"Vienna is a city of dreams and inspiration."
Vienna!
What an absolutely incredible trip. I always look back on our adventures with the happiest memories! It certainly helps that the kids are amazing little travelers, and they are the absolute best on an airplane. Even Gins fell asleep exactly where and when she was supposed to.
{Travel Day}
The kids were ready for an epic travel day.
Ginny's first car ride with her Rider Safe Vest.
A Ginny with a view!
{Day 1}
We started off our first morning in Vienna with a concert at the Hofburg Palace! We actually went to a Sunday Mass featuring the Vienna Boys Choir in the Hofburg Chapel. It was incredible. We were seated high up in the rafters where the scent of the incense was strong. They began the first musical number with a solo from one of the boys before the rest of the choir joined in.
I cannot explain how angelic the boys sounded...I mean, truly. It was beyond my expectations in every way, and their voices were even more crystal than I thought possible. The acoustics, the incense, the voices...it was truly an experience.
Afterward, we met up with Harald and Elke! We try to see them any time we are in Europe. It's always so fun to catch up with them from across the world.
We took a tour of the Hofburg Palace and then headed back to our Airbnb to deal with some jet lag crazies.
Introducing Harald and Elke to Exploding Kittens and Top Trumps was a blast. These are two of the boys' favorite card games. Harald and Elke gave us Top Trumps in German as a gift a few years ago, and the kids love it so much! (The Weasley's have the highest Staunbamm, which are some of their favorite sleeper cards....iykyk.)
In the evening, we visited Prater Wein, which is a huge public park that is home to one of the oldest amusement parks in the world! It's famous for its ferris wheel (built in 1897), its pay-per-ride system, and its old-school wooden rides.
The amusement park is surrounded by an enormous green park system that used to be royal hunting grounds. Now, the greenery is home to a vast system of trails, meadows, and playgrounds. We spent quite a bit of time playing on the playgrounds before heading into the amusement park.
We rode a few rides, one of which Owen warned me was suuuuuper spinny. I neither believed him nor heeded his warning. Oof. It was, indeed, super spinny. I felt nauseous for the better part of an hour after that. Always listen to observant kids.
A highlight of the evening was definitely the Devil's Slide! It's an old wooden toboggan ride that everybody loved.
We all loved the traditional German dinners we had in Vienna. Yum!
And of course, gelato for all. I'm not sure why the quality of the photos here is wonky. Something changed on the Blogger settings, and I can't upload my photos like I normally do. I hope I figure it out soon. Until then, it's stardust hair for Owen.
There is nothing better than public transit with kids! I love this about big cities and sometimes lament that this isn't the standard in America.
{Day 2}
Ginny had a bit of hard time adjusting to the time change, so she and I were up several nights in a row. We both crashed out the morning of day two and slept in much longer than we were supposed to. Thankfully, we didn't have anything scheduled until the afternoon. While we slept, Don took the boys to the Titanic Museum with Harald and Elke. It wasn't on our original itinerary, but everybody said it was an unexpected delight!
Once Ginny and I were awake, we took off to meet Don and the boys at the Belvedere Museum. This art museum houses several famous Gustav Klimt paintings, including The Kiss. In elementary school, the kids take an art class where they study a different artist every month. In first grade, Auggie studied Gustav Klimt and learned all about The Kiss. When I told him we were going to go see the actual, real, original painting, he couldn't believe it! He kept asking me if it was a reproduction, and it was pretty neat to tell him that it was the real thing. He actually got frustrated with me for trying to take his picture because he was so into listening to his audioguide.
This is also the first year Owen has been interested in the audio guides! He's getting older now, and he can understand and learn from them now. It's an exciting time for us as parents!!
Belvedere Palace was beautiful.
Gustav Klimt, Flower Garden.
The cutest audioguide kids I ever did see!
Gustav Klimt, The Kiss.
The cutest little bed buddies.
