Vienna - July 4, 5 & 6

We arrived in Vienna with plans a little different than normal - this time we were staying with family! Kasey's Dad's sister's husband's sister moving to Vienna after college, way back in the day, and has been there ever since! So her daughter Ursula picked us up at the train station, and she was super nice, and took us to Ellen's apartment where we would be staying. There we met Ellen and Walter, her son, and they were so nice and welcoming and we felt at home right away! The apartment was so great, with tons of pictures and cross-stichings hung on the walls, and we had real beds and a real bathroom and real towels and it was amazing! haha.

Walter and Ursula took us out to dinner because Ellen had theatre tickets with her other daughter, Suzanne, and we had a great time - they all know so much about Vienna, so we spent a ton of time walking around the city and hearing stories. It was so cool to meet people who care about the place where they live and know so much about it! It was easy to see why they love it so much, Vienna was amazing! We went to dinner in an awesome restaurant at the top of a big building so we had a full panoramic view of the city - wonderful! They were both so nice and it was fun to be able to tell people about our trip so far - perfect night!

The next day, Ellen had breakfast ready for us, which was just so wonderful, and then we headed off into the city to actually see all the things we had learned about the night before. We started off at the Royal Palace and saw the crown jewels and the museum there. We also went to St. Stephen's cathedral, which is basically the icon on Vienna, and toured the catacombs there. We saw the church where Schubert played organ, and went to the Modern Art Museum (where we proceeded to be confused about how certain things could be called art...) and then went to the 'House of Musik', which was a super cool interactive museum where we learned all about sound and tonality and some of the famous musicians from Vienna and a million other things haha. We were there for a while! Somewhere in there we had a tasty lunch outside, which is always fun! It was a busy day.

outside the palace

St. Stephens Cathedral -
it's made of sandstone, so it turns black
and constantly has to be worked on

inside the cathedral
famous statue of Strauss in a Vienna park

When we finally returned back to the apartment, Ellen had dinner for us and wine - she was so incredibly hospitable the whole time we were there! We stayed up for awhile talking with her about her experiences and life in Vienna, and her family and grandkids, and her job (she used to anchor, and now writes for, a tv show in Vienna) and it was just a really nice night!

Sunday, we headed off to Schonbrunn, which was the summer palace of the emporers, just outside the city. We decided not to tour the actual palace, since they all seem to be the same, and are expensive! But we did go in to the carriage museum, which was super cool and had all sorts of carriages from different periods in time, most of the used by the emporers and royal family. Really cool. Schonbrunn has a huge garden area, and a ton of land - enough for even a zoo! So off to the zoo we went, and saw tons of animals, including a baby panda and polar bears, and watched the cheetah feeding (awesome!) and saw a reindeer with the biggest rack of antlers I have ever seen, we're talking like at 40 point deer. Not even kidding. We had a late lunch at the Gloriette, a beautiful building (where Walter had his wedding reception) up on a hill overlooking the palace and grounds, which houses a nice cafe. Annnd then we finished the day playing in the playground and labyrinths, which is always a win!

Schonbrunn
The Gloriette - where we had lunch,
and where Walter has his wedding reception!

Kasey & I from the Gloriette
(Schonbrunn in background)

That night Ellen had made us dinner (again!) and we talked some more and packed up to leave the next day, sadly! We had such a great time in Vienna, and I feel like we learned more about the city than we had about any of the other places we had been, just because its so nice to be around people who know and care about it all! It was so fun to meet Kaseys family - especially for her, because she has heard so much about them and finally met them! Loved Vienna. :) Beautiful city, great people, lots to do!