Schönbrunn Palace

View of the front facade of Schoenbrunn Palace.

During spring break 1988, I went with other students and parents and my German teacher to four German-speaking countries: Austria, West Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. The following is part of a series of travel journal excerpts. We were in Vienna, Austria.

Keep in mind: a teenager wrote this. I’m not the same person and don’t have the same writing style.

We toured various rooms of the awe-inspiring Schönbrunn Schloss (Palace). The façade astonished us as the tour bus entered the grounds, because the palace is… bright yellow. Well, golden might be a better word choice. I would have expected gray or white, but I love the yellow. It’s an eighteenth-century Neoclassical palace, where Habsburgs lived. They were emperors.

So much gold. Oh — I think this room is what Austrian emperors thought looked Japanese-style.

I admired the high ceilings, tall windows, paneling, plasterwork, chandeliers, elaborate and colorful murals, and so many paintings. Gold — lots of gold. I noticed porcelain ovens or heaters in corners of vast rooms. The décor is so… flowery. Baroque, actually. I used up about two and a half rolls of film just at the palace. Probably my favorite room was the blue bedroom. Someone commented that the rooms looked a lot alike, and I felt like defending the palace but didn’t…