Hofburg Palace, Vienna (Photo credit: paulafunnell)

Today we must leave Vienna for Bratislava and end our wonderful five-day introduction to Vienna.

Yesterday, we strolled into the City Centre and stopped for some photos of the Austrian Parliament but this soon gave way to further internal exploration. We were able to join an organized tour of the Parliament and found it really interesting. The building itself is quite stunning in traditional Greek style, with extensive marble pillars, statues and carvings. We shall post some photos in a later blog. The irony was not lost on Greek democracy being currently challenged by conservative EU economic policies from Germany and Austria.

After the Austrian Parliament, we crossed the inner ring road and entered the Hofburg Imperial Palace. We initially spent some time strolling round the magnificent gardens and it was amazing how the buzz of the traffic soon subsided.

It’s easily possible to spend…