It was our good fortune that my uncle had some work to do in Vienna the same week that the girls had off of school. My aunt joined him, and luckily an Austria holiday allowed him to have a day off, so we booked a flight and went to Austria!
I love how easy that sounds, when actually hours and hours of searching the internet for possible ways to get there were involved. I always hear about how cheap and easy it is to travel in Europe, but it is not always the case! You need to be very flexible with little things like WHEN you want to travel and WHERE you want to travel. Taking the train there sounded like a fun idea, but it was really quite complicated and VERY expensive. So, we ended up taking a plane. It was Swiss Air, which is now definitely our favorite airline! They gave out free chocolate (and Swiss chocolate is really the best!) frequently and generously. They gave my daughters cute little stuffed planes, coloring books, actual books, and other gifts. They fed us actual food on each flight and it was edible...sometimes even good. Oh yes, and there weren't any hidden fees or flight problems such as delays, lost luggage, broken parts. All important things were covered, but I'm starting to feel like an advertisement!
On to Vienna....we arrived late at night and had quite an ordeal getting back to my aunt and uncle's apartment (it involved trains, subways, buses- which had stopped running for the night, a tram- with a really helpful lady that showed us the way, lots of walking, and really tired and thirsty girls). The next morning we decided not to be too ambitious so we hopped back on the bus and then the tram to go to downtown Vienna and just wander around.
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| Beautiful girls in a beautiful city |
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A hotel we passed
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| Feeding the pigeons |
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| Stephensdom, or St. Stephen's Cathedral |
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| Click on the photo and look closely to see where the construction is covered by a sheet that has a picture of the cathedral on it...camoflauge! |
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| Horse rides outside the cathedral...we took a photo but skipped the ride. |
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| They really liked the horses and were not thrilled with my decision. |
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| Inside Stephansdom |
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| Way too beautiful for a McDonald's! No, we didn't eat there. |
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| Doesn't everyone rock out when they see an empty stage?! |
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| Um, no people on this street? Wait! I see some right there! |
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| Another cleverly disguised building. |
After we strolled through Vienna and checked out the cathedral, we had some wienershnitzel (flattened, breaded meat- usually veal but we opted for turkey) and gulash (deliciously seasoned stew with meat and veggies in it) for lunch. It was really tasty and gave us the energy to check out a few more things on our way back to the tram and bus rides home.
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| Seeing a horse's shoe changed on the side of the road was interesting. |
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| Tessa and Sophia love giant ice cream cones...they enjoyed a real one too! |
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| Live art |
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| The streets of Vienna had clowns making balloon animals and live statues! |
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Tessa was trepidatious at first, but then loved it when they stopped being statues long enough to give her a big smile!
The incredibly large and lovely Tuerkenshanzpark was very close to the apartment, so we stopped there on the way home. The girls loved the playgrounds, duck ponds, and big grassy hills for running up and down. I liked this tower, although it was closed, which was probably just as well for me. |
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| After running/tumbling down a steep hill, we needed a plaster (bandaid). |
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| Cool tree |
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| The climber |
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| The girls loved the trees that hung down around them, so they felt like they were in a cave. |
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| Fun spinning disk, if you don't mind your lunch coming UP and going DOWN, coming UP and going DOWN |
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| Caged girls still sing |
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| This house was across the street from the park and might be my favorite house anywhere. From across the street anyway. |
