Palmenhaus

We had never been to the Palmenhaus before, and our friend Jessica wanted to visit for the first time as well, so we headed off to the Schonbrunn grounds to look inside the huge greenhouse that was enjoyed in times past by Emperors and Empresses.

We found these awesome exotic flowers growing on a bush just outside the Palmenhaus. Wow. So beautiful.

Look closely and you can see the leopard spotted slug that Elora is snuggling next to and looking lovingly at. She is so funny, she was super excited to pose next to the spotted slug.

Here we are walking around inside. There are so many beautiful plants to look at, and the Palmenhaus is actually quite large with a lot of room for the kids to run around. And no, I can’t remember what was so funny…

The Hahnenkamm is the most deadly ski run in the world. So it is only natural that they named it after a beautiful tropical flower.

Just so you know, Elora always points with those particular fingers. And I think this homeboy face was actually supposed to be a slug face…

The happy kids with their good friend Jessica. They love to hang out with her!

That is the biggest palm leaf I have ever seen in my life. And to think, there used to be a bigger palm tree in the building, but they had to cut it down because it was about to break the glass roof.

Lounging around in the warm, tropical environment. What a great place to hang out on dreary cold days!

Chris thinks he needs a new hairstyle. What do you think, long and curly? That’s pretty hot.

We tried to get a picture of the kids smiling… At least the plants look nice.

Oliver checking out the huge spiral staircase. We were a little disappointed you aren’t allowed to go up. We wanted to walk up next to the glass ceiling. There is a little pathway around the top, but I guess they don’t let visitors walk up there anymore.

Oliver decided to trek off trail and straight through the bushes. I don’t think they like that so much… and it was fun trying to get him to understand what we meant when we said “Turn around and go back out the way you came!” Instead he just thundered straight on through until he reached us. I think he needs some wide open spaces to play in!

Elora posing happily with her mama outside the Palmenhaus.

Next we headed over to the labyrinth so we could show Jessica around the maze. We let Oliver and Elora lead, which meant we wandered in circles for a bit.

Yay! We reached the middle of the maze!

These are the famous harmony stones. Elora looks like she is involved in some meditative dancing. I think the harmony stones are working… Inner peace, here we come!

Oliver was super excited to show Jessica how to make the water work, while Elora was super excited to dance around in the sandy mud and get wet!

There is this awesome tractor-like toy in the playground that the kids enjoyed playing with. They worked together to dig for a long time. Keep it up kids, you’re going to need those digging skills once we are back to gardening in Utah…

Elora was so proud of herself, she can finally climb this rope jungle gym all by herself. I was incredibly impressed at how much she has advanced in her climbing skills recently. She used to get scared, but not today! She is getting so grown up…

Aw, I love the funny mirrors. This one is always my favorite. I like the way it makes Elora’s head look…

Elora and Jessica enjoying the Neptune Fountain. The Schonbrunn grounds are so fun to visit, there are many places to walk around and so many sights to see! We are so glad we could show Jessica around our favorite places in Vienna.

Here we are in the beautiful rose garden, enjoying the last of the flowers before winter. Thanks Jessica, for a great day!