After a week in Prague, our family took a train to Austria for a stay in Vienna (Wien). By this point we’d adjusted to the time change and had a better idea of the amount of activity Dominic was willing to take part in. Our stay in Vienna was a lot closer to living in the city than actually touring the city. Several nights we ordered food in, we visited three of the playgrounds, and avoided many of the tourist attractions. Normally I read a lot about the place we are visiting. This time I didn’t look much further than recommended kid friendly activities, and as a result, I am now reading about some of the sights we saw in passing.

I would return to Vienna; it was a very clean city and the public transportation was great. The desserts were excellent, there was good beer and wine, we did not have trouble with only speaking English (the primary language is German), and I personally loved some of the grocery stores. On the downside, it was not as friendly as Prague had been, and it may have been a result of us not looking hard enough, but I was over the cuisine after a few meals.

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Chris’s Comments

The thing that strikes you, going from Prague to Vienna, is the modernity and cleanliness of the city. That’s not to say Prague is dirty, but Prague has decades of underinvestment during Communist rule to overcome. The combination of subway, streetcar, and significant bike lanes makes Vienna seem like a great place to ditch your car. Folks in Vienna are definitely more stoic than people in Prague, but not nearly as stoic as those in Iceland. Cost of living is cheaper than Seattle (as are most cities these days) and there’s no shortage of cool things to looks at. That said, there was at least one day where I didn’t leave the apartment. :-D It doesn’t have the party-time, youthful reputation of Prague, but it seems to be a pretty great place to raise a family… if you speak German.

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A quick rundown of our activities in Vienna:

October 8 – We left Prague in the morning; what was scheduled to be a four hour ride took five. Near the Austrian border the train stopped on the tracks for a broken train ahead.  Once we did arrive in Vienna, Dom attempted to run away from us and we almost lost his stuffed friend Elliott. Our apartment was right in the city, with two bedrooms, a tiny bathroom, and very creaky floors. Even though we had seen none of the city, we were tired, so we ordered food in.

October 9 – Went to the bakery across the street for breakfast then walked a few blocks away to a playground. Dom got some energy out, then we did some grocery shopping. In the afternoon, I went out to explore some on my own, found the Anker clock, and a fancy grocery store.

October 10 – We took the Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour out to Prater early in the day. Apparently it was Wiener Wiesn-Fest, an Austrian festival,  so people in traditional costumes were already hanging out and drinking; overwhelming the only open cafe. After a beer and ice cream we wandered the park.  Most of the rides were either closed or Dom was too little to ride them. When he did find a ride, he sat right in front with the biggest smile on his face; followed by a melt down when they stopped. After lunch at a beirgarden in the park, it was back on the bus around the city. After going over the Danube a few times, we got off and walked through the main shopping district to our apartment. It was late in the day by then, so we just cooked dinner in the apartment.

October 11 – I went on my own to the Belvedere museum in the morning; arrived shortly after opening. After touring I had some apple strudel at the café then walked back to the apartment.  We went out to a playground a few blocks from the apartment, then dinner at Mel’s Craft Beer.  I took Dom to bed and Chris had some time to check out the area at night.

October 12 – We took the metro out of the city to the Schonbrunn Zoo. We had some snacks, checked out a bunch of animals, and then stopped for lunch at Landtmann’s Café. After we walked out of the zoo towards the palace, then took the metro back to the apartment.

October 13 – It was an overcast morning, but we went out early and visited St. Stephan’s Cathedral. Then walked to a playground in Stadtpark for a while. Dom found a bunch of kids to play with in the sand box. We walked back to the apartment with a stop at McDonald’s for lunch. That night we had dinner at Beer Paradise a few blocks from our apartment. We forgot to take into account that pretty much everything is closed on Sundays, so we ordered wine to be delivered.

October 14 – Our last day in Vienna, I checked out a few stores on my own in the morning, including stopping by Frey Wille. After nap time we went out for a bit and had dinner at an outside table at Restaurant Fuhrich.

October 15 – We headed back to Seattle. We had a short layover in London, Dom slept a bit on the longer flight, and when we arrived in the U.S. we finished up our Global Entry interviews at the airport.

Looking back on the whole European adventure there were some stand out moments; Dom’s excitement on the rides, visiting the shop I had missed on my last visit to Prague, seeing the friends in Prague after three years, and many walks along the cobblestone streets. It is great that Dom can go with the flow, as much as a three year old can. I am not ready to embark on another trip like this until he is a bit older, but I am sure that will just bring a whole new set of challenges.

Oh, the fries in both places were really good. I could go for some right now.