Vienna, Now or Never

Trips are about making memories, and we always do.  Sometimes they are good memories, and sometimes we remember them because the experience didn't go as well as anticipated.  Our trip to Vienna was full of lots of windy memories.  I don't think we can ever hear Vienna and not think of the bitter wind that we encountered.

Trying to stay out of the wind, we spent our first day at the Museum of Natural History.  It was not as boring as it sounds.  Natalie and Avree had a blast wandering through the rooms looking at all the gems, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, reptiles, meteorites, ect.  You name it, they had it.

We started of the following day at the Schonbrunn Palace and gardens, the former residence of the Habsburgs, taking a tour of the palace and walking around the gardens as long as we could stand it.  .  Natalie liked hearing about the Habsburgs because Empress Elizabeth was better known as Sisi, which happens to be Natalie's [imaginary] friend's name.  Their Easter market was happening, so we quickly scanned the stalls.  We jumped onto the subway and warmed up until we reached our next destination, the Sisi Museum and tour of the Imperial Gardens.  This was also a residence of the Habsburg's, and we gained even more knowledge of their reign and influence in Austria on this tour.  Putting up with the cold weather long enough, we headed to a restaurant to eat.  The restaurant we dined at was an old cellar and also a hat museum.  I had been so excited to take Natalie, but do too my poor navigation skills, it took us forever to find it and she slept like a rock for the entire meal. 

On our final day in Vienna we wandered around the Ringstrasse seeing seeing the key buildings and taking photos. Some places of interest on our list included: The Rathaus, Opera House, St. Stephen's Cathedral, a famous clock, and another Easter market to name a few. I must take this opportunity to note that the cathedral has a beautiful tile mosaic rooftop and there is a delicious wafer store right across the street called Manner. The weather was cold and windy, and so we welcomed the chance to hop on the subway and ride to the other part of town.  This was by far the coldest day that we were there and the wind was getting through our gloves and socks, making walking outside almost miserable.  Our last stop of the day was at the Wiener Prater, the oldest amusement park in the world.  The kids rode a few smaller rides and then we took a family trip on the giant Ferris wheel, the Wiener Riesenrad is 65 meters high and was featured in an old film. 

My critique on Vienna is this:  While I wouldn't put it on my list of top 20 Must-see cities in Europe, it is definitely worth a few days if you have the time.  There is so much to see and the city is very easy to navigate by public transportation.  I am sure that is is even more delightful when the temperature is warmer and the flowers are in bloom.