A visit to Vienna Austria

Is it true that there are no kangaroos in Austria?

One night when I was walking in one of the busy shopping streets called Kärntner Straße in Vienna, I was a bit surprised to see the signs ‘No kangaroos in Austria’. This phrase caught my attention. For a while I was confused why these signs are everywhere especially in the souvenir shops. Then I realized and I remember what our tour guide said that this is to remind the tourists that they are actually in Central Europe, in a landlocked country called Austria, and not in Australia.

I had a wonderful time during my visit to this land of the rich and long-running powerful Habsburgs. They were the monarchs who ruled much of Europe in an area called the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Their superpower may have been long gone, but their opulence is still visible to this day. I was thrilled listening to stories of the splendour of the Habsburgs’ golden age. One of which was about Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife, Empress Elisabeth. Empress Elisabeth is amiably called Sisi, famous for her recognizable photos with her flamboyant cascading hair. She is said to be obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty.

I joined a tour to visit one of the family estates of the Habsburgs called Schönbrunn Palace, which is part of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The palace is literally immense with various beautiful collections on display and it has a beautiful garden. Like most of the ladies visiting this palace, I too was very interested to see Empress Elisabeth’s personal things kept in their apartment.

Click here to learn more about Schönbrunn Palace.

More details about my visit to Austria can be found in my book entitled INSPIRED TO TRAVEL; TRAVEL TO INSPIRE – A TRAVEL MEMOIR available on Amazon.com. It is also available on Barnes and Noble.