Sunday was our last day in Vienna, and we spent most of it on a “day of culture.”  We started the morning by attending mass at Hofmusikkapelle, home of the Vienna Boys Choir. Thanks to the helpful concierge desk at Le Meridian we were able to book tickets earlier in the week and walked past the line of people queued for tickets that morning, the first Sunday of Advent. The cathedral is rather small, the chairs are hard, and most everything is in German, but the singing is beautiful. On some of the songs I enjoyed the men’s choir even more then than the boys choir…

Coming out of the service we noticed that it was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a trip out of the city to Schönbrunner Park.

After hiking around the grounds for a few hours, we discovered another Christmas market where we enjoyed a huge soft pretzel and sissipunch, our favorite warm concoction of the trip: white wine, apple cider, sugar, cinnamon, clove and a dash of rum. Delicious!

hmm, sissipunch :)

After warming up our insides, we took full advantage of our 24-hour metro passes and headed out to photograph another estate, Belvedere Palace.

After the sun went down, we went back to our hotel room to thaw out and pack before heading back to the Schönbrunn Orangerie for a Mozart and Strauss concert. The 90 minute show was performed beautifully by a six-piece ensemble and was punctuated with singing and dancing. This was a bit of a splurge for us and a touch touristy, but it was a great way to experience a little classical music by two composers closely linked to Vienna.