A couple of weeks ago I had some leave and decided to fly back to Austria to visit my family for a few days.
I had a lovely time catching up with lots of friends and spending time with mum in the garden.
We drove up to the holiday house in the mountains and just look at the view! Luckily the weather was beautiful and we spent lots of time outside enjoying the sunshine. It’s too hot in Dubai to stay outside for long now!
On my last day I decided to spend some time in Vienna where my brother Harry lives. It’s only a short 35 minute flight, so I dropped my suitcase off at the airport and made my way into the city.
Harry picked me up and we stopped off to see his new flat (well, not so new, but I hadn’t seen it before!) and then walked over to his girlfriend Annalisa’s place. After a cup of tea and a catch up, Harry and I decided to go and visit Schönbrunn Palace.
Schönbrunn is a former imperial summer residence which is around 300 years old. There are acres of beautiful gardens which we wanted to explore!
We strolled through the beautiful rose garden which had hundreds of different types of roses on show.
It was a beautiful sunny day and the perfect temperature to be outside!
We walked around the gardens and ended up walking towards the tropical palm house. Harry had a quick break sitting in a tree!
Once we were at the Palm House we decided not to go in as we were a little short on time and you have to pay an entrance fee to get in, which wouldn’t have been worth it for the short time.
It’s just as beautiful from the outside though, so we didn’t mind that there wasn’t time to go in!
Schönbrunn has a lots of different garden areas, and there’s actually even a zoo there!
After admiring the pretty Palm House and the Japanese Gardens, we strolled over towards the Neptune Fountain, which is one of the biggest and most impressive fountains.
Behind the Neptune Fountain is the Gloriette, which was built in 1775 and serves a focal point and lookout point for the garden. It’s a beautiful structure but as we were short on time we didn’t manage the hike up to the top.
We wandered back towards the main building, which is also open to visit.
After a lovely visit to Schönbrunn, we walked over to a nice little restaurant for some lunch. We sat outside in the sunshine and then headed back over to Annalisa’s. Her brother’s girlfriend has just had a baby and they were over at the apartment so we had a little cuddle with the baby!
I had arranged to meet up with my friend Maria later on, as she also lives in Vienna. We took the underground into the city and I said goodbye to Harry.
Maria and I went for some delicious frozen yoghurt and caught up on everything that’s happened since we last saw each other months and months ago! Frozen yoghurt turned into delicious cocktails at a sunny rooftop bar, which was just perfect!
We managed to squeeze in a bite of dinner before I had to rush off back to the airport to catch my flight back to Dubai.
I had the loveliest few days off at home, catching up with my family and friends. And as I still had a few days of leave left afterwards, stay tuned for my next post to see where I went! π
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Hey Rachel π
I really enjoy your blog, your life seems very interesting!
How often are you allowed to travel to “your homecountry”?! Can you also ask for flights to Vienna?
Author
Thank you, glad you enjoy my blog! π Well it depends really, we do get 30 days leave per year, so if you wanted to you could use all of that leave to go home! Otherwise some people can go home on layovers, for me Vienna is not home, even though I lived in Austria for 6 years it was about 4 hours away from Vienna! And it’s a pretty highly desired flight, so I’ve only had it twice in 3 years π
do you have your own hotels rooms when you check in after flights? π
Author
Yes of course π
i love vienna! and thank you so much for featuring the gardens at schonbrunn palace. i was there in the fall two years ago and only had a glimpse of this lovely place. great pictures! π
Author
Isn’t it such a beautiful city? Thanks for reading and glad you enjoyed the pictures π
Hi Rachel!! When in the interview they mesure if you can reach the 212cm do they allow you to be in high heels?
Author
Hi there! No, you’ll need to be either in flat shoes or take your heels off. Good luck π