Today the kids had a great time showing some friends around the Kunsthistorische Museum (Art History Museum) in Vienna. We have always come by ourselves and it was so fun (and sometimes funny) to watch how the kids decided to navigate the museum while trying to show off each of their favorite pieces of art. They had talked before we went and each kid had something in particular they wanted Nina and her family to see. Of course every item the kids chose were in opposite corners of the museum.
We started off outside at the coloring station. Oliver wasn’t in the mood to color, so he headed over to check out the paintings that are on display outside the museum while everyone else colored some beautiful pictures. His favorite painting is “The Tower of Babel” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and it just happens to be on display. He spent a long time looking at it, while a member of the museum staff talked with him about the painting.
Marion wanted to begin in the Egyptian section. It is her very favorite part of the museum. She took Nina by the hand and walked her all around the Egyptian section (perhaps a bit too quickly) to show Nina all the best parts. With Marion in charge the pace is not very leisurely. She has in mind certain items she wants to see and heads straight for them. As the grown ups spent too long looking at some items in a case, the younger kids began trying to climb on a platform around a statue that had no head. Another visitor asked them not to touch anything and told us the kids had been trying to get up next to the statue, to which Elora responded, “No wonder the statues don’t have any heads.”
While wandering about, we came across a room I have never seen before. It is amazing how many times I have come here, and yet we still manage to find new places to explore. Here is a beautiful statue of Iris, the goddess of the rainbow. Elora really liked this one – she thought the cape the goddess is waving is making the perfect arch to paint a rainbow on.
After seeing items in every corner of the first floor, the younger kids were getting tired and we figured we would head home. Marion, however, asked Nina if she wanted to see the paintings, and Nina said she would, so off went the kids up the stairs. There is a wonderful exhibit celebrating the 125th anniversary of the museum right now. They have brought in several pieces from other museums, including some really interesting costume armor that is on display on the stairs. The kids happily took Nina up to the armor, and then on to the top floor where we got lost in the maze of rooms where the paintings are on display. I even had a map, but I can still never find the paintings the kids are looking for. After wandering around way more rooms than I had intended, we found everyone’s favorite paintings. One of these days, I am going to figure out where everything is in this place!
As part of the anniversary exhibit, there is a room showing armor, videos of knight tournaments, and jousting. James loves knights and although he was tired, he was very happy looking at the jousting pictures and videos. He cried when it was time to leave and he didn’t get to finish watching all the knight videos.
One of my American friends recently gave us a box of Fruit by the Foot that we brought along to share. James thought it was super funny that he was eating a fruit roll up taller than him, and I thought it was super funny watching six kids unrolling a whole lot of Fruit by the Foot!
By the end of our visit, everyone was a bit tired from all the walking, but all the kids talked about how happy they were that they got to share one of their favorite museums with friends.
