Schönbrunn & Tiergarten

Our exploration in Vienna still continues; Fan and I chose the famous palace --- Schloss Schönbrunn as our next destination. It definitely can be seemed as one of the greatest architectures in the world, not only because how big area it covers, but also because of impressive atmosphere as a whole. The palace is a Baroque style building, however, almost all primary rooms inside are in Rococo style. Each room has it own characteristic and special purpose. What’s more, a memorial room impressed us the most. Maria Theresa set up this room for commemorating her husband Francis in 1765. You can feel Maria’s deep sorrow from the main tone of the room. It’s worth mentioning that these black lacquer panels on the wall were imported from the distant Beijing and every single artistic design was elaborate. Since tourists are not allowed to take photos in the palace, we find some images of these brilliant rooms.

It’s really easy to get to Schloss Schönbrunn by taking U4. There’s only a 5-minute walk from Schönbrunn or Hietzing station. And here are some suggestions for the people who want to visit Schloss Schönbrunn in the following weeks: (1). They offer 10% discount if you are a student under 25. So don’t forget to bring your photo ID and student card (2). Schloss Schönbrunn and other sites nearby the palace generally takes about 3-4 hours or more to look around. If you plan to have a visit, we suggest being there a little early. (Do not start your visit in the late afternoon)

(Here's the map of Schönbrunn!)

After visiting the marvelous palace, the maze and the Privy Garden, we went to Tiergarten Schönbrunn, the world’s oldest zoo. The zoo was built in 1752 by the order of Emperor Francis I. And it was served as the imperial menagerie at that time. Both Yawen and I have been to the zoos in our hometowns and the zoo in Seattle, so we really expect something special from Schönbrunn zoo. And the zoo turned out to be more awesome and fun than we expected! We spent 2 hours in the zoo and still couldn’t see all of the animals. One thing we’ve noticed about this great zoo was that, the zoo has better ways of presenting the animals than the other zoos we’ve been to and lets people observe the animals as close as they can. Here’s the picture of a kid standing in the underground “Kuppel” observing the marmots. We've been in there as well.. But it must be designed only for the little kids... We had difficulties getting in and out of the "Kuppel".....:(

(Sorry for this blurry picture...)

Here's the map of the zoo. It is huge and has three gates. We went in from the Neptun Eingang (the left lower corner Eingang on the map, nearby the palace.) The three entrances are really easy to find. You can take the U4 and get off at Schönbrunn, first visit the palace and then walk halfway from the Schloss to the Gloriette, over there is the Neptun Eingang. Or you can get off at Hietzing and walk for several minutes to enter from the Hietzinger Eingang. And the Tirolergarten Eingang is just a few minutes' walk from the Gloriette. Inside the zoo the information boards are everywhere. And the directions are clear and helpful. It's a really well-constructed zoo. 

We also have some suggestions about the animals or fun stuff to see at the zoo for the Feedback group.

1. Pandas! Yangyang and Longhui.(We failed to take clear and good pictures of them...They were too far away and too lazy to move any closer)

2. Try the "Kuppel" we've mentioned above.

3. Go see the lovely penguins and Sea otters, and the polar bears are coming soon.

4. Rainforest! (Simulation of the Amazon. It was so hot that it reminds us of the hot and humid weather in Florida...) 

The zoo takes at least two hours to visit, and it opens from 9:00 to 6:30 in April. Some of the animal houses would close one hour earlier before the zoo closes, such as some of the birds’ house, so make sure you plan ahead! And the entrance fee for adults is 15 euros. We strongly suggested you to buy the Gold pass if you want to visit everything in Schönbrunn and the zoo. If not, the Classic pass would be perfect.