Paris - Day 1 - Musée d’Orsay

Regarding art, of course I have my preferences, like my favorite epochs such as the egyptian and roman ancient times, the renaissance and the baroque period, but I'm always open to new or different things. So highly influenced by the good reviews on tripadvisor (it is currently the number one recommandation in Paris) we chose Musée d’Orsay as our first location to visit on our first full day. The museum is mainly focussed on that period between 1848 and 1914  including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography and is the largest and most important collection of  

impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world with pieces from the most famous artists of that time such as Monet, Renoir, Gauguin und Van Gogh. We have to admit, the most impressing part for us was the architecture of that building, which was a railway station until 1939. It is also amazing to see all those masterpieces in real life once, since we've seen them many times on tv or online like Vincent van Goghs Selfportrait or Gauguins Tahitian Women on the Beach. So I can definitelly recommend this museum, even though, for us, it didn't amaze us and we prefer the Louvre, but it is, without a question,  a matter of taste.

Vienna - Day 3 - Schönbrunn Palace Gardens

Schönbrunn Palace, once again a place in Vienna, where it wasn't allowed to take photos and therefore I can't remember much, since my nickname is 10-seconds-Laura. And also from this you can  tell, that I was missing that wow-moment and was a bit underwhelmed, since I always compare palaces from the baroque era to the prime example, Versailles. The gardens are also huge and the highlight is definitely the Gloriette, a building on a hill, which was used as a dining- and banquett hall by the Habsburgs. From there you have an amazing view over the garden, the palace and Vienna. Also, the fountains, like the obelisk fountain and the artificial roman ruins are fascinating, since they are so unique.

Schloss Schönbrunn, wieder einmal ein Ort an dem man nicht fotografieren durfte, weswegen ich mich auch fast gar nicht erinnern kann. Ich weiß nur, dass ich mir mehr erhofft hatte, denn wenn man immer Versailles, das Paradebeispiel eines Barockschlosses, als Vergleich nimmt, dann enttäuscht einen fast alles. Enttäuscht ist auch das falsche Wort, aber mir fehlte der Wow-Moment innerhalb des Schlosses. In den Gärten dufte man zum Glück wieder knipsen, was ich bei dem wundervollen Wetter natürlich direkt ausnutzen musste. Die Gärten sind sehr weitläufig und die Highlights sind definitiv der Obeliskbrunnen und die Römische Ruine, so wie die Gloriette, welche, auf einem Hügel gelegen, einen super Ausblick über das Schloss und das Umland bietet.