Vienna is a beautiful city. For some reason (might be connected to the wine-tasting festival Martiniloben held in November every year just outside Vienna) I've mostly visited in late autumn, but to be honest, does anyone mind glüwein being sold on every street corner? This last visit we (Maria & Mattias) focused on Stephansdome, schloss Belvedere and the art exibitions at Albertina.
Schloss Schönbrunn, on the outskirts of Vienna (just take the U4 to Schönbrunn and the castle is right round the corner), is beautiful even when November winds are freezing and dark clouds cover the sky. The (audio-)guided tour through the castle gives an intimate insight in the lives of the Habsburg-family, who spent much of their time there, and I must admit I was almost moved to tears when parts of Maria Theresa's diary was read. 
The gardens are also wonderful, not too large (as the one in Versailles), but with a surprisingly private feel to it. Exploring the "woods", discovering the "Roman ruins", and making friends with local wildlife makes it a great experience. We will have to go back in summer. 
Does it need any further introduction?
These pictures were taken from the ferry, going to Taronga Zoo, and it's indeed a fascinating building!
When in Sydney it's almost mandatory to take a day tour to Blue Mountains, whether you're a World-Heritage-junkie or not. And it's beautiful! I visited Blue Mountains for the third time, it's Isabella's second visit, but the rest of the gang had never been, and we would probably have gone even if it wasn't on the list, just to see a bit more of Australian nature.
Fraser Island is an island made of sand. Lots of sand. So, there's sand everywhere. You can't get away from it... it's in your bed, in the food, and in your clothes. And yes, you can get stuck in it. Still, it's a great place to visit, and we can highly recommend it... it's an adventure!
When in Bangkok we couldn't resist the temptation of a 1-day tour of the world heritage listed site Ayutthaya, one of Thailand's old capitals (even though both me and Isabella had visited the site before). It's a great way to spend a day, getting out of chaotic Bangkok for a while... we took a bus to Ayutthaya and then a river cruise including lunch back. Much better than going by car both ways, as Isabella and I did the first time.
Visited by Maria, Mattias, Isabella and Dennis 2007-08-07
Visited by Maria & Mattias - 2007-07-11
We got in trouble at Versailles for drinking wine in the garden. Feel slightly ashamed for being so disrespectful to a world heritage, but the garden was sooo big, and there were trash cans and benches and we didn't disturb anyone (except the guard who yelled at us) and didn't make a mess... anyway. We both felt that Versailles was a bit too much for us, too many tourists and too BIG. The 45 min queue to get tickets didn't help. Not one of our favourtie sites...
The first night we spent in Paris we walked from our hotel in Montparnasse up to Seine (a longer walk than we had expected), and the view was breath taking.
