What better way to spend a fine early spring day, than strolling about beautifully manicured gardens.

Today let’s explore the pleasure palace of Schonbrunn.  The summer residence of Empress Maria-Theresa, the mum of another famous queen, Marie Antoinette.

Located just outside Vienna, Schonbrunn began life as a lodge on the royal hunting grounds.  Later it became the must-have getaway for the Family Habsburg to escape the intrigues of court life in Vienna.

As we wander through the hedges and admire the noble statuary, one can almost hear the squeals of a young Antonia – as she was known before her name was Frenchified after her marriage to Louis XVI – frolicking in the gardens with her royal siblings.