August 18

Today, I returned to the Schöbrunn Palace. This was the first place we ever visited on Day 1 here. However, there’s a lot of things we did not get to see during our first visit there. For example, we only saw the outdoor gardens of the Schöbrunn because the inside was closed due to how late it was (most places close at 6:00 pm in Vienna). So this time, I decided to check out the inside of the palace. 

Visiting the Schönbrunn is still mind blowing the second time, just as it was the first time. The gardens are still just as breathtaking as they were the first time, and the gates to there were crazy, and then going through the gates you see the towering structure that is the palace. It’s still as insane as it was the first time. I can definitely see why people compare this palace to that of the Tuileries Palace of Versailles. In fact, one reason this palace was built (other than for making life cozy for the Habsburg Monarchs) was in part due to its rivalry with the Bourbons of France. The Austrian Empire (and the Holy Roman Empire) and the Kingdom of France never got along all too well.

When the Habsburg monarchs saw the Palace of Versailles, their immediate reaction was something along the lines of “OH HELL NO, I’M NOT GONNA BE OUTCLASSED!”. So they just kept expanding and expanding their respective palaces.

Even when the Bourbons fell and were replaced by the Jacobins and then by Napoleon, France and Austria still had beef. In fact, now that the monarchy of France fell, the rivalry between Austria and France got even more sour, because now they were ideological enemies. The ideals of the French Revolution was in opposition to the absolutist and monarchist ideals of the Habsburg Monarchy, and so Austria tried to defeat the French in the Napoleonic Wars.