10/4/17

Places to Go (Vacation) - Europe 2017 - Part VIII - Vienna, Austria

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I can't believe it is October and I'm still blogging vacation photos. I have THOUSANDS of photos from September I haven't even looked at yet. Between work and kids' sports I can never get over how crazy autumn becomes. On the upside, I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but I've photographed the most amazing couples and families this fall - so I'm feeling incredibly blessed.

Sorry, I digress, back to our last week of vacation . . .

By the time we reached Vienna, our last of 10 cities, everyone was pretty over vacation. And, in retrospect, a month of traveling was probably too much. The kids are already begging me to tone it down next year ("two weeks, mom, please! like other families. just two weeks."). But I love a road trip and once I start planning I have a hard time saying "enough".

Okay, so enough whining. On the upside, I'm a huge Vienna fan. I visited fifteen years ago and have always wanted to return. I remembered the art exhibits being some of the best I've ever seen (they still were!)

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Upon arrival in Vienna, after chilling at our airbnb for awhile, we hopped on the u-bahn and headed to Prater Amusement Park. A truly interesting/quirky place. Sort of like Disney meets the county fair. Some of the rides were scary/awesome (Jurassic Park kept us all frightened for weeks!) and some are so rickety you're scared to ride. This is all from my point of view, my kids thought they were in heaven (hence we kept going back every night).

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For our first full day in Vienna, we walked to the KunstHausWien art museum, where they had a phenomenal exhibit of Edward Burtynsky's water photographs (check out his website here).

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After KunstHausWien, we headed over to the Schönbrunn Palace, where the kids had a blast in the labyrinth and playground (and it was nice to spend an afternoon just hanging out and watching them play for awhile).

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Me and mini-me.

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The flying bird was a hit.

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Another night at the Prater amusement park.

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On our second day in Vienna, Dan had to fly home early for a wedding. So I dragged the kids to Vienna's museum quarter for a day of art. I can't say the kids were thrilled, but they rallied. The art was awesome and I was so so happy.

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Wolfgang Tillman's anti-Brexit posters were part of the "How to Live Together" exhibit. Aren't they beautiful? And heartbreaking?

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By art museum #3 the kids were starting to break down.

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But then they rallied.

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Art museums all day = ice cream sundaes at night.

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For our final day in Europe, I tried to make things "extra fun" by taking the kids to the incredibly cheesy Timetravel Vienna. I thought it would be Disney-esque, but instead it was just silly. Oh well. We then visited the Haus der Musik, one of the coolest/most interactive museums ever. And finished our day at Vienna's Romermuseum, where we saw the city's Roman ruins. Pretty cool.

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Finally, on Sunday, we flew back to the US (direct this time). The blurry photo above is our last photo from Europe (in front of our apartment's big door) and even though we were all exhausted - the smiles on my kids make me remember that all in all we had an absolute blast.

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