Saturday, April 10, 2010 (Part 1)Franz Joseph's great grandmother was Queen Maria Theresa. She was a very popular ruler, and she ruled for abo
ut 40 years during the middle 1700s. One of her greatest architectural achievements was the construction of Schonbrunn Palace, located about 10 miles east of the city. This is another very large complex, and we spent the better part of the day here.
The Schonbrunn Palace was built to rival Versailles. I have never been to Versailles, but this place is huge. Maria Theresa and her family spent their summers here and that included an entourage and staff of 1,500! Also, Maria Theresa and her husband had 16 children, most of whom were married off to other European rulers for political purposes -- to strengthen the Hapsburgs' power base. Maria Theresa's most famous offspring was Marie Antoinette who was married to France's King Louie XVI and was later executed during the French revolution.
We began our day at Schonbrunn by walking through some of the smaller gardens and working our way through the hedge maze. It was actually a bit more challenging than I expected it to be
but, with Katherine taking the lead, we finally made our way to the central viewing platform. We were rewarded with the start of a heavy rain. And so, we left the maze and walked very quickly, through the progressively more heavy rain, to the palace entrance. By the time we got there, it was truly pouring! Luckily, our timing was good since we arrived at the palace gates just minutes before the admission time on our tickets. This was the perfect place to be while the rain ran its course outside.
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