(Suzanne) After a 9 hour flight, we arrived in Vienna around 8:00 am. Someone had the brilliant idea (I won’t say who) that it would be a great idea to drag our luggage around Vienna to a hotel downtown rather than stay at the airport hotel. Let me just say this…..Vienna’s public transportation is not meant for transporting 4 weeks worth of luggage! I cant decide if we looked more like the Clampetts or the Griswolds. At one point when I was trying to balance the luggage with the subway moving and trying to grab Nikolai, the luggage and me fell like dominoes, skinning up my shin….ouch! The people in Vienna were so kind. Strangers helped us everywhere we went. They would either help us carry luggage or offer to help us with directions when they saw us looking at a map. They were absolutely wonderful. We received the best directions from a man who didn’t even speak English (I don’t even know how…it just worked.) We drug our luggage all over town until we finally found our hotel 2 hours later. We decided to take a two hour nap in the afternoon (which would have been 6am at home), then head out in search of dinner.
We had dinner at a cozy Austrian restaurant/pub. We had delicious soup and different kinds of sausages dishes we couldn’t pronounce. It was terrific. Nikolai tried a little of everything, which is unusual for a 6 year old. We had some Austrian wheat beer which was terrific.We went back to the hotel and slept from 8:30 pm to 8:30 am. We then headed out to explore the city, this time without the luggage. We went to an art museum which was amazing. The architecture was breathtaking as was the artwork. They had original Rembrandts and many, many other works dating back as far as the 1400’s. We could have spent hours and hours there, but we moved on. We walked all over the city, friendly people helping us along the way. We visited a Catholic church that dated back to the 1700’s. The interior was amazing. They had Mozarts actual death mask displayed. We walked…..and walked….and walked. Nikolai was such a trooper. He’s the coolest kid ever. Not even a whine. He talked to everyone we met (no surprise to those of you who know him) and flirted with the pretty girls (there are many). We sadly had to come back to the hotel , as a driver was picking us up for the airport at 5:30.
When we arrived in Vienna, I expected snow capped mountains and Julie Andrews. I was at first disappointed because there were no mountains or snow to be seen. After walking around the city, however, I was not disappointed , I was surprised at what a beautiful, historical, friendly city it is. By the way, The Sound of Music was filmed in Strassberg, about 150 miles away. I did hear they had Sound of Music sing along tours. We hope to return for that one day.
Observations about Vienna :
They eat sausage and bacon every meal, bread and butter every meal, they smoke like chimneys , and they drink beer by the gallons. Yet we saw very few people who were overweight. And why is their heart disease rate so much lower than ours? Its simple. They have 3 TV stations and people walk to their entertainment.
One more thing about the beer. I have solved the southern states obesity problem. All we have to do is import Austrian beer to Alabama. Then all the Bubbas would drink one daily beer instead of 12……believe me! Nascar would never be the same!
(Nikolai)the church was the coolest and I love you i hope you take care I miss you are hotel was cool we wiil take care if you want to now just call us or e mail us
