Vienna and Bratislava

During the kids' Spring Break, I took them to visit our friends, the Baurs, in Bratislava, Slovakia.  We met them in Zürich, and Delainey and the youngest Baur girl, Sara were best friends for the 2 years we lived there.  Their family moved to Bratislava just before we moved to Germany.  I thought this would be a nice treat for Lainey to see her BFF one more time before we move back to the states.  Plus, Bratislava is just 45 minutes from Vienna, Austria, so we could check it out too!

We didn't spend too much time in the city part of Vienna but we did see the Hotel Sacher, where the famous torte originated and for me to find my Starbucks mug!  Instead, we spent most of the day at the Prater, a small amusement park in Vienna.  The kids loved it and since this trip was mainly for Lainey, we let the kids dictate most of our time.

Goofing around at the Prater

Lainey and Sara, BFFs!

One of the 2 ferris wheels at the Prater, the other one is over 100 years old!  We chose to ride this one.

Here's a pic of the old one

After the Prater, Jeannine took us to a Viennese institution, a Heuriger.  It's like a Biergarten, but with wine.  This is one that she used to go to when she lived in Vienna 10 years ago.  I loved it!  It's still run by old-fashioned rules about when it can be open and such, so you have to pay attention to the pine branch hanging down by the sign.  When it's hanging down, it's open!

Jeannine and our strawberry wine

We spent one day in Bratislava, at a swimming pool and just hanging at Jeannine's house.

 This is what the sleepover room looked like!  They all had such a good time together!

On our last day, we went to Schönnbrunn Palace.  It was the summer palace for the Hapsburg family who ruled Austria for hundreds of years.  It contains a palace, the world's first zoo, a playground and maze, and Gloriette a mini-palace atop a hill overlooking the main palace.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful place!

At Gloriette, looking down onto the palace

In the maze, there were these weird Feng Shua (sp?) things.  Boys were to hug one, girls the other for peace and harmony in life.

At the palace, looking up at Gloriette