VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Berlin was a grand ol’ time but onwards we went to our next European location, Vienna, Austria. As we entered the sophisticated city once home to Mozart, Beethoven, and Sigmund Freud, I traded my litre of German beer for a fancy bottle of peach schnapps.

It was Christmas evening when we arrived in Vienna and what better way to spend Christmas than at a Mozart & Strauss Concert at Vienna Kursalon. The orchestra was phenomenal and included extraordinary opera singers and enchanting ballet dancers. The splendid Italian Renaissance styled venue was built between the years 1865 and 1867 and felt like an imperial palace. Maybe it is an imperial palace. I’m not quite sure, I was too busy staring at the chandeliers than listening to my tour guide.

The next day we made our way to the Old Viennese Scnapsmuseum. In use since 1902, the Fischer family have owned and operated this place for six generations. We got a tour of how the liqueur is made and even a tasting for ourselves. I personally loved the Apfelstrudel Liqueur, an apple strudel cream liqueur. Mmm, tasty.

We were all told to try the Doc Herb which is a liqueur that contains herbs to fight off the flu. We were all sick and coughing up a lung so yes, we needed this. The liqueur helped for an hour but the cough came back. Does that mean we would have had to continually drink this throughout the day? Probably.

Next up we wandered Vienna’s city streets until we got to Empress Sisi’s summer house, the Schönbrunn Palace. Empress Sisi had an obsession with beauty (I like her already). Apparently she lived on a diet of meat juice and fresh milk, even bringing her own cows with her everywhere she went. She slept with hot towels around her waist and kept her skin silky smooth by covering her face with strawberries crushed in vaseline. Do I dare try one day..

Here’s a little sneak peek of palace’s labyrinth backyard. I visited in the winter so it wasn’t at its full potential but I can imagine how beautiful it would look with flowers in bloom.