Two years ago, we were still in Dublin but we were preparing for the big move back as our time abroad wound down and this is when one of my favorite trips occurred. It was one of only two years we’ve been away from home for Easter (the first was just 6 weeks after we moved to Dublin and we returned to Florida for a visit with my midwife to check on Sugarplum but because we had just left, it felt like we were at home. This was also the Easter Honeybun hit her head and ended up in the hospital.)
We had traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland with my parents over St. Patrick’s Day then had an early Easter celebration at home before my parents headed home and we took off on our “Eastern European” adventure. During the trip we visited three cities: Vilnius, Lithuania; Vienna, Austria; and Budapest, Hungary and we took in all the cultural Easter and spring celebrations each city had to offer.
I have wanted to visit Vienna for a very long time. Vienna has been a cultural center for centuries, closely tied with music and the other arts, including dance. We flew into Vienna from Lithuania and took a cab to our hotel in the city centre (we had our car seats since there is not easy public transport to/from the airport in Vilnius and most of our flights were early morning and late evening). We arrived in the evening, settled into our room and had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant (the American themed Champion Sports Bar at the Marriott…it’s not weird, we lived in Ireland and were desperate for some good American food!)
The next day we headed out early to do a little shopping (I, ummm, forgot to bring a bra…) We wandered around Kaerntnerstrasse and found many great stores and ended up wandering the street several more times before our time in Vienna was done. The street was busy with tourists, locals and street performers and aside from that first early morning stroll, there was always something going on!
We then headed over to Belvedere Palace where we did the whole shabang including the upper palace, gardens and lower castle. The palaces are a combination of art museum and palace tour and there is a ton to see. We spent a couple of hours there and would have stayed longer if we hadn’t gotten hungry!
On the way to Belvedere Palace, we also came across the Soviet War Memorial which has a beautiful fountain and while the girls didn’t understand the significance of the monument, they loved the fountain!
After lunch, we wandered Kaerntnerstrasse again before wandering over the RomerMuseum which houses the excavated remains of part of the ancient Roman city which once stood where Vienna is today. The museum is extremely interactive and the girls really enjoyed it. It’s not one of the biggest or most popular museums in Vienna but that worked out well for us since there weren’t many people visiting when we were so the girls could wander a little more freely and be a little louder.
The next day we hopped on the train and headed out to Schonnbrun Palace where they were holding a special Easter market. We had tons of fun wandering around the fair, trying traditional Austrian treats and checking out local handicrafts. We toured the Palace and Gardens as well before heading back into town for lunch.
That afternoon we wandered through the Albertina museum which houses a large art collection as well as te state apartments on the museum’s founder, Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen. At the time, the museum had a larger temporary exhibit of Impressionistic art which fascinated me (thanks to Degas and his ballerina paintings) but was a little boring for hubby and the girls. We enjoyed the palace apartments but it was late in the day, the girls were tired (as were we) and past their prime and I’ll admit we let them get away from us a little bit…
The next morning we went to the Hofburg palace which is situated right in the middle of Vienna. The former Habsburg Palace is now the main government building for Austria housing the president’s and other important offices. The palace also houses many exhibits including the Imperial Silver Museum, Sisi Museum, and former Imperial Apartments. We visited all three parts and I honestly can’t say which was my favorite!
The Imperial Silver Museum houses the silver, china and table linens of the Habsburg monarchy and while it sounded too boring to hubby, I found it fascinating and I think he even enjoyed it a little bit. I even got Sugarplum excited about it by asking if she could find a duck and she indeed did find a duck in one of the china patterns! Honeybun and I also counted spoons, talked about how fancy they were and daydreamed about living in the palace and eating and the long, giant table.
The Sisi museum chronicles the life of the former Austrian Empress, Elisabeth (aka Sisi). We all really enjoyed the exhibit which was partially interactive and included a animatronic Sisi on a swing hanging from the ceiling which proved extremely difficult to pull Honeybun away from! The Royal Apartments were also fascinating and included the rooms which were occupied and used by Elisabeth and her husband Emperor Franz Joseph. (Unfortunately photography was not allowed in this exhibits but you can check it out at http://www.hofburg-wien.at/en/things-to-know/sisi-museum.html and http://www.hofburg-wien.at/en/things-to-know/imperial-apartments.html)
We spent a little time after visiting the palace running around the large garden out front before wandering the city a little more and came across another little Easter market in the middle of Vienna before heading back to our hotel to gather our things and heading to the train station to take off to Budapest.
While Vienna is seen as a cultural capital, we didn’t take in a lot of culture other than the few art museums we went to but I do have to say, Vienna was one of the most beautiful cities we visited with its lavish architecture and gorgeous gardens. But with its reputation we were surprised that we were unable to find an original art piece and instead ended up buying one in the hotel giftshop! (Read more about our European Art Collection)
