Vienna

 We spent our time over the Christmas break visiting Vienna, Austria. The boys were intent on seeing all of the cultural sites in spite of the hotel pool.

We started by taking the train to Schönbrunn Palace. 
The palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence of the Habsburgs and once the center of the holy roman empire. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.

 Although it was after Christmas, they still had their markets open and a huge tree.

 

The palace was designed to impress and it worked on us.

Another stop was the Hofburg Palace. The palace has housed some of the most powerful people in European and Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria. It was the Habsburgs' principal winter residence, as the Schönbrunn Palace was their preferred summer residence.
The Hofburg area has been the seat of government since 1279 for various empires and republics. David said his empire might be bigger.

 

While visiting the palace, we saw the stables and the famous Spanish riding school or the Lipizzan horses. The Spanish Riding School (in German- Spanische Hofreitschule, the "Spanish Court Riding-School") is a traditional riding school for Lipizzan horses, which perform in the Winter Riding School in the Hofburg. Not only is it a center for classical dressage, the headquarters is a tourist attraction in Vienna that offers public performances as well as permitting public viewing of some training sessions. David and Brian were not able to sleep the night before we visited. They were hoping for autographs from their favorite horses.

 

Next stop - 

St. Stephen's Cathedral (German: Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. Its current Romanesque and Gothic form seen today, situated in the Stephansplatz, was largely initiated by Rudolf IV and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first being a parish church consecrated in 1147. As the most important religious building in Austria's capital, the cathedral has borne witness to many important events in that nation's history and has, with its multi-colored tile roof, become one of the city's most recognizable symbols.
 

Brian looks impressed.

We hit the biggest museum in the city which was impressive - the natural history museum.

This gave us a chance to show our appreciation for culture and history.

 

 We saw many other sites and generally had a grand time.

 

Believe it or not - they have some great wine shops as well.