The Royal Wedding Adventure

We arrived in London just in time for the Royal Wedding buzz.

During one of our walks around the Royal Wedding route to check out where to stand on the Big Day, T has his BIG BREAK. He was interviewed by Dame Edna, (one of Australia's biggest TV icons) for one of her shows. While T was being interviewed, there were many reporters from other countries ( Canada, America etc) who werae trying to get Dame Edna's attention, which I think "she" wasn't very pleased with because we heard her complaining to her producers that "these people are pinching me". it was quite funny.

There were already many campers along the royal wedding route days before the wedding - people who have travelled from near and far to see the wedding, setting up camps on the street days before the wedding to guarantee them the best spots. Many were dressed in colorful costumes and waving the Union Jack to add to the festivities. There's the media everywhere, interviewing the many fans, and a large makeshift double storey media office was set up temporarily to host all the media of the world. Amazing what this country goes through for a wedding!!

2 days before wedding!

Happy Campers

On the day of the Royal Wedding, I was dragged out of bed and into the city at 5am in the morning to secure a good spot - we manage to get a spot very near to the Westminister church. We stood there for several hours amongst the crowds of people,  just to catch a glimpse of the royal couple and the Queen. From where we stood, we were also able to see guests arriving for the wedding. There were many Americans and Australians that have travelled to London just for the special event. My legs were really aching at the end of the day, but I guess it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and all worth it to see royalty - LIVE. Managed to get some original photos from our spot, of Prince William and Prince Henry in the car to Westminister, of the Queen and of the couple.

Spectators

Look at the crowd

Dressed like Kate

Crazy supporters

THE ROYAL COUPLE!

Guests being escorted into westminister

The Palace

THE QUEEN AND KING

And Finally a professional shot taken by the newspapers....what a colourful scene!!!

Hotel Am Konzerthaus, The Vienna International Airport….

Sleeping at Vienna international airport!!!
Ok this is not a hotel but I must blog about the night we stayed overnight at the airport to save cost (and a had to catch like a 6am flight)!!! We didn't come really prepared – no sleeping bag / thick jackets as some of the other seasoned airport sleepers that we see around us. To be honest, I am quite surprised at the number of people that actually sleep in airports!! And there are no comfortable chairs / couches in this airport too…we had to sleep on the chairs in a cafe. Well, an interesting experience all the same.

Hotel Am Konzerthaus
I believe we were upgraded to a prime room in this hotel because of the exhorbetant rate we paid for it as it was a last minute, public holiday booking…but Hao Ran didn't think we paid THAT much… hehehe. The room was just awesome…its not a room…it's almost like a L-shaped, little luxury apartment…with tall pillars in the middle of the room.  There were 2 sets of tables and chairs in the room – a dining table, and a coffee table. And when we first arrived, there's a note welcoming us to the hotel and a chocolate bunny left for us.What a treat!!

Highlights in Vienna

A visit to Schonbrunn Palace

To be honest, the place itself did not leave too much of an impression on me (I guess after visiting so many other european palaces…they are all rather similar to each other.  However, what caught my attention is the story of Princess Sisi who lived here in the palace, and who is also known as Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Here is a brief account of Princess SiSi's story!

 

Watching horses dance ballet at the Spanische Hofreitschule (Horses)

Stumbled upon this place on one of our strolls around the city and we saw a LONG LINE of people queue-ing for something. The Singaporean mentality in us causes us to enquire what are they queue-ing up for, and to purchase tickets for the show. We got standing tickets (for a tiny fraction of the price of a seating ticket)…which means we had to stand for the entire 3 hour show… but its all worth it cause in fact, we got better views too! Attached some photos of the horses dancing ballet and parade-ing …amazing how smart animals can be! 

A classical music orchestra and ballet (Schonbrunn Konzerte)

We did this as it is one of the 'must dos' in Vienna - ~according to the locals who are trying to sell us the tickets'. Hehehe…Well, I guess its good that we get the experience of it…..although knowing me, I would prefer a musical with lyrics over music without singing anytime. J

We were kinda sceptical that this is one of those shows put up 'to cheat tourist' in some dodgy dingy school hall or something, but am quite surprised at the turn out of the crowd. Many from the local crowd are local people, and came nicely dressed, and the hall is apparently a hall  that the famous Mozart once played in!!

A day at the Museums with friends

In Vienna, we visited a couple of museums with friends from Sg - TK, HR and a couple of their friends. I would say that this is just one more museum….with the usual section on statues, paintings, history…however with a section on historical musical instruments that we haven't seen much of in previous museums.

Kunst Historisches Museum (KHM)

Neau Berg

                                

We also walked around the city and the parliment house (more nice buildings) …and had Viennese food, of course.