Lies, utter lies. I really like Vienna: the food’s great, most things are within walking distance, and the pickpockets are really easy to pick out (stay away from the open market, unless you’re brave, or stupid, I mean brave).

So I was with a tour group and we had a personal guided tour of the Schonbrunn Palace, which would have been amazing, if 50% of the palace wasn’t under renovation. Nah, I kid, kinda. The rooms inside that we did get to see were pretty amazing: massive, intricately decorated, and an “oven” in almost every room for the winter.

What we saw of the gardens were spectacular, it’s a shame we got very lost and couldn’t find our way back there.

In Vienna I attended my first classical concert: Strauss and Mozart at the Kursalon. I have to admit: I thought the orchestra would be larger than 16 people, but it was a really great show with ballet dancers and melodramatic opera singers. That was a great night, and I didn’t fall asleep like I stereotypically thought I was going to.

For those not so keen on the classical touristy stuff there is an awesome amusement park in the Prater Park. I was drawn there for the Ferris wheel but I ended up going on the bumper cars.

The amusement park was a nice surprise as I honestly thought the only thing there was going to be was a Ferris wheel. Vienna, how you exceeded my expectations.