As my friend Jenny once put it...."In Vienna I just saw some royal stuff."
Well now I can say, so have I! In fact, I spent my entire first day in Vienna doing just that, and there is plenty of "royal stuff" to see. I arrived at the palace at around 9:30am and didn't finish until close to 6pm. I didn't even think that I would be very interested in this kind of thing but the history was pretty fascinating, the gardens were beautiful, and there was so much more I didn't expect, including the imperial zoo. I bought a gold pass for €40 which included access to just about everything. I toured the palace, walked through the gardens, saw the collection of royal carriages, visited the zoo, got lost in a maze of hedges, and even learned how to make apple strudel. In the end I thought the pass ended up being well worth the cost.