Schonbrunn Palace delights...
- lindaglamour
- Dec 19, 2017
- 2 min read
Schonbrunn Palace is a popular tourist destination and can easily be reached by the efficient subway system that runs through Vienna. It is also home to another Christmas market. At the palace of the Hapsburgs, one can walk through rooms where Mozart had played to the royal family as an 8 year old. The young Marie Antoinette gazed out the window to the gardens below. The building glows yellow with white marble staircases and inside it is equally baroquely pretty. All the gold and white ornamentation on the walls and ceilings gives the impression of meringue being layered over the fresh paint colours of lemon, lime and strawberry.
Upon arrival at the market, what seemed to be a thousand children were racing through the stalls all with the shrill voice of youth echoing everywhere. However, after completing The Grand Tour of the Palace, I returned to find the market relatively quiet. The Schonbrunn Palace Christmas market vendors, smiling under their chalet style awnings, appeared to have more home crafted and local wares for sale. Lace made into bookmarks and doilies, wood turned decorations of reindeer and birds, herb scented bundles that would never pass through customs back to Australia.
Rugged up against the icy cold, it was now time to try the gluhwein and pretzels. The gluhwein comes in both red and white varietals, I stuck to the white without hesitation, and it came served in a special Palace mug. You pay a deposit for the mug and the cost of the gluhwein, the deposit returned if you take it back, but I liked it so much I kept it as a souvenir. The salted pretzel was large – about the size of my two hands together and that was the small one! One could have chosen sweet versions with chocolate or caramel but that just seemed too rich and decadent for me. Sadly, while both the gluhwein and pretzel were nice, they were not the delicious morsels I hoped they would be. Perhaps the pretzel had just been sitting there a little too long, the stretch of dough becoming even more doughy and bland.
Fortified and with at least our hands feeling warmer from the mug, we walked around through the gardens of the Palace, past graceful statues to discover the water feature had frozen! As the day began to turn grey, it was time to return to the comforts of our Das Tyrol Hotel.
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