Vienna:
Austria's Schoenbrunn Palace complex features elaborate flower beds, fountains filled with beautifully carved statues and majestic old-world architecture.
It is fit, quite literally, for a king and was the imperial summer residence for members of the Hapsburg monarchy.
It's no place for an ordinary citizen to live - or is it?
In fact, Schoenbrunn and several other state-owned former imperial properties aren't just museums, they're now homes for regular people.
Austria, unlike most other European countries, rents out apartments in palaces to anyone who applies.
The southern German state of Bavaria, which owns a large number of castles and apartments, does something similar. But residential wings are usually reserved for people who work there.
Franz Sattlecker, one of the directors of the company that operates the Schoenbrunn apartments, says people who want to live there first have to get on the waiting list.
"We have a list of people who are interested in living in Schoenbrunn, because we have 165 different flats, and there is a big difference - some want to live in the palace, which is more expensive, others want to live in more quiet areas," he says.
About 400 people live on the UNESCO world heritage site that members of the royal Habsburg dynasty once called home when they ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Ownership of Schoenbrunn and other imperial properties passed to the Austrian Republic at the end of monarchy in 1918.
One long-time resident of Schoenbrunn is Robert Tidmarsh, who has lived in one of the former servant quarters since 1981, and couldn't imagine moving.
"People don't leave Schoenbrunn, people get carried out," says 59-year-old Tidmarsh, who is from the British city of Leicester.
His cosy 124 square metre (1,335 square feet) flat is filled with antique wooden furniture, porcelain trinkets and old portraits - including one of a young Queen Elisabeth II.
One of Tidmarsh's favourite things about living in Schoenbrunn is the use of the sprawling park surrounding the palace.
"In the evening you have people walking through the gardens of Schoenbrunn, but even again after about six o'clock in the evening the gardens are emptying, you have got less and less people going through, and if I walk through the gardens of Schoenbrunn, say at six o'clock or seven o'clock in the evening, it's like my private garden, you know."
Tidmarsh helps supervise and maintain the castle's Imperial Apartments where Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth, or Sisi, once lived.
Schoenbrunn is regarded as one of Austria's most important cultural monuments and has been a tourist attraction since the 1960s.
The apartments and the palace complex now draw thousands of visitors from around the world each year.
Sattlecker says there 165 apartments range in size, location and condition and cost between ?7.50 (US$10) and ?13 (US$17) per square meter.
The more affordable ones, such as Tidmarsh's, have low ceilings and small windows. But others - redone after elderly tenants die - boast new wooden floors, modern bathrooms and huge, airy rooms flooded in natural light.
However, they also come with a hefty price tag. A vacant five-room apartment in the main palace, for example, will cost about ?3,000 (US$4,014) per month, heating excluded, once it's refurbished, Sattlecker says.
People interested in becoming tenants are added to a waiting list until something opens up. How long depends on what they're after.
There's also plenty of interest in Vienna's Hofburg Palace - historically the main residence of the Habsburgs.
Located situated in the centre of the city, it now houses museums and the office of Austria's president, Heinz Fischer.
Usually, there are 50 to 100 people competing for a spot in the extensive complex with multiple courtyards and a green dome that is pictured on many postcards.
Currently, all of the available apartments, which range in price from ?7 to ?10 (US$9.40 to US$13.40) per square metre, are taken, he says.
Waiting for one is definitely worth it, says Lotte Ingrisch, an author and widow of renowned Austrian composer Gottfried von Einem who has been a Hofburg resident for decades.
"I always thought that only extraordinary people are allowed to live in the Hofburg, but that's not true, there are ordinary people living here," says the 80-year-old who is one of 50 residents.
Her first-floor apartment is divided into three large and high-ceilinged rooms crammed with books, paintings and even an antique harmonium.
The windows overlook a courtyard where the president often welcomes visiting foreign counterparts.
Despite the grand setting, Ingrisch says life in the Hofburg is just like anywhere else.
"Everyday life is like in any other building - I wake up in the morning, have a quick coffee in a cafe nearby, and then I go shopping to buy things like cat food or cat litter."