Nana and Grampy stayed in Vienna for a few weeks and we all had a great time. Nana and Grampy had a hotel for a week and the kids got to take turns “spending the night” which was a super exciting treat. Elora made a little list of everything she wanted to show them, and while we didn’t get through it all, we did enjoy several of the places on her list. Here are some of the adventures we enjoyed during their visit.
The kids have always wanted to ride the Vienna Ring Tram, so we took Nana and Grampy for ride. The bummer is that we just barely missed one and they only depart every half hour. Luckily there are lots of ice cream shops and bakeries at Schwedenplatz, so we got ice cream and pastries while waiting for our turn on the Ring Tram. Mostly I would say it is not really worth the money since it is a little pricey, and the trams that we frequently ride go around the ring anyway. Nana was impressed by Elora’s tour guide skill as she pointed out several places to Nana every time we went out. However, Elora loved the information shared and even wrote down a few things in a little notebook so she could remember the new facts she learned.
The Volksgarten still has some beautiful roses. We learned from the Vienna Ring Tram that there are over 500 varieties of roses in the garden. The kids were excited to chase birds, show Nana the ducks, and Elora was happy to walk around and look at the flowers with Nana. Grampy sat on a bench and waited for us, so the kids took a picture on the bench with him to prove that he came with us!
We made sure to stop by the Naschmarkt to buy kebaps because Grampy was excited to try one. The kids were happy to see that their favorite car at the playground has been fixed up and repaired! It looks like new!
We spent one whole day at the Schönbrunn, and we took the Schönbrunn train on a little tour around the grounds. We stopped at a few stops, the first one was the Wüstenhaus. The kids love it there and were really happy to show Nana and Grampy the doctor fish. We finally got Chris to leave his hand in the water… I don’t think he liked it, but Grampy on the other hand was all smiles. James waited patiently for a really long time, but they never go on his hands. Finally Chris helped him and he got a couple fishy kisses.
Elora loves drawing the animals she sees, and we were surprised by this cool chameleon that Marion found just hanging out in the Desert House.
The Schönbrunn train looks more fun than it actually is. If you came on a very uncrowded day it would be great, but we had a group of eight people and the train was always full, so once we hopped off it was really hard to get back on again. They also only come every 30 minutes, so we just barely missed one and the kids enjoyed climbing trees while we waited for another one to ride.
We hopped off the train again at the Gloriette and enjoyed the views for a while before going in the little cafe. Oliver got the fritatten suppe (beef broth with cut up crepes in it) and he absolutely loved it. That kid is so funny with the foods he likes and doesn’t like… he loves all the Austrian broth soups, but no other soup… We decided that instead of waiting around to hop back on the hot crowded train we would just walk down the hill.
We took Nana into the labyrinth and we let James and Marion each lead a team to see who would get to the middle the fastest. I was with Marion, Oliver, and Nana and I am pretty sure we walked every possible path before getting to the middle with great rejoicing! There is another maze with fun activities to do where Oliver and Elora managed to walk a different way than the rest of us and couldn’t find their way back to us. I thought it was funny because I could see their little heads bobbing back and forth through the maze, but eventually Oliver got scared and I set off to find him. In the last maze, Chris challenged me to a pole climb, which was super fun because I always win!
The kids really love the funny mirrors on the labyrinth playground.
The playground there is so fun and unique, the kids had a great time playing there.
We enjoyed walking around the grounds a little more. I love the Schönbrunn gardens, they are so beautiful. Next time maybe we will come on a weekday though, I was pretty amazed at the Saturday crowds! Poor little James was pretty tuckered out by this point and actually napped in the stroller. He doesn’t ever nap… but he did run around a lot at the maze. I guess it wore him out!
We enjoyed several walks around the city (usually too many for Grampy), and a lot of ice cream! I also had the pleasure of taking Elora and Oliver to the Opera Toilet in the Karlsplatz U-Bahn station for the first time. The attendant laughed that I took the kids’ picture, but the kids liked the music and wondered why in the world the bathroom was so fancy!
There was a special day of church where we watched the re-dedication of the temple in Freiburg, Germany. Only people 8 and up can attend, so Oliver was really excited to get to come. It was a really beautiful way to spend our Sabbath.
We tried out an ice cream place on Mariahilferstrasse called Paolo Bertolotti which had some really elaborate, beautiful ice cream desserts! We also took Nana and Grampy to Ice Dreams which is the kids favorite because they sell ice cream on waffles. It was very yummy! There were many other ice cream moments during their visit.
