Austrian Wake Up Call, Roust!

Started the day with a great laugh.  In Italy we were lucky to even get a wake up call. They are rather a relaxed country.  Lunch about 2  supper about 8 or 9, if you want to get up in the morning ok.. if not thats ok too.

This morning the phone rings and I hear in a clear German accent,

"Goot morgen!  You are at the Renasaince Hotel in Vienna.  It is 6:15. The weather is cloudy vit a chance of rain. Pach your oombrella and a coat!"

Good gawd they not only give you a wake up call but tell you how to dress! I was laughing all day about that one :)

They had a very nice breakfast buffet here but I have been sticking to fruits the entire trip.  (Can't stand the ketchup here so no sense having the eggs)  Man no ketchup no TV for 5 weeks its a wonder I haven't murdered someone yet.

Went to Schumburg Palace which was the summer palace of the Hapsburgs.  Quite a place 1400 rooms and 3000 workers on site at its peak.  To this day there are still people living in the servants quarters whose ancesters worked for the royal family. They are allowed to live there rent free and the lease can be passed down to their heirs.  I liked it a lot better than the Versaille which was pretty well stripped during the French Revolution here everything is still intact.  The Hapsburgs were quite the dynasty ruled for 640 years until the start of WWII.  Had kingdoms from Asia (the Phillipines) South America and to the Russian border.  I believe my great grandfathers immigration papers had said he was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which entailed present day Ukraine.

From there it was a city driving tour of the Winter Palace (3000 rooms), Museums and the Hapburg Crypt which has 145 of the Hapsburgs buried there.

This evening we went about 30 minutes out of town for dinner to a small town called Marchfelderhof to a family restaraunt that has been in existence for almost 200 years.  And everything that the family ever collected is on the walls the ceilings everywhere. Pictures and autographs from movie stars and dignitaries it was truly cool.   They had the entire staff outside the restaurant to greet us (about 15 of them) and had a red ribbon cutting ceremony for us to enter the place.  After supper the band played Vieneese Waltz's and they had a couple do a dance for us and then the couple took some of us up to dance with them.

Sean will post the photos here but I was doing well dancing but then Peter had to cut in on my action, the no goodnik!  It was a lot of fun, amazing how dancing with a pretty girl could make me forget about the pain in my knee.  Know I understand how my Uncle John always had a bad back but still loved to go dancing all the time!  

The final photo is of the lady Peter and I danced with as well as Brent our tour director.  Again another fantastic day thanks to Brent :)

Good night all we are off to Salzburg tomorrow morning touring the city, stopping in at the Eagles Nest which was Hitlers mountain retreat when he annexed Austria and then to spend the night in Munich. 

D&D