What a day today has been, it feels like we have walked 18 miles. I have the blister on my toe and Ian has the sun burnt neck to prove it.

First thing this morning we caught the U bahn to Schloss Schonbrunn which is a palace that was used as a summer residence. It was huge. We ended up walking round the gardens first in the blistering heat before going around 40 of the rooms in the palace. It was all very beautiful and posh. Even the tearoom where we stopped for a toasted sandwich was posh. Ian wearing his baseball cap fit in very well. On the way back on the U-bahn we got off early at Stadtpark and wandered around the stalls. All the locals were out having food, beer and wine, it was a very good atmosphere and if we hadnt another palace to walk to we would have stayed there.

Instead we walked down to the Belvedere palaces - upper and lower. On the way we also picked up a chocolate doughnut to eat. These palaces were very fab because there were few people and it almost felt like it was our own private little palace. We walked to the upper palace first even though the gravel on the paths kept getting stuck in my sandals. Inside was an art exhibition including works by Klimt. We also stopped in the cafe here where I had a fresh orange juice from the palaces own orangery. This was to Ians dismay considering it cost 5 Euros but I told him im on my mini-moon.

Next we walked down to the lowe palace and walked around the exhibition they had in there featuring gold items such as a gold goat. It was actually quite good. The walk back from here nearly killed us but we made it.

For dinner we ate in the hotels restaurant because we were too tired to walk out again. We ended up having a really nice steak with veg, it was delish. We even had a voucher for a free glass of prosecco which they gave us when we checked in, so we cashed that in too! It was a fab end to a fab couple of days.

To finish with id just like to make a few general observations about Vienna - 1) The architecture is amazing whichever street or corner you turn, you are mesmorised by the beautiful sculptures and carvings on everyday buildings 2) There are no English people in Vienna. We only saw about 2 couples the whole time, and when it came to restaurants adn cafes, we had to resort to international sign language for "can we have the bill please" 3) It was very hot- the weather was fab, it added to the romance of the palaces as we were wandering around them 4) There are lots of palaces - It is almost as though these palaces have been planted in the middle of a vibrant city 5) Bikes - Everyone has a bike, which are very well catered for with the number of bike lanes on the pedestrian crossways. The amount of times we were both nearly run over by one, them and the trams aswell 6) The word weiner - Ian became obsessed quite quickly, that everywhere you looked, there was the word weiner especially when he saw the Weiner fest sign.