The Viennese Woods

Here we have die Wiener Wald

or the Vienna Woods,

Kelly and I's very most favorite place in all of Vienna!

And where we spend a lot of our time.

We're not ashamed!

Tons of the Viennese composers were enraptured with these woods as well,

Symphony 6 by Beethoven was entirely about these woods.

So we are just following in the footsteps of these brilliant men:)

Can you spot the herd of wild boar in this picture?

Kelly drew this picture! Isn't it so cute??

And this one was from my grand imagination:)

The tower in the woods. 

Kelly and I pose atop the tower

Alois and Sabine! Our cute host Dad & Mom

Wildeswine are everywhere.

Kinda ugly little pigs

The Ranger's quarters

Just kidding they get to live in HermesVilla!!

So this is HermesVilla
It was the little cottage getaway (haha)
for Empress Sissi!
It is suuuuper beautiful and was Kelly and I's favorite royal accommodations,
including ALL the other palaces.
Look how cute it is!!!

Beautiful Gardens!

Also, somehow I got super interested in Sissi even before we went to this place,

and I read all about her! Here are some random facts.

Isn't she beautiful??

She was a Hungarian princess whose older sister was slated to marry the Austrian Prince,

until he saw Sissi and fell in love with her,

and they were allowed to be wed!

She was 16 at the time.

Her mother-in-law was so controlling,

when Sissi had children the mother-in-law never even let her see them,

but whisked them away to raise them herself.

This led to her falling into a deep depression many times

and becoming obsessed with being thin and avoiding her husband and all life at court.

So sad.

She died one day when an assassin who was trying to kill another royal,

missed his chance so he just stabbed the nearest royal he could find,

which was Sissi.

Her corset was so tight, that she didn't even feel the blade he stuck into her,

until she had already boarded a boat and passed out from loss of blood.

Ahh!! Not such a happy life, and yet, somehow I like her!

It turns out I am Sissi reincarnated.

We are the same height, 

we have the same waist size--

just kidding HA! At her smallest her waist was 16 inches!! 

add ten inches to that and you've got my waist.

We suffer from similar maladies like being obsessed with working out and being prone to anxiety

(however thankfully I don't have an eating disorder like her)

we have similar interests like these WOODS--

we both have thick brown hair that we like to keep really long

(Ok hers was to like the floor, but that would be a little impractical for me since I'm not an empress)

man. We are the same.

Still don't believe me? Here is proof.

We are the same.

Here are some more pictures of her gorgeous woodland Villa!

A gorgeous recital hall!! Can't we have a recital there? Yes. for 500 Euros an hour. AGH

The layout

So it's not wonder the princess was so depressed.

That wacko statue in the corner was called Melancholia,

and was commissioned by her husband to remind her about her son Rudolf's death by suicide.

Also the rest of the room is not exactly welcoming.

Observe the horrible black two-headed eagle above the bed, yuck! A symbol of the state.

The royal bed chamber. UGH

Freaky

The ceiling of the room--that chariot is being pulled by two leopards. I want that.

Another painting in that room. So dark!!

This was a super cool statue we found elsewhere in the Villa.

Gorgeous doors

Hooray for dancing peasants!!

these guys were so cute I wanted to draw them:)

Here we have more pictures of the woods,

but it is SUCH  big part of our trip,

the picture overload is really quite appropriate!

The most gorgeous meadow in the world!!

Selfies with the meadow! I'm in love:)