Monday, December 19, 2011

Day 9




         Today was our last day in Vienna and we decided to meet up with two people from our class, Carmen and Sydney, to visit the Schönbrunn palace, where many famous leaders lived or stayed while occupying, such as Napoleon. Although we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the palace, we did an audio-guided tour and learned about the history of the palace and the people who lived there. It was a all day long excursion and we explored the palace grounds afterwards where we were allowed to take pictures. What I took away from this visit was the amount of social disconnect there was in the history of Vienna. What I mean by this is how there were few very rich and powerful people who controlled everything and the rest were very poor and really had no say in what happened. From this, I believe that although Vienna’s structure for creating equality is not perfect, it has come a very long way from what it was in its history. This of course is not to say that what is happening now is a good or insufficient model for social justice. It is merely a look at the progress that has been made. This being our last day, when we got back to our hostel, we packed up and went to sleep to prepare for a long day of travel the next day.
The beginning of the garden/grounds of the Palace. As you can see, I am very happy about being here
Part of the labyrinth in the gardens. Not very hard this time of year considering you can see through it.
Turning the corner to see the back of the palace. Very beautiful


Panoramic from the back of the palace. This is a 360º view
The grounds from the back of the Palace


A picture that shows the vastness of the grounds. Also just a cool picture 
A picture of Gabe, Carmen, and Sydney.
They were a great group to  go exploring with!

The fountain in the distance of most of the last photos

One of the many beautiful paths that branched out from the main center of the grounds
The group traveling up the hill to the monument in the distance

The next few photos are the beautiful views seen on the way up to the monument.
The fog definitely added to the beautiful atmosphere of the experience



A great view of the palace from the hill

Finally reached the monument with a pond in front of it
A panoramic of the monument



Another cool panoramic of the monument and a trail off to the side.  This one was on the way back down. 
On the monument
A cute couple taking in the beauty of the scenery 
A sign on the way back down. I decided to interpret it as "Sliding doen the hill is only acceptable if it is on a tiny river." Probably a "watch your step" one though 

An elderly couple walking around the grounds. I love seeing couples
 like this who are still totally in love after all those years

I ran off to explore a little more of the grounds while the rest of the group decided to wait at the palace and i found this beautiful atrium where wild pigeons have lived since the time when people lived in the palace.  

A view into the atrium. Not the best picture but you can somewhat see
 the birds out of focus in the top-center part of the picture

The palace when we were leaving. We spent a little bit of time in the Christmas market which is by the christmas tree in the picture and it ended up getting dark. The palace was even more beautiful at night.

1 comment:

  1. Joey - 1. I thought about the economic disconnect between the royal family and the general public of Austria just like you, but I never really thought about it as a comparison to today, so thank you. 2. I want your pictures :) You got some great ones while running away from us to satisfy your curious nature! I love that you did this so I can relive our trip, so thank you!

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