Schönbrunn Palace, Maze/Labyrinth and Zoo

Tuesday, May 7, 2019.  Today we went to Schönbrunn Palace, which was the summer residence for the Habsburgs beginning in the 1500s.  Although it is now big (1,441 rooms), we only toured 40 rooms.  In this tour, however, we saw where Marie Theresa (mid-1700s) raised her 16 children, the room where a six-year old Mozart played his first big gig and where Marie Theresa's great-great-grandson Franz Josef (1848-1916) lived with his wife Elisabeth (aka Sisi).

After the tour, we walked through the Palace gardens and mazes/labyrinth.  What fun!

We then spent the remainder of the day at the Schönbrunn Zoo, which is within the Palace complex and was fantastic!  It was built in 1752 by Marie Theresa'a husband, making it the oldest zoo in the world.  It was originally built for the entertainment and education of the court, but was then opened to the public.  The kids and I were impressed that the animal enclosures were so much larger than DC's National Zoo.  Interestingly, most enclosures housed multiple species, which seemed to work beautifully.

We took the tram back to the apartment, stopping at a grocery store on our way home.  We arrived home by 8:00pm and then...  went across the street to play in the park.  We got back at 9:30pm.  GREAT day, but we were all exhausted!