24.12.10
21.12.10
European Adventure Part 4 - Vienna
... and on we went to Vienna, a mere two hour drive from Graz but true to form we arrived late and in a snowstorm, giving our travels the usual epic migration sort of feeling. This time we stayed in a modern but somewhat sparsely furnished/decorated apartment (of which I did not take any pictures). The location was great - 15 minutes into town via metro and a five minute walk from the Schoenbrunn Palace and Park, which includes the lovely old Zoo.
I am not usually prone to big words and tend not to be on the effusive side, but Vienna at Christmastime is nothing short of MAGNIFICENT! A photographer's paradise (that would be a real photographer, not me the beginner who pretty much point-and-shoots and gets tired of hauling around the big camera along with the diaperbag).
Given Vienna's MAGNIFICENCE, this post will contain a whole slew of photographs .... can't help it!
I will start with our initial walk around Schoenbrunn Park and Palace:
The Schoenbrunn Christmas market by day ...
... and at nighttime.
The big girls took a children's tour of the Palace, complete with the "house ghost":
And they baked and decorated Christmas Cookies at the old Palace Bakery (we tried to make the trip as Christmasy as we could, and it is cool to do this at a real-life Palace, but I was sad to miss out on this little ritual at home ...) :
The amazing park surrounding the Palace - I could have taken pictures all day, especially with everything highlighted by the snow ....
The Art Nouveau Palm House:
My Biggest Sweetie (apart from F, of course!):
My Middle Sweetie, who happened to get a bouquet of flowers from a woman in a long dress involved in some kind of big photo-shoot. E was convinced that the woman was a princess who had given her flowers - look at the smile .....
My littlest sweetie:
... and the beautiful zoo...
A look at the Gloriette Cafe across the Park from the Palace
... from the outside
... and from the inside
Wait! I know you are probably running out of steam reading the longest post in the (admittedly short) history of this blog, but this place is just so fantabulous that it is hard to stop. There still is the downtown part of Vienna:
The Hofburg
We took a carriage tour through the old town - something we may have poohpoohed as too touristy in our younger unattached days, but quite a convenient thing when you can contain all three girls in one place, cover them with blankets and get a good look at the town - not to mention delighting the girls who felt like princesses and practiced their most "royal" of waves as we passed by the crowds:
We managed a few stops at the famous "Cafe Zentral", which was our hangout place during a pre-kids trip to Vienna that we fondly remembered for its coffee, food, selection of good newspapers and great evening classical music. No time to read newspapers on this trip, but we did get to soak up a bit of the famous Viennese coffeehouse culture
... notice EJ's face on the bench next to MK
On the metro at the end of a long sightseeing day:
These pictures do not capture some of the more taxing parts of the trip, which I don't intend to dwell on, but I do remember trudging through a snowstorm on at least two occasions looking for an open restaurant to feed the brood, laundry, tired and "less than cooperative" children, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, and did I mention laundry?
So there it is, ten eventful and exciting days in Vienna distilled down to a single blog post. It doesn't do the City justice, but it gives a good glimpse into our little adventure. Thank you, little girls and fabulous FP for an exciting Vienna visit!
I am not usually prone to big words and tend not to be on the effusive side, but Vienna at Christmastime is nothing short of MAGNIFICENT! A photographer's paradise (that would be a real photographer, not me the beginner who pretty much point-and-shoots and gets tired of hauling around the big camera along with the diaperbag).
Given Vienna's MAGNIFICENCE, this post will contain a whole slew of photographs .... can't help it!
I will start with our initial walk around Schoenbrunn Park and Palace:
The Schoenbrunn Christmas market by day ...
... and at nighttime.
The big girls took a children's tour of the Palace, complete with the "house ghost":
And they baked and decorated Christmas Cookies at the old Palace Bakery (we tried to make the trip as Christmasy as we could, and it is cool to do this at a real-life Palace, but I was sad to miss out on this little ritual at home ...) :
The amazing park surrounding the Palace - I could have taken pictures all day, especially with everything highlighted by the snow ....
The Art Nouveau Palm House:
My Biggest Sweetie (apart from F, of course!):
My Middle Sweetie, who happened to get a bouquet of flowers from a woman in a long dress involved in some kind of big photo-shoot. E was convinced that the woman was a princess who had given her flowers - look at the smile .....
My littlest sweetie:
... and the beautiful zoo...
A look at the Gloriette Cafe across the Park from the Palace
... from the outside
... and from the inside
Wait! I know you are probably running out of steam reading the longest post in the (admittedly short) history of this blog, but this place is just so fantabulous that it is hard to stop. There still is the downtown part of Vienna:
The Hofburg
We took a carriage tour through the old town - something we may have poohpoohed as too touristy in our younger unattached days, but quite a convenient thing when you can contain all three girls in one place, cover them with blankets and get a good look at the town - not to mention delighting the girls who felt like princesses and practiced their most "royal" of waves as we passed by the crowds:
We managed a few stops at the famous "Cafe Zentral", which was our hangout place during a pre-kids trip to Vienna that we fondly remembered for its coffee, food, selection of good newspapers and great evening classical music. No time to read newspapers on this trip, but we did get to soak up a bit of the famous Viennese coffeehouse culture
... notice EJ's face on the bench next to MK
On the metro at the end of a long sightseeing day:
These pictures do not capture some of the more taxing parts of the trip, which I don't intend to dwell on, but I do remember trudging through a snowstorm on at least two occasions looking for an open restaurant to feed the brood, laundry, tired and "less than cooperative" children, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, and did I mention laundry?
So there it is, ten eventful and exciting days in Vienna distilled down to a single blog post. It doesn't do the City justice, but it gives a good glimpse into our little adventure. Thank you, little girls and fabulous FP for an exciting Vienna visit!
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