Get ready: Major. Picture. Overload.
This year we decided to hit Vienna for our Spring Break trip. It's only about 4 hours away, and proved to be a great spot. There weren't a million tourists like in other parts of Europe, so we were able to take our time and see the city. We rented this little apartment for a few days, and while it was a pain trying to get inside (long story) it was a beautiful place to stay. It's an old Viennese style apartment, with the most amazing wood floors ever.
The fireplace was beautiful.
The kitchen was tiny, but worked just fine for a few days.
The bathroom and the laundry room.
Notice anything missing?
Most places over here don't have the toilet in the same room as the tub. It's in another room called the water closet.
And it really is a closet.
The small hallway.
The master bedroom.
Another view of the master bedroom, with a tiny balcony.
We parked the car for three days (in free parking, no less- totally unheard of over here) and just rode the city tram, or the train as the kids called it.
Standing in the Heldenplatz (Heroes square).
A view of one of the Gothic churches from the Heldenplatz.
A statue of Archduke Karl.
The lilacs were beautiful, so Pete told Annie to stand in front of them so I could take a picture. Just as I pushed the button, she did this:
So many statues...
We went inside Hofburg Palace, one of two palaces in Vienna, and a big portion of the tour was this:
Plates, silverware, old table settings and some that are still used.
We were too cheap to pay for more than one guided tour, so we bought one and took turns listening and telling each other what we heard.
I thought this was so interesting. It is used in a specific duck entree, and was built to squeeze all the "juice" out of the duck bones.
Archduke Karl again.
We decided that Annie needed princess hair...
One of the many beautiful city parks.
Look at Pete and Annie. Sheesh.
We spent the afternoon at the Natural History Museum, which was probably the highlight for the kids. We could have gone back everyday and they would have been content.
This is a tibia of a dinosaur found in Utah.
Don't ask me what I'm doing, I'm not sure.
Pete and Annie sat down for a while and watched a movie about snakes eating mice. Annie would be the happiest girl on the planet if she had a pet snake.
To get out a little energy after the museum, we let the kids play around on these ramps...
... and then these people grabbed the kids and starting pinching their cheeks and kissing and hugging them.
And then they wanted pictures taken with them.
It turns out that they were an Indian family who had never seen blonde, American children. The kids were happy to get all the attention, and didn't find it at all strange. The woman couldn't get over Annie's cheeks, and kissed them a billion times.
This was the bus line we took. I mostly took a picture for reference, in case we forgot which line we were supposed to take.
