Vienna 🇦🇹

You can’t talk about Austria without these three: Sisi Princess, Mozart, and the Habsburg Dynasty. I feel like ticket prices have gone up a lot this year. I remember most being around €10–20, but these days everything seems to be €20–30. Schönbrunn Palace 🏰 – €34, including an audio guide in Chinese. The 40-room tour took about an hour. The huge back garden is free to enter – spent another hour there climbing slopes and resting. Votive Church Light Show 💡– €22, 30 minutes. Basically just a chaotic mix of colored lights flashing everywhere. Having seen the Lyon Festival of Lights, this felt pretty mediocre. But sitting in a completely dark church at night was a first – who knows if the person next to me was human or ghost? 👻 Golden Hall Standing Ticket 🎵 – €19. Attended a Mozart concert. It happened to be Pentecost, and the hall was packed – had to buy a standing ticket last minute. The seated area and standing area felt like two different worlds. No one was in full formal wear, but people in seats were at least dressed smart-casual, and no one moved during the performance. Meanwhile, the standing section was much more casual – T-shirts, shorts, tank tops… Within the first half hour, about seven or eight groups came in or out, half of them leaving, the rest arriving late. And there was even a row of people sitting on the floor against the wall! Is this still the Golden Hall I imagined?!😁 Kunsthistorisches Museum 🖼️ – €23, plus €6 for an audio guide. The collection is impressive, and the decor is beautiful – it even has that famous café everyone recommends. But it was my worst museum experience ever! Not because of the exhibits, but because of the audio guide layout. The numbered audio descriptions didn’t match the exhibit labels – instead, you get a map with numbers, and you have to find the corresponding pieces. Each room has many items, but only a few have Chinese audio descriptions. That wouldn’t be a problem, except the map only lists the numbers without marking their locations. So it felt like a blind box game: pick a number, then wander around searching for the item. For paintings, it was okay since they’re large and recognizable from a distance. But for smaller items in display cases? It was like a treasure hunt – squinting at the audio guide screen, trying to match things up. I couldn’t even focus on the commentary because I was too busy looking. The museum layout is simple – rectangular – but with small rooms at each corner and multiple openings, plus all the back-and-forth, I quickly got disoriented. Felt like being trapped in a maze. And the wooden floors squeaked loudly with every step – by the end, I was dizzy, headache from the noise, and almost had a meltdown. Ironic for a museum that was designed as a museum from the start, not converted from a palace. Lesson learned: If you’re good with foreign languages, just read the German/English labels next to the exhibits and go at your own pace.😊 Or just visit, take photos, and soak in the vibe.😘 But don’t waste money on the audio guide – it’s exhausting. Didn’t go to Belvedere Palace, Sisi Museum, State Opera... either not interested or just too tired. Seems like I’ve hit a travel fatigue phase lately – even food doesn’t taste as good. These days I’ve been alternating between Chinese and Western food… only fast food left now. Sigh, I miss home... #FamilyTravel #TravelWithKids #ViennaWithChildren #ExploreTheWorld