Chris wanted me to see a little slice of California in Vienna, so wewent to Mexikoplatz! Nothing says California like Mexico! This is called Mexikoplatz because when the Nazis took over Austria before WWII, Mexico was one of two countries that objected. 
Mexico actually had a relationship to the Austrian Empire because Emporer Maximillian of Mexico, was actually a member of the Austrian Habsburg ruling family. The church has a long name that no one remembers because everyone just calls it the Mexico church. 
At the park surrounding the church, there were a bunch of men playing Dominos and yelling at each other, and having quite an intense conversation. I had no idea Dominos was such an involved game… 
Here is Elora sporting her new sunglasses that she got from her friend Mia. She is so excited to have sunglasses, and often puts them on in the house and then complains that she can’t see. 
The inside of the church is actually very bare, but has a great echo because the ceilings are so high. If you want to see which churcheshave the best echo, just take little kids along… they somewhat misinterpret the meaning of “be quiet and walk”. Here you can see Elora skipping with her Teddy. (he’s being held by the tail.)
There is one section of the church that is covered in elaborate good artwork. Elora thought this was very neat. She excitedly told me,”Mom! There is lots of gold and treasure in there!” 
Here is Elora waving to the church as we walked over to the Danube.The church is right near the river, so we took advantage of the nice weather and went for a walk along the water. 
While walking we kept seeing swans. The kids were really excited tosee them. We fed them some cheerios. Luckily they didn’t hop out ofthe water, I think Elora would have been a bit scared of these birds,they are bigger than her! Note, Elora firmly holding Teddy with one hand and gripping dirty Teddy’s tail with the other. She loves his tail…
As we walked Elora enjoyed seeing all the boats on the river, as well as the little bunnies that live in the grassy areas along the river.We saw about five rabbits just munching on the grass.
We stopped at a little park to have a snack, and Oliver made friends with some puppies that were playing there. Luckily they were friendly little dogs and enjoyed having Oliver crawl around after them. 
We finished our outing by going to the mall at the Millennium Towers, and Elora liked all ofthe “fancy accessories” she found. Then we got to figure out how to get home on public transit after walking so far away from where we started… luckily we figured out there is a train station at the mall (nice to know!) that has a line that loops around right near our house. Well actually near the bus stop that goes to our house as there isn’t much -near- our house but trees and other houses.
