white wine for each of us (thank you, nice server), we headed off to Belvedere Palace and its gardens. While nothing to sneeze at, it paled in comparison to the mighty Habsburg's - though it was still very beautiful.

We closed our day by walking through St. Stephan's cathedral. Its multi-colored stain glass panels reflect all their colors off of the Gothic architecture, making the inside of the cathedral resemble a Kaleidoscope. And, of course, we enjoyed an ice cream cone - pistachio and tiramisu :).