European Vacation – Day 3 (Vienna): Schloß Schönbrunn and the Vienna String Quartet

Today we started out by sleeping in! We were all pretty jet-lagged, but the day went well since we didn’t succumb to naps yesterday afternoon. We spent the morning touring Schloß Schönbrunn, the imperial residence of Austrian Emperors. We took a tour of the interior of the palace, including the room where little Wolferl Mozart gave a concert in front of the royal family and proposed to Marie Antoinette.

We took a tram around the grounds, walked through a labyrinth of hedges, visited the rose garden, and learned how to make Apfelstrudel. Indeed, since we also took away a copy of the recipe used by the royal bakery, this last event may be the single most valuable thing we’ll do in Europe…the gift that keeps on giving!

We had a lovely afternoon meal at Pfudel, not far from our hotel (Tricia had a truly excellent beef goulash; I had Tafelspitz). After we ate, we got dressed up and took the city tram to the Musikverein, where we heard the Vienna String Quartet play Haydn, Mozart, and Brahms. Although the musical quality of the concert did not live up to expectations, it was extraordinary to be in such a historic hall hearing music of great composers in a city that was such an important center of musical culture. We even saw a guy in the audience that looked uncannily like Brahms himself (he did not applaud the performance).

Europe Trip - Day 3