Willkommen in Wien!

Two weeks ago we arrived in Vienna where we will spend the next three months. Andrew is working in the US Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The kids and I are professional tourists! We're living in Embassy housing--a nice apartment in northern Vienna, close to work and lots of parks. We're having a blast experiencing this gorgeous city. For the past two weeks, I've navigated this historic capital with only a city map and a double stroller! But now that we have a computer and internet connection in the apartment, I'll have the help of modern technology in planning our days. More importantly, we can blog about what we're doing. Here are some things we've done:

Downtown Vienna

Vienna is full of historic cites: palaces, cathedrals, museums, the Opera House. This is a picture of Stephan's Cathedral, the gothic heart of the walking district.

Here's Andrew on the way to the Hofburg Palace. Once the home and administrative center for the Habsburgs, this spralling palace now houses a library, concert halls (including the Vienna Boys Choir), and offices. The OSCE also meets here. Andrew attends meetings every week in a huge hall where delegations from 56 countries sit around a very long table to broker agreements and air grievances (while he sits through that, I have fun with the kids).

Heading to the walking district from the Hofburg.

Behold, the Hofburg! Well, part of it anyway.

Hitler entered the Hofburg through this gate to announce the Anschluss. I tried explaining WWII history to the kids--apparently I lost Fox.

Across the street from the Hofburg are several museums--this is the Natural History.

On the museum grounds

Eden and Fox love playing hide and seek there.

The Schonbrunn Palace

This palace was a modest retreat for the Habsburgs. Actually, it's more like a little town in southern Vienna. It's taken several trips to see not even half of what's there. We still haven't been inside the actual palace! But we've enjoyed the oppulent gardens, the maze and labrynth, and the famous zoo.

The Schonbrunn Gardens

Fountains, fountains everywhere!

Here's the view of the back of the palace from one of the fountains

They even built a waterfall for Maria Theresa to enjoy!

Everyone loved Fox's hat! Here he is meandering up the garden trail from the palace...

...with a great view at the top!

The kids begged to go on this overpriced carriage ride. We finally relented. But after a full day of fun, they both fell asleep during the ride!

The Schonbrunn Maze and Labrinth
Definitely a highlight so far was the maze at Schonbrunn. So much fun!

"Hey kids, which way should we go?" Fox was torn.

The center of the maze had a platform. Andrew and Eden made it there first and guided us the rest of the way.

Another maze!

The labrinth had all sorts of games and puzzles throughout a low-growing maze. Here you had to climb poles to ring the bells.

Bouncing from platform to platform

A musical puzzle. The notes on this glockenspiel are mixed up--you stomp on it and try to figure out the right order to make a scale. Andrew got it in like 10 seconds. Watch the kids stomping away in the video below.

A giant kaleidescope!

And the exit

Viennese Playgrounds

Austria is not a sue-happy culture like the US. That means that when the city builds playgrounds, it isn't paranoid that some neglectful parent is going to sue because their child fell off a piece of equipment that parents should have monitored them on. It was the same when we were in Hungary 5 years ago. Basically, the playgrounds are a million times cooler than anything you see in the States. And there is so much variety. Each one is unique--you never see the same equipmment twice.
Turkenshanz Park, right by our house has several playgrounds, including a giant sandbox complete with castle walls of real stone. The thing below is a composite of monkey bars and a merry-go-round. Hold on tight!

Slides are often built into the hills.

Fox loves the firetruck at this playground.

Prater Park has rollercoasters and ferris wheels. The kids loved the ride pictured below. We went on another "kiddy" roller coaster that left them screaming in terror and made Andrew motion sick.

Yes, the kids were too scared, so I climbed into the belly of this huge bird. After taking this picture, Andrew flapped the wings for me--it was actually kind of scary.

Typical lunch in the park.

The Schonbrunn Zoo

This is the oldest zoo in the world. And the best zoo I've ever been to. There are caves with giant fruit bats flying free. They have pandas. And feeding times spread throughout the day.

Watching the sealions after feeding time.

Watch the Siberian Tigers eating giant rabbits. The kids thought it was hillarious until the guts started spilling out.

A tunnel aquarium at the zoo.

Immediately upon entering the tropical house, Eden shouted "It's the rafflesia plant!" Sure enough, there it was, the biggest flower in the world. We've read about in one of her books; I've always wanted to see it in real life. It was huge, but not as stinky as I expected.

The Zoom Children's Museum at the Museumquartier

This was so much fun! The kids took a 90 minute art class at the Children's Museum. They loved the paint splattered overalls and crocs. And it's a good thing they wore them; these were not your home craft projects!

The Aquarium
Housed in an old anti-aircraft tower, this aquarium goes up, rather than out. It's 10 stories high and houses not only sharks and sea turtles, but also huge snakes, crocodiles, bats, monkeys and chameleons (to name just a few). It also has a killer view from the roof.

This monitor lizard was very interested in the kids.

In the jungle room monkeys, birds, bats and tortoises roam free. A (large) bird pooped on Fox.

The sea turtle.

The view of Vienna from the top.

Eden got a kick out of standing under the scuba diver while he cleaned the tank.

Curious George

The Butterfly House

We went to the butterfly house today. It was beautiful.

Here, Fox actually caught the butterfly. And that was the end of our visit.