{Day 3}
We spent the next day at the Schonbrunn Palace! This translates into beautiful spring, and it is often referred to as the summer palace. This is the very same palace where Mozart, aka "Wolfi", played a concert for Empress Maria Theresa when he was just six years old! We read about this experience in one of the kids Magic Tree House books, and they were very excited to see the halls where Mozart had roamed around and played in.
The hedge mazes at Schonbrunn Palace were top notch! Along with the zoo, this was definitely a highlight for everybody. These mazes were so much fun!
The grounds of these huge palaces are simply incredible. It could take hours to properly explore them.
The Schonbrunn Zoo was also a major highlight! Auggie and Owen are really into animals these days, especially Auggie. He loves memorizing animal facts and he's been writing an animal book all summer. Both he and Owen want to be zoologists when they grow up, so seeing the real life animals was probably one of the most memorable things we did the entire trip.
The hand-nibbling fish were way fun, but I did not love the feeling...eeeewwww!
{Day 4}
The next day, we took a train to Salzburg! I've said it before and I'll say it again...public transit is the best. We had a ton of fun playing card games until we couldn't play anymore. Even then, Owen kept begging us to play more and more and more games. Owen loves his games!
Ginny is also the best little travel buddy. She has the happiest, sweetest demeanor, and she is a delight to be around. We all love Ginny!
When we arrived in Salzburg, our first stop was a walk around the Mirabell Gardens. These gardens surround Mirabell Palace, and they are stunning. It was great to let the kids run around and be free after a long train ride. The weather was perfect, the views were perfect, and we found a little gelato shop just around the corner.
In the afternoon, we visited both Mozart museums, which are inside the two homes that Mozart lived in growing up. The first was the home he was born in, and the second was the home he grew up in. It was quite apparent that Mozart's family was both well connected and very wealthy. What a lucky kid to have a family that could support his talent at such a young age!
We saw the actual pianoforte that Mozart played as a child. Very cool.
Every European city is the cutest, and Salzburg is no exception. We loved walking around on the cobblestone streets and seeing fountains in every plaza.
Our Salzburg apartment was tiny, and we loved it just the same. Not a bad Airbnb to be found! We have fond memories here of listening to Paddington before bedtime.
{Day 5}
The next day, we were off to the salt mines! We took a bus across the border to Germany and arrived at the famous Berchetsgaden Salt Mines. We actually missed our bus stop and had to catch a bus back a few stops. I was very concerned we would miss our tour, but thankfully, we did not! Phew. I was also concerned they wouldn't let Ginny in despite the website saying all ages were allowed. They not only let her in, but addressed the baby situation by telling me to just stuff her inside my jumpsuit ð. This gave us a good laugh. In you go, Ginny!
The salt mines were amazing. We started by taking a little train ride deep into the mountain, and then proceeded with a guided tour explaining the process of mining salt.
The best part was when we all got to slide down the miner's slides into a huge salt cavern! The boys loved it, and our picture still makes me smile. Ginny is there, hiding inside my jumpsuit.
Another favorite part of the tour was when the tour guide told us to taste the walls of the cavern! She said that salt has natural anti-bacterial properties, so we wouldn't get sick. Ok, then! No further questions. We all just started licking the walls! It tasted so salty, and the boys thought it was the best.
After returning from the salt mines, we quickly changed clothes and took the boys to a Mozart concert at Mirabell Palace. It was incredible. The concert was in the chapel which was decorated in ornate gold. It was a solo piano concert, and the pianist played multiple Mozart pieces. I was so impressed, and it just reminded of how incredibly talented people are.
Side note: While in Salzburg, we quickly learned the bus system which took us straight to the old downtown area from our Airbnb. We hopped on and off every day. Here we are, off to the concert.
Very excited boys, but also very tired boys...
One more quick wander around the gardens before we headed home for the evening. What a day!
Oh yeah, the boys got a kick out of some guy wading in the fountain picking out coins. Auggie kept saying, "mom, why was that guy swimming in the fountain?!" They thought it was so funny.
