Memorial Day Weekend in Vienna

We packed on Thursday night and left Friday morning at 8:30 heading to Vienna.  When we crossed from Germany into Austria our GPS took us off the autobahn and through some scenic side roads.  We trusted her for a little while assuming that there must be a stau on the autobahn or something.  Then we realized that our GPS assumed we didn’t have the ‘10 day Austrian Autobahn decal’ which has to be purchased and stuck to your front window in order to be able to drive on the Autobahn there.  Well, we did have it and there was no way to TELL our GPS so instead we chose to ignore her and watched as arrival time diminished by leaps and bounds at each exit that we ignored instruction.  We had a similar experience last year when we drove into Austria and our GPS took us over a small mountain to get to our hotel in Salzburg instead of right along the autobahn.  Luckily we figured it out before we got any further. 

We really enjoyed the drive.  Having not been in the same vehicle for the last 6 weeks, Chris and I enjoyed the 6.5 hours to talk, make LONG to-do lists, discuss birthday presents for Ryan and Katie, read our new book –  ‘5 Spiritual Solutions for Everyday Parenting Challenges’ and secretly talk about switching the kids rooms around.  Boy I like traveling with that man.

With about 40 minutes left on the drive, we decided we’d better pick up the VIENNA Rick Steves book and figure out what the heck we were going to do in Vienna for the weekend.  We had briefly read a bit back when we made our hotel reservations 4 months ago but with such a crazy last couple weeks we simply didn’t prioritize it.  We drove into the city and parked right outside of our apartment.  It was really a great find.  A three bedroom apartment on the third floor – sleeping 8 with a living room and ‘American styled’ kitchen (used to describe anything bigger than a closet).  It  was PERFECT.   We picked rooms, unpacked and got ready to venture into the city.

We bought our 3 day city transportation passes at the corner store and took the subway to St. Stephan’s Cathedral, popping out so close to the Cathedral that we could hardly get a good look at it.    Little did we know that Vienna was having a music festival that weekend.  A large band played on a stage right beside the Cathedral and tons of people wandered through the market style shops enjoying the perfect blue-skied weather.

Immediately we were approached by a man wearing a fancy red jacket trying to sell us tickets to an orchestra, opera and ballet performance for that night.  He offered discounted tickets and 4 kids free and we were an easy sell.  We had wanted to do an opera in Vienna but didn’t know how we could do it.  This ‘casual dress – kid friendly’ performance sounded just perfect.  We bought tickets for 8:15 and spent the next two hours wandering around the circumference of the cathedral checking out shops filled with jewelry, leather and trinkets (of course Katie wished we would have spent longer and started dreaming up a vacation where all we did was shop) Finally we settled down at a table with bratwurst and spicy mustard and fried potato chunks with yummy white sauce.  An Australian couple came over to meet us impressed by the fact that our six children were eating culturally unique food.  Matthew especially, loves bratwurst… not surprising since he’s lived longer in Europe than in the States.

 

The St. Stephens Cathedral was unlike anything we’d ever seen. The tile on the steep roof was different but it was inside that was the most unique.   The stripes of solid colored stain glass windows gave the church a tie dye effect. 

 

   Pedestrian streets with lots of great shopping…

 

At 8:00 we walked over to our Royal Vienna Orchestra “Mozart and Strauss” Concert.  The concert was in a ballroom which was perfect since we were able to take Matthew or Luke and stand up in the back or side to look out the windows as they lost interest.

The orchestra started with a well known Mozart piece and both of the little boys looked at Dad after they instantly recognized it and said, “It’s Little Einstein!!”  The whole concert was fun, lively familiar pieces, – mostly Mozart.  Opera singers came in to sing to a few of the pieces.  It was really fun to watch them.  Luke and Matthew immediately covered their ears and said “Ewwww.”  It was pretty funny.  But Megan and the girls were quite impressed right from the start.  A Ballerina couple with gorgeous costumes danced during several of the pieces as well.  It really was a perfect concert for all of us.  Kind of like a ‘Best of’ Vienna Orchestra, Opera and Ballet.  It was the perfect way to start our Vienna weekend and one of the big highlights of the trip.

At 11:00 we wandered back through town, hoped on the subway and made our way back to the apartment.