Hawkeyes in Europe - Day 7 by Theairra Taylor

Aug. 14, 2011

Europe Trip Day 7 (Vienna) Photo Gallery

We are seven days into to our trip and already in our third country!

Our bus trip out of Bratislava this morning was a little hectic. Our bus was side-swiped by a public transportation bus and the huge mirror broke off. Thankfully our bus driver and tour guide Johnny were able to fix the mirror at a local gas station and we were off to Vienna.

It was a really short ride to Vienna. The first stop was at the Habsubrgs’ Shonbrunn Palace. It was probably the biggest house I’ve ever seen. There are over 1,400 rooms in the palace and we were able to tour 40 of them.

The best part was the audio tour that game with our ticket. It was like a big cell phone and every room had a number. You just punched in the number and got to hear all the history of each room. We all took the tour at our own pace and could spend extra time in our favorite rooms. My favorite room was the Millions Room. It’s worth literally millions of dollars because of the rare wood used on the walls and the expensive artwork.

After touring the inside of the house we got to walk around the huge garden in the back. It’s hard to put into words just how big this garden was. It went on forever. At the end was a huge marble fountain and you could walk up and behind the waterfall. Sam, Melissa and I took quite a few pictures at that spot.

We checked into the hotel and the restaurant attached was called Champions American Sports Bar. Not going to lie; it was nice having some American food for dinner!

After dinner, we went to Prater Amusement Park. We got to ride a 200-foot Ferris wheel and saw some great views of Vienna from the top. The team then went on a bunch of different rides in the park. Well, most of us. Jade apparently doesn’t like big rides.

Thanks for following along everyone!

Theairra