One of many street performers in the square in front of Stefansdom:
The natural history museum looks nice from the outside. Too bad we couldn't get inside.
Maria Theresa looks down approvingly at our huddled mass.
Brian - centre - tries on his new toque.
On the little elephant in front of the Natural History Museum.
The girls do the "keep warm" dance. With all the cold weather, they've got this one perfectly choreographed.
Ryan discusses the merits of communism with a guy in a red cape.
Ryan and the apple of his eye - our opera house tour guide. He liked her subtle accent and encyclopeadic knowledge of opera. She liked his hat.
What you would see if you were performing in the Vienna Opera. Except hopefully there would be people in the seats.
We are sitting just behind the 192 Euro seats. The guys said the Canucks should get seats like this for GM place - they are nice and cushy.
Mozart - a big name in Vienna. In the Schönbrunn Palace we visited the room where he played, at age 6, his first recital for the empress.
A nice room to spend intermission for the opera in.
We got to choose our own dinner here. Not liking bacon, I picked the carrots:
Our kids couldn't wake the tigers.
Hungry Pandas.
Pink Flamingos:
Christina and Michaela had lots of fun on the playground, but the little Austrian children were sad because they were hogging the elephant.
At the JumboPlatz (no kidding):
At least this penguin is not animated:
This seal does not like Rofel taking its picture without a 2 euro fee:
"Hey, leave me alone!":
What is this?
Colourful:
Enjoying the stroll around the zoo.
Pelicans are surprisingly violent:
Ow that's my head:
The little monkey has a little snack:
Peacock - colourful, but not a good pet.
Waiting to get into the zoo. I don't think Craig appreciates the smell.
Ryan, not thinking about the Opera tour yet, as it hasn't happened at this point:
Just like my backyard (except with less chewed up dog toys):
We storm yet another palace.... That's some pretty weak storming.
In front of the Hapsburg's home away from Vienna (a little way), Schönbrunn Palace:
We're in Vienna at Wombat's Hostel, another excellent and efficient youth hostel. We just came back from our traditional Schnitzel-based Austrian dinner at Mozart Stube, and the kids went to bed early. Today was long (all the days are long!) with the drive to Vienna from Budapest, and a visit to the Schönbrunn Palace, the Tiergarten (zoo of the Schönbrunn Palace), the State Opera House, and the old town.
The Schönbrunn Palace is the Hapsburg's answer to Versailles - huge and ornate, but in a germanic style. We couldn't take pictures inside, but it was opulent yet personal, with many mementos of the most famous Hapsburgs still in place and expertly explained on the audioguides. The ticket was a dual pass for the palace and "tiergarten". The kids got really excited when I told them that "tiergarten" means zoo. "We're going to the zoo? Awesome!". The zoo was HUGE, I had no idea... We could have spent hours there - it has tropical bird houses, amphibian houses, aquariams, and all sorts of space for larger animals to roam or go in from the cold. It advertises itself as the world's oldest but most modern zoo. I couldn't find some of the kids for awhile - they were fascinated, watching the panda bears munch on bamboo, near the back of the zoo. The zoo was definitely something different and a good way to break up some of the more art/history/architecture touring.
When we arrived in downtown Vienna, we headed straight into the enormous opera house, where a couple of tour guides took us through all the beautifully ornamented intermission rooms, the theatre itself, and the backstage area. It is unbelievable how big the backstage area is... They put on 300 shows a year, and never have the same show two nights in a row. This means that a crew of hundreds is employed changing sets everyday for all the opera and ballet performances. They big crew was working hard getting the stage set for Moses Und Aron. Our guide was excellent - a nice French girl with perfect English. Ryan really enjoyed her commentary and had no problem keeping up with her quick pace.
We did a walk through the old town part of Vienna, and the kids wanted some time to shop, so shop they did. Some guy came up to me and asked if the students could be involved in his "flash mob" - google it if you don't know what it is. The only problem was that he couldn't really explain what he wanted them to do - he said they were going to "suddenly all start talking to cups". I thought he said cops. I still don't get it.
We next headed to the Museum of Natural History, but unfortunately, they stopped letting people in one hour before closing, so we were too late.
I forgot to mention above that we had some birthday fun for Brendan at the restaurant - Ms. Vogt bought him a Sacher Torte and a birthday candle. We all sang happy birthday (we practically took up the whole restaurant, and all the other people were locals who didn't seem to mind). One young Austrian couple had their cute baby (maybe 1 year old) with them - she had her own tiny glass of beer and was making toasts. I'm not joking. Great day, today. This ends five straight days of "new to me" stuff. I've really enjoyed Prague, Budapest, and Vienna, but I have to say as a guide I am looking forward to returning to familiar territory tomorrow when we arrive in beautiful, sunny (so the BBC Weather service says) Lake Bled, Slovenia!
Craig
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