We visited Vienna, Austria this past weekend. What a beautiful, clean, and friendly city! Vienna is a short drive from Budapest (about 2 1/2 hours) on highway M1/A4. The highway is in GREAT condition, which is a change from most of the roads in Hungary. It is a good thing it is paved so well too, because the average speed is probably somewhere around 100 mph. We were not technically on the autobahn, but it felt like it! I think the fastest our "people mover" (as they call minivans around here) got up to was somewhere around 90, but people were FLYING by us at much faster speeds than that!
Vienna is a springboard for newly popular destinations in Eastern Europe. It is a melting-pot kind of place where we heard many languages including German, Hungarian, and Italian. It is a progressive, people-oriented and socialistic city. This was most apparent in their upgraded public transportation system where they had elevators to the underground and lower tram cars to push strollers onto easily. Culturally, Austrians are very laid-back and enjoy a short workweek (retail stores open at 8:00am and close at 6:00pm).
We started our weekend by using Rick Steves' self-guided walk through old center Vienna to acclimate ourselves to the city and see some major sites. We saw the Opera House, Sacher Cafe (famous for the sachertorte - yummy chocolate cake), the Monument Against War & Fascism, Albertina Museum, Karntner Strasse (mall-like pedestrian street), Stephasnsplatz & St. Stephen's Cathedral, and Michaelerplatz and the Hofburg Palace. For all the pictures from the trip, see our Vienna album on Shutterfly (link to the right).
St. Stephen's Cathedral
We enjoyed sightseeing very much and the kids were wonderful. It helps that we have a GREAT double stroller (THANKS RTW!). We constantly get stared at as we push the stroller around, I guess because people don't expect to see little Reese behind Caden. We were asked probably a minimum of 5 times about where we got the stroller while we were in Vienna.
The littlest tourists
After our day of sightseeing, we headed back towards the hotel and enjoyed a quick dinner outside of a little pizza place. It was pretty good pizza, but the main reason we ate there was because it was next to an ice cream place and Caden was begging for ice cream. He LOVES strawberry ice cream right now and we indulged him twice on this trip!
Caden at Zanoni & Zanoni
Our evening ended around 10:00pm when we all had to turn out the lights at the same time! We stayed at this little hotel (Hotel Pension Corvinus) that is owned/operated by a Hungarian family. They were so accommodating and friendly. Our only mistake was getting the "family room" instead of adjoining rooms so that we could have stayed up once the kids went to bed. Oh well, after days of busy sightseeing, we were ready to go to bed early anyway.
Saturday took us to Tiergarten Schonbrunn, the World's Oldest Zoo - founded in 1752 (about 4 miles from the center of Vienna). The zoo is on the grounds of the Schonbrunn Palace, the summer estate of the Hapsburgs. Their winter home was the aforementioned Hofburg Palace. The zoo is well maintained for being so old and we got to see the newest additions to the zoo, two baby polar bears who were born in November but just made their first public appearance in March. Caden really enjoyed the giraffes best and continues to say it was his favorite animal.
Mommy & Caden in front of the giraffes
After visiting the zoo we toured the rest of the palace grounds and gardens. This was my personal favorite part of the trip. The palace was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed reading and learning about the royal family. We ended the day strolling around the Opera House and St. Stephen's Cathedral once again and visiting Zanoni & Zanoni, a quite busy and famous gellateria. The ice cream here was FANTASTIC and highly recommended by many of the ex-pats here in Budapest. We are so glad we tried it! We did a little shopping on the trip at H&M for me and Reese. I loved going to H&M in NYC and San Francisco, so I was really excited to see it on almost every corner in Vienna. We have one here in Budapest too, I just have not made it over there yet.
Schonbrunn Palace
We had a wonderful weekend in this beautiful city and found it to be a perfect first adventure for our family. I can't wait to begin planning our next trip!
12 comments:
How fabulous! It's going to be so much fun reading about all of your adventures!
What a fun trip! Caden is a boy after my own heart with his love for ice cream! It was national ice cream day here in the states on Sunday, so I'm glad he got to celebrate overseas!
Sounds like a fantastic time! Gelato and H&M..what could be better? The kids do look adorable in their stroller! I love it!
Meredith you do such a good job at describing the adventures. I really enjoy reading about the travels.
I loved your story and adventures that went along with it. I feel like I am learning so much about Europe through your eyes. Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful first excursion! It looks absolutely beautiful. Love keeping up with your adventures on the blog! :) They look so cute in the stroller, too.
Great pictures and narrative about the trip. Of course, I love the pictures of the kids--the palace isn't bad either. Caden is going to become an ice cream snob--he will insist on only going to the best ice cream parlors when he returns to the US!
See, we were right about it being called a people mover. I guess Jonathan has been out of the UK too long!
I love it. Flower beds are only that size in Europe..Caden, the turtles are bigger than the ones at the lake. Such great memories of seeing these places with Caden and Reese add a total different perspective than just the two of you. Picture 76/86 reflects Caden's need of some more ice cream..love you all.
You guys are having such great experiences! Vienna is a place that I would love to go! You are making friends and learning about so many different cultures! Looks like you're having a great time!
Hi Meredith- found your blog through the Moates. Looks like you guys are settled in and enjoying it, and your kids are just adorable! Anyway, just wanted to say hello.. take care!
Loved reading about your trip and looking at all the pictures. I know you are pressed for room in your apt., but have you thought about starting a collection of something small for each child from the different places you visit? Just an idea....hugs and kisses for the kids from Cathy and Martie.
Post a Comment