Trip to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire - Day 6

After five days of exceptional good weather, temperature has dropped back to the more seasonable lower 10s degree Celsius (about mid 50s Fahrenheit). Combined with the rain make it a cold and dampened day. The good side of it is I got to wear every single piece of garment I brought for the trip, discounting the extra socks and underwear of course

There is no excuse to miss the Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys' Choir) when you are in Vienna. However, being the off season the only chance to *hear* them is supposedly through the Sunday Mass at the Hofburgkapelle, which you will need to book months in advance and for a staggering €25 to €35. Fortunately, they also offer free standing tickets for the first 60 wait in line.

I got up early for the 9:15 a.m. Mass but already there was a line outside of the chapel

I think I am the 56th in line, barely made it

You are not supposed to take photos *during* the Mass but there are a few (Japanese) tourists taking them anyway

The Mass lasted just a bit over an hour, in which you did get to hear singing but you never actually see the singers. So in the end I am not really sure I have actually heard the Wiener Sängerknaben.

For lunch I tried to pass as local by eating at Würstelstand, the traditional Austrian sausage stand.

Leberkäse sandwiches, sort of like ham but unlike ham it isn't very salty even when it is hot

Originally I planned to take a one-hour train to Bratislava of Slovakia for a walking tour but because of rain I decide to stay indoor by visiting the Schönbrunn Palace instead.

Schönbrunn Palace, the summer getaway for the Hapsburg royalty back in the days

Among the most famous Habsburg monarch is of course Empress Elisabeth of Austria, affectionately remembered as Sisi, of whom you can find anything and everything bearing her face in the gift shop of Schönbrunn Palace

Sisi (left) and the Austrian actress Romy Schneider (right), who had played Sisi four times in a series of sugarcoated biography movies, not an achievement she is particularly proud of

A stroll in the rainy Palace Garden, with the help of a coach

Fasten your seat-belts it is going to be a bumpy ride

It is too cold even on a coach, so after the ride I went to the Cafe at the Palace and treat myself with a cup of coffee 

And also some royal pastries. What I had is called Melange & Wiener Trio: a Melange coffee and three samples of mini Sacher cake, Mozart cake and Topfen-Weichsel cake

The rain was really coming down after my trip to the Schönbrunn Palace. I tried to wait it out in the hotel but when dinner time came I had no choice but braced myself with the rain. Continued with the theme of passing as local I decide to try somewhere the local family will frequent in the Prater park, Vienna's famous amusement park 

Prater park and its showstopper attraction, the ferris wheel Wiener Riesenrad

For the post 70s generation Riesenrad is probably best remembered as where Jesse and Celine shared their first kiss in 'Before Sunrise'. But actually this ferris wheel has been immortalized cinematically as early as 1949, when Orson Welles' character Harry Lime made his first appearance in the movie 'The Third Main'

Finally found what I am looking for in the Prater park, the local-style family restaurant Schweiyerhaus

My mission at Schweiyerhaus is their Schweinsstelze, a favourite dish among the local. Translated to 'pig knuckles' in English, it tastes a little like Chinese fried port (燒肉) and a touch too salty for my liking

Schweinsstelze - definitely not a dish for one person

Next: Trip to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire - Day 7