This afternoon we took a little wander about the city to show Christiana some of our favorite sights. We started off at Karlsplatz. The kids love this church (and the neighboring playground!)
After enjoying the view of the outside (and explaining to Marion that the reflecting pool is NOT a swimming pool after she decided to wade on in), we went inside to look around. We love going up to the top to see the paintings inside the dome. They are beautiful paintings and it is so incredible to see them up close. Marion does not like going to the top, but she begrudgingly went up all the stairs with me since I was holding her hand. She wouldn’t be in any pictures though since she was mad she had to go up there).
My knees get a little shaky going up all those stairs, but I love going down. The views of the ceiling while walking down the shaky scaffolding are incredible.
After coming down we headed for the exit, but noticed a staircase off to the side that was open. We walked up and found this little room where they had Virtual Reality tours of the outside of Karlsplatz. Christiana, Elora, and James all tried it and said it was really amazing. I just thought it was funny to see little James in the huge VR headset.
James was super excited to go play at the playground, so we all went and enjoyed the shady trees and the swings. Elora taught Christiana the proper way to swing a nest swing really high!
After swinging, we headed over to see the Schwartzenbergplatz Fountain – but it was empty and off! We were a bit disappointed because it was on earlier in the week. But, there was a tram nearby that headed back toward home, so we hopped on and stopped by the Burggarten on the way. The Lipizzaner mares were grazing with their foals right in the Burggarten! Such beautiful horses.
We loved watching them graze and the kids were so excited when they came really close to us. Once we had finished enjoying the sound of horses munching on clover, the kids ran off to play in the sprinklers which were on in another section of the garden. As I watched them play I couldn’t help but think, “This is what life is like when the gardens and parks of Vienna are your backyard.” I love seeing how everyone in the city comes out and sits on the benches, sunbathes, reads a good book on the grass, while my kids play in the sprinklers, climb trees, find the best sticks, and play hide and go seek. There are of course downsides, like when your kids go treasure hunting for bottle caps, but mostly it was an amazing way to spend the late afternoon.
The kids like to hide their sticks and treasures when they leave the parks since I won’t let them bring the sticks home. They find special hiding places for their items so that they can look for them when they return. Miraculously, their items are often still there. Except today James’s stick was missing.
I found him a new one, and the rest of the day was fun again. I am always amazed they even remember to look for their sticks and treasures when they return. This time they found a really great hiding place, so we will have to see what happens when we come again.
On the way home we stopped at a food stand for bratwurst and chinese noodles, and found another park to eat at. Christiana dropped her fork on the ground. Luckily I had grabbed a fork and chopsticks, so she still got to eat with a fork, and I got to eat with chopsticks whether I wanted to or not. It was a random collection of fun today, enjoyed by everyone!
