{"id":6922,"date":"2013-11-14T21:59:34","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T21:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=6922"},"modified":"2013-11-17T10:00:36","modified_gmt":"2013-11-17T10:00:36","slug":"a-day-at-the-palace-viennas-schloss-schonbrunn-with-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/a-day-at-the-palace-viennas-schloss-schonbrunn-with-children\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day at the Palace – Vienna’s Schloss Sch\u00f6nbrunn with Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quite strangely for two little English people, if there’s one thing my two children cannot abide, it’s queueing.\u00a0 And I have to say that when we saw the swarm of people waiting at the ticket office at Schloss Sch\u00f6nbrunn<\/a>, I developed a sudden hatred of it too (as did Mr R thankfully as it turned out!). \u00a0 Thinking it was all a bit crowded (but not too despondent about it, we had half expected as much as it was a public holiday, and this is Vienna’s most popular tourist attraction!), we decided to give the inside of the former Imperial Residence a miss, and opted for a walk in the stunning grounds instead – heading straight for the gateway with the brightest sunshine…<\/p>\n

As we got closer, we saw an entrance sign for the Schloss Sch\u00f6nbrunn Children’s Museum,<\/a> and just on the off-chance that this was a separate entity from the main building, and had its own ticket office, we popped in.\u00a0 It did! \u00a0 And better still, compared to the main building, this place was pleasantly empty…<\/p>\n

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The experience starts in a great hall, overtaken at one end by row upon row of Narnia-esque wardrobes stuffed with all manner of amazing regal costumes, accompanied by endless boxes of gloves, cloaks, wigs and fans and the like.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Swept up in imagination, our parental roles were temporarily transformed into those of Lady’s maid, and Valet to an elegant (but bossy) Lady, and a very demanding Little Lord Fauntleroy who changed his mind about what he was wearing every few seconds.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We got our own back by suggesting various regal poses that will be added to my “to be used as blackmail in the event of any future hideous teenage outbursts” file on my PC.<\/p>\n

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It is hard to describe how thrilled the pair of them were with this part of the museum, and the costumes themselves were hugely impressive.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Small Girl did want to know why the outfits couldn’t be worn whilst you are visiting the rest of the building (you can if it’s your birthday by the way!) and the simple answer is I imagine that nobody would want to take them off again…<\/p>\n

The effort put into capturing a child’s imagination whilst showing them exactly what life was like back in the palace’s hey day of\u00a0 the mid 1700’s was just brilliant… \u00a0 From the dressing room complete with samples of the popular scents and perfumes of the day, to the hair salon where you could style to your heart’s content, all of which proved to be a complete hit with my horrible histories addicts!<\/p>\n

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Then onto the rooms in the rest of the palace, with interactive wheels showing how the Royal family lived in comparison to meer mortals, how they dressed, what toys the children would have had, what they would have eaten, and perhaps my favourite of all, what the children of the palace would have learned .\u00a0\u00a0 Having studied this section in-depth, the Eight year old just looked at me with pure disdain as I tried to tell her how sad it was that girls at that time would not have been allowed to study properly, they would have only been able to go horse-riding, have dancing lessons, singing lessons and do the odd bit of sewing…. Apparently she’s hoping for a time machine…<\/p>\n

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And after all that, it was back to the dressing up area for another hour’s preening, and more trying on of various frippery and finery.\u00a0\u00a0 Mr R might have got carried away this time too (as did many other parents!), but with Christmas just around the corner, I decided not to publish those pictures as I am not sure I would be getting any presents otherwise!<\/p>\n

Thankfully it was still daylight outside by the time we had finished, and we still had the time and the energy to explore the glorious grounds, and get momentarily lost in the ancient maze.<\/p>\n

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Put this place on your “Must See” list if you are visiting Vienna with children, both my Small people gave this place\u00a0 a resounding 20 out of ten, and come to think of it, I might just give it that score as well!…<\/p>\n

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