No trip to Vienna is complete without seeing some of Gustav Klimt’s artwork. The kids were excited to show Christiana the paintings at the Belvedere and tell her about Klimt. It is a beautiful museum and we really enjoyed it on this rainy day.
The building itself is very beautiful. I love the paintings on the ceiling in this room. We all enjoyed looking around this room before moving on to see the paintings in the museum collection. I told the kids that the palace belonged to Prince Eugene who was an art collector and Elora asked me if he was married to Rapunzel.
The kids all brought their sketchbooks with them so we enjoyed sitting in the room with Klimt’s landscapes while drawing. I love seeing all the different pictures the kids draw when we are in museums. Marion was a bit grumpy and wouldn’t draw today, but James was very excited to try drawing a house like the one seen in the painting he posed by. Oliver loves the sunflower painting and drew a nice picture of it today. Elora is posing by her favorite painting. Marion and I played a fun game where I asked her to find different items hidden in the paintings. We enjoyed looking for hidden daisies, dandelions, and other small items while the other kids drew pictures.
We enjoyed seeing The Kiss. There was a big crowd today, so we retreated to the Selfie Kiss room to draw more pictures. Christiana asked why this particular painting is so famous. Elora explained that it was Klimt’s last of his gold paintings. I don’t know if that is why it is the most famous, but I was impressed that she knew that. Oliver really loves this painting and always sits down to draw it when we come to this museum.
This is such a fun room. The kids had a great time trying to imitate the different facial expressions of the sculptures.
The best part of our visit was the gardens. They are beautiful right now with wonderful flowers and fountains. The kids loved exploring in the garden, watching the bumblebees, and rolling down one of the hills.
I have not been to the gardens in a long time and I had forgotten how wonderful they are! We love how as you walk along there are a lot of fountains to explore, and I love that there are a lot of benches so you can sit and relax as you look around.
Here was my last photo in the gorgeous gardens and then my camera died. I am so sad. We did a lot more exploring, found a fun secluded area where the kids raced, cartwheeled, and ran about playing different games. We found another spot with fun little hills to roll down. There were more fountains and beautiful views! I think we will be coming back here another day with a full camera battery, a picnic, and time to explore some more.
