The schools in the UK were off for mid-term break the last week of October. We thought this would be a perfect time for Dan's mom and dad to come for visit and take a little vacation. For this trip, we decided to fly into Vienna and out of Salzburg with a couple trips to Germany during the week. We decided to not rent a car and just use the public transportation to get us around the different places. Europe has several "low-cost" airlines to choose from like Ryanair, Easy Jet, and BMI Baby. We chose Ryanair and every time we do I have to question "why???" It appears to be cheaper when you start booking, but I really don't think it is in the end. The don't assign seats and they fly to airports which are just outside of the city where you actually want to be. This trip the route was from Stansted in London to Bratislava, Slovakia and then you find transportation to Vienna. Usually, there is a bus available that coincides with the flights, but not this time! It was coming about 4 hrs after we landed. So, with 6 of us traveling together, that presents a little bit of an issue for transportation. We eventually decided to just find a taxi company that had a van to take us the approx. 40 mile ride to our hotel. They guaranteed that the driver would speak English and be wearing a suit. Well, he couldn't speak a lick of English and was not wearing anything close to a suit! Not a big deal... Luckily, when we got to the hotel we were upgraded to a suite with 2 rooms and a double bed in each one. We had originally planned to have 1 boy sleep in grandma and grandpa's room because the rooms were not big enough for 2 beds. The suite also had 2 bathrooms and one of them had 2 toilets! (at least that was what the boys thought! We just used it as an extra sink for them to spit their toothpaste out! Is that bad?!)
We arrived in Vienna late afternoon on Friday (the 24th of Oct) and were starving! We walked a little ways to finally find a place that was still open for lunch. They didn't have much to choose from so we all decided to try the schnitzel. A first for me I must admit and I did try it! (Don't assume that I liked it!) This one was very similar to a pork tenderloin. Dan also had to have a beer!
Once we ate, we decided to take the bus around the ring road (Ringstrasse)of the city to see some of the sites. We had no idea which bus to get on but luckily found someone to help.
The Opera
After we took the bus around we decided to walk down the main pedestrian street, Karntner Strasse, that leads to St Stephen's Cathedral. Unfortunately it was dark and my camera is terrible at night pictures! The street was full of life with performers and lots of people. We stopped in a cafe for a coffee a wonderful piece of chocolate! I definitely could have spent loads of time shopping but no one else was interested! We had just one night in Vienna so there wasn't even a chance of getting back to that street the next day.
Eating again before going to bed! We did way too much of that on this trip!
On the bus back to the hotel...with our handy Rick Steves' guide!
On Saturday, we had booked a half day tour through the southern parts Vienna Woods. We went through the Roman city of Baden which is famous for its thermal springs. Then visited a chapel and the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz which was built in 1133. We then arrived at Seegrotte and took at boat ride on the largest subterranean lake in Europe. Here are a few pictures from the day.
Are we done yet??!!
This was after they ran laps around the statue to burn off some energy. They were wired the whole trip!
The Abbey of Heiligenkreuz
Going through the tunnel to get to the boat ride.
On the boat ride
We returned to our hotel to pick up our bags after eating lunch and headed to the train station for the 3 hour trip to Salzburg.
4 comments:
good job- part one done. looked like fun!
Looks like you guys had a great time once you got to your hotel. I love that you told the boys that the bidet was for spitting their toothpaste in. Too funny... ;o) (Please don't let them tell my kids that -- or mine will be doing it everyday in ours.)
We told Brittney & Sophie the "other toilet" was a water bowl for the dogs (of course we didn't have our dogs with us so we don't need to use it). Sounds like a great trip. You guys take great family pictures - your boys are awesome! cathy
Great job! It sounds really neat with only a few hiccups. I really don't like blogging our vacations. It is a lot of typing and a lot to remember. That's why I usually make Steve do it or I don't do it at all. You are one step ahead of me. Welcome to blogging.
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