AUSTRIA - DAY 12 Guess what? It's raining again. We headed off today on an excursion of the Vienna Woods and Mayerling. Our first stop was Mayerling, which was once a hunting lodge of Crown Prince Rudolf but now a strict Carmelite convent. It was here in the Memorial Chapel that we were told the tragic story of how on the 30th January 1889, Crown Prince rudolf shot his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera, with his revolver, and then himself. On the orders of his fat...

AUSTRIA - DAY 11 Oh my God, the sun is shining. Wonders will never cease. We headed to the Opera House for our excursion to Schloss Schonbrunn and tour of Vienna. We climbed aboard the bus and headed off snapping photos of the various buildings pointed out to us. After that the bus headed to Schloss Schonbrunn and we toured the palace. This palace belonged to Marie Teresa and her husband Francis I. We were sure we had seen several of the paintings before, lik...

AUSTRIA - DAY 10 We headed into the heart of Vienna and boarded the boat for a cruise along the Danube Canal and river. It was drizzling but still the trip was good. We almost hit a bridge as the water levels are up due to all the rain. The captain pulled the boat hard to starboard and wiped out the trees along the bank, not to mention scratching the hull along the rocks. Good thing the water level is only three metres if the boat started to sink. After our ...

AUSTRIA - DAY 8 - TRAVELLING SALZBURG TO VIENNA Today we travelled from Salzburg to Vienna or as the locals call it Wien. We arrived around three and by the time we found the hotel it was to late to go out and do much. Also today is another public holiday so everything is shut. They have so many holidays over here. Every chance they get they call a holiday. The weather has been pretty miserable the last couple of days and from all reports doesn't look like it w...

AUSTRIA - DAY 7 This morning we wandered around the old town and discovered the Mirabell Gardens. If you looked closely you could tell it was the fountain Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children sing around in the Sound of Music. The gardens were beautiful and the girls had fun wandering down the paths surrounded by hedges. After that we entered Mozarts Wohnhaus (the house Mozart lived in between 1773 and 1780). It was interesting finding out that no one rea...