July 18 - Vienna
Today is the last full day in Vienna, as tomorrow we leave for Salzburg. There were of course several things I still wanted to do, as there is simply so much to see in the area, but I decided to spend the last day visiting Schönbrunn Palace, summer home of the Hapsburgs. It is easily accessible by subway but damn was the subway hot today. It was another cloudless, glaring day, probably not the best day to spend mostly outdoors, but I do not have the luxury of time on my side.
The courtyard, only seemingly empty because people were sticking to shaded areas.
The next English tour was an hour and a half from my arrival, so I walked around the gardens for a while. This may not have been the best idea as it was midday and the sun was at its zenith, but they do have water fountains on the ground. I probably went through four or five bottles in that time period and did not have to use the restroom once. I think even the birds were doing the bird equivalent of panting (beaks open, chests heaving). Saw several hot, tired families dragging along little kids and strollers.
Hedges in the maze.
Sat here a little while in the shade.
The palm house-a greenhouse, so no thank you, not today. Lovely from the outside, though.
Across the rear gardens.
By this point I had half an hour until the tour, was hungry and hot, so of course ice cream would make sense as a snack. The ice cream vendors were doing a quick trade today. I went to the café close to the tour meeting spot, largely because they advertised air conditioning (and let it be noted that ‘air conditioning’ in Europe is not the blasting icebox you get in the American southwest) and ordered a banana split, which ended up being rather larger than I expected.
I’ve made a miscalculation. But it was a delicious miscalculation.
I’m normally a slow eater, so I had to wolf it down to make it to the tour in time. Austrians are nothing if not punctual, which can be a challenge for me. I made it just as the tour was about to start. There were only four of us in that group, which is surprising given how crowded the palace was. I took the ‘long’ tour (90 min), which was interesting, but no photographs are allowed in the palace. Managed no stealth ones either, which is a shame, as there were many gorgeous Chinese laquerwork screens I especially liked.
It took me longer to get to the zoo on palace grounds (Schönbrunn Tiergarten) than I thought, so I had only an hour left by the time I got my ticket. I purposely went later in the day as I thought the animals would be more likely to be out and about in the evening, but most of them were still hiding from the heat, or had retired for the day. I did manage to see a few, though:
These poor kitties were laying about and panting.
Penguins had a good way to stay cool in the water. I hope it was cool enough for them.
These two came up to the glass to see what was going on.
The emperor penguins and the rockhoppers were housed inside, thankfully. I do hope they had more room at their disposal than what was seen on the inside of the building.
I felt awful for this poor bear. He was foaming at the mouth and panting and rolling around in the water. This is most certainly not the arctic circle. I hope he had a cold place to go rest and was just in the sun by choice, at that moment.
The lemurs were out and playing vigorously, though. I think they get more shade based on the positioning of the buildings. They kept jumping to the climbing rope and running into one another and squabbling.
Turtle butt
The zoo closed. I was pretty footsore and weary, but I still had to cross the palace grounds and get back to the subway station and the hotel. I’ve lived in hot areas all my life, not the least of which was Phoenix, and the heat still wipes me out. But I think had I been in the most well-rested of shape this would have still pissed me off:
What is this shit doing on the opera house? Bloody fucking hell.
Tomorrow we earnestly need to go to a laundromat; will probably do that on the way out of town. I packed many pairs of undergarments but only five shirts and two pairs of pants, and it’s been rather sticky weather.