We often pass the Wüstenhaus Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Desert House) on our way to the zoo, and our desert-loving daughter Marion has been asking to go to it since last summer. As it turns out, our Niederösterreich card let’s us get in for free as many times as we want this year! The kids were excited to go check it out this week while it was cool and rainy.
We made our way to the Schönbrunn gardens and sat down for a snack before going inside the Desert House. The grounds are beautiful in the summer with fountains and flowers everywhere. The kids love to come here and they even let us take a few pictures of them.
We may have bribed them with Fruit by the Foot in an attempt to get a few good photos.
It was a beautiful cool summer day. These are my favorite days that give us a break from the summer heat.
Here is Elora and Chris the first time we ever went to the Schönbrunn gardens, and eight years later!
James was very excited that he got to wear his rainboots and he found puddles to jump in with his rainboots! With all the puddle-jumping fun, it was hard to get him over to the Desert House. I think he would have jumped in puddles all day. I love the picture of Oliver because he is doing his “happy run” which is a combination between a run, a skip, and a dance.
When you first enter the Desert House, there is a tank of Doctor Fish that will suck on your hand if you put it in the tank. Elora was so amazed and excited. She tried to get everyone in the family to try it.
The boys thought the prospect seemed interesting, but James took his hand out after a brief moment and Oliver wouldn’t try it no matter what we said, even after being reassured multiple times that the fish did not have teeth. Marion and Elora had a great time sticking their hands in and getting multiple fishy kisses.
We eventually moved on and found a really great tunnel with little windows into various desert animal habitats. We saw scorpions, kangeroo rats, fish without eyes, and various insects. All things our girls find amazingly interesting and that I find slightly creepy.
We found a tank full of huge toads and tortoises. The toad near the window seemed to really like people and hopped over to each of the kids. James and Elora especially enjoyed seeing the big toads.
There is a large room full of beautiful desert plants and birds. We stayed here for quite awhile because Elora really hoped that the birds would land on her hand. She put a few sunflower seeds in her hand and waited for a really long time. The birds got really close to her, but none landed. James and I sat near Elora and enjoyed watching all the birds flying close by.
There is a lovely outdoor garden full of desert plants that the kids really loved. They climbed on boulders, dug in the dirt with rocks, and explored the desert gardens. Elora even found a spider friend. It was not crowded at all and we mostly had the garden and the Desert House to ourselves. As I watched them play and thought about how much fun they were having, it made me nostalgic for Utah where they frequently played on boulders and among desert plants in Zion National Park. Maybe that is why they loved it here so much. One interesting note is that not all the desert plants were familiar, because they were plants that came from deserts all over the world, with some from the USA, but also plants from South Africa, Madagascar, and Central America.
On the way home it started to rain. Elora has this great umbrella that she loves and carries whenever it is cloudy. She gets so disappointed when it rains and she doesn’t have it, and when she carries it and doesn’t need it. We were so happy that she had her umbrella with her when the rain started and that she could happily use it to stay dry. This was a perfect day to visit the Desert House. Cool enough to enjoy the outdoor gardens and also to not mind the fact that the inside of the Desert House is so warm and… desert-like!
