Away Part 2 {Vienna}

After we spent some time in Prague we made our way via train to Vienna, Austria.  We rented an apartment for our stay there and I’m not sure we’ll ever go back the hotel route unless we get a great deal.  It was so nice to put the boys to bed and to have some time with Marvin in the evenings where we could talk above a whisper.  Plus I could do some laundry so I didn’t have to do much by hand in the hotel and we came home with mostly clean clothes!!!  The apartment was only a couple blocks from the Metro and a block from a tram line.  It was so convenient to get around.

I’m not sure which city was my favorite.  Both were equally beautiful.  Vienna has been a city I’ve always wanted to visit since I was a little girl because my favorite movie in grade school was called Friendship in Vienna.

Marvin was wowed by the beautiful landscaping, and I’m not sure how many plants he commented on but it was a lot. 

We did a lot of kid friendly things in Vienna.  Our first stop was the Zoom Children’s Museum.  It was fabulous, we had to register ahead of time for a time slot and both boys could go to the same exhibit which was nice.  They loved it.  Micah’s favorite part was the rope and the puzzle in the submarine.  Calvin loved the ropes. 

Then we headed to the famous Prater Amusement park and rode the large Ferris wheel.  Micah wasn’t a fan, but loved the park just across the street.  Both boys loved this scary slide.  Micah was a little bullet going down that thing, and he makes my heart race sometimes, wish he had a little more fear in him.

We were able to take in Schronbrunn Palace.  WOW.  I was amazed at how kid friendly it was.  We stopped and ate a lunch we packed here.  Stunning views of Vienna.  We wish we could have spent more time in the labyrinth mazes, but we wanted to tour the palace before meeting up with a friend from my hometown.

The shock of the day was that Calvin loved the Palace tour, thanks to technology.  He was given his own listening guide and he entered every number into his listening device.  Afterwards he told me it was neat to see where the mother lived.  We were shocked that he actually paid attention to the entire 40 room tour. 

Micah however woke up from his incredibly brief nap right before we entered the palace.  Bad timing.  So I carried him through 20 out of 40 rooms on our tour, got my arm workout in for the day (in case you were wondering why Marvin didn’t carry him, Micah’s quite particular and when he’s tired it’s easier to not fight some of his requests and it kept him quiet vs. a full blown meltdown if Marvin picked him up.  We figured our fellow tourists would rather not hear a screaming child.)  It was very grand and I enjoyed learning more about the royal Austrian family.  They did a very good job of painted a concise picture of their life and included some fascinating details.

We met up with a friend of mine from my hometown for dinner and the park.  She showed us a great Chipotle like place and were able to take it to a park nearby and let the boys play.  Thanks K it was great to meet your husband and little guy and fun to see you while we were in town.

The next day we went to the Vienna Zoo.  It is hands down the best zoo I’ve ever been to.  It was neat to see some of the original enclosures and everything was so established, tall tress, large plants.  The boys were impressed.  I loved watching the panda bears, munch on their bamboo and the monkeys.  I heard Micah say, “Mama look", about a million times that day.

We headed back into town and enjoyed some Austrian food and saw this crazy guy practicing for a big slack line performance the next day.  CRAZY.  Calvin loved it because he actually knew what he was doing since he walked, with help, on a slack line a couple weeks prior during a picnic we had with some friends.

The next day we went to a music museum.  I figured Calvin would like it, but he decided he didn’t want to enjoy it before we went inside.  Although I think he had fun.  I enjoyed learning more about a few famous composers and seeing Beethoven’s spectacles was pretty cool.  I’m thankful Marvin let me enjoy that part of the museum while he took the boys to a more interactive part of the museum.

Shortly after that we headed to the airport and flew back home.  It was a great trip.