Yesterday we made our way to Vienna. On the way we stopped in the town of Mondsee which not only houses the church used for Maria's marriage scene in the Sound of Music but also houses the amazing cafe Braun. The church was beautiful but the highlight was definitely the best ever apple strudel that I shared with Clare and Claire - one with ice cream and one with a vanilla sauce - yum!

We also had to time to stop on the outskirts of Vienna to fit in a quick visit to Schonbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the Hapsburg family. As it was so freezing, some of us skipped the garden in favour of a guided tour of the palace apartments. We saw the apartments of the most famous Hapsburgs: Maria Theresa, made Empress after her father changed the laws of succession to allow her to rule, a Queen Victoria-like figure who was vey popular and had a husband she actually loved (therefore she had many children: 16 in only 19 years!); hard-working Emperor Franz Josef II, made Emperor at 18 and ruled through the start of WWI until his death in 1916; and his wife Elizabeth, Sisi, a Diana-like celebrity after her assassination in Italy by a man who just wanted to become famous. The tour guide was great and we enjoyed our escape from the cold.

Today we set out with for our big day and coldest&wettest day of the trip with six new people who joined us last night. We started with a walk through the Belvedere Palace Gardens on our way to the Arsenal to see a war museum that holds the car and bloodied clothes of Franz Ferdinand, the assassination that was the catalyst for WWI. I was very excited and saddened to see such an important piece of history that saw so many young people lose their lives. You can still see the bullet hole in the car that killed his wife and the bullet hole and dried blood on Franz's clothes.

We made our way into the centre of town to visit the Spanish Riding School inside the Winter Palace. The horses are amazing and their movement simply beautiful - they really do move so gracefully and really do prance.

Next we entered the actual Palace to see the Sisi Museum and Royal Apartments. Sisi is a fascinating character: Franz Josef was set to marry her older sister, but when Sisi accompanied her sister to the first meeting with Franz Josef, he fell madly in love with fifteen year old Sisi. So the girl who'd never been brought up for the imperial court found herself married and having her first child by age sixteen. She was a very strange person, shunning the imperial court, hardly seeing her children and spending most of her time on the island of Madeira. Sadly it is believed she may have suffered post natal depression so that may explain much of her behaviour. She was also obsessed with her weight and looks. She managed to maintain a 50cm waist even after childbirth! Plus she refused to be painted or photographed after turning 30, tried many different diets and had exercise apparatus in her room - very very unusual for anyone in that era. The museum tracks much of her life, shows many of her belongings including those for exercise, and tracks how her fame grew so rapidly after her death. It was fascinating to get such an intimate look into the life of a royal.

Clare and I found refuge in the shop H&M after that, buying anything we could to help us keep warm before heading to the Hapsburg imperial crypt: the Kaisergruft. It was kind of spooky but also very interesting as, although no longer in power, the last of the royal line of Hapsburgs only just passed away this year. The tombs and coffins were beautifully and hauntingly ornate and it was interesting so see how they became more and more fancy until the 1800s when they became far more plain and simple.

After hiding in a pub to escape the cold and rain for a while, we made our way to the highlight of our time here in Vienna: an evening at the orchestra. The pieces were Mozart and Strauss and were accompanied by talented ballet dancers (who also did the waltz, created by Strauss) and a pair of Opera singers who, as Susan promised, blew our socks off! It was such a lovely evening and those who had finished the tour here in Vienna joined us - a lovely way to finish our time together.