Vienna to Paris

For our last day in Vienna we chose to visit the Schönbrunn Palace. The former hunting grounds, summer palace, and party house of various rulers and their court, the only thing that really interested me in the palace was that it was painted yellow (clearly I am a little jaded regarding imperial palaces).

Also of note is that its most famous owner was Maria Therese, Marie Antoinette's mother.

The massive garden and grounds of the palace are famous, so we decided to pass on another opulent 2000-room "summer home" in lieu of wandering the garden.  We strolled through the immaculately manicured grounds and sat beneath shady trees at a few different fountains.

Finally we left for the subway station again.  We scooped up our luggage from the hotel, and headed back to the station.   We took a clean, speedy direct train to the airport (are you listening, Paris?), and flew back to France.  After a vacation in spotless Switzerland, we were disgusted at the site of Gare du Nord.

After an exhausting day, I sat back on the last leg of the train journey to our apartment and told myself I needed a break from travel.  And at literally that moment, my phone beeped with a text message from a colleague:

"We need to go to China."

Oh no.