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

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!)







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).





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).











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).



Me and mini-me.





The flying bird was a hit.





Another night at the Prater amusement park.







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.



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



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





But then they rallied.



Art museums all day = ice cream sundaes at night.









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.



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.

Things to Read - European Vacation Reading

Since we planned a month long vacation before we left (and while we were "on the road") I figured it would be good to learn more about some of the places we were going.

FLORENCE

The House Of Medici: Its Rise and Fall - So much of Florence still references the Medici family (who ruled Florence for approximately 400 years, give or take) that reading a book about them gives context to the whole city - from the naming of buildings to the art in the museums. Knowing the stories made the city much more fun. (And, in retrospect, I wish I would have found books for the kids on the Medicis as well).

SARDINIA

Cosima - Other than D.H. Lawrence's The Sea and Sardinia, I had a hard time finding a good book involving the island (and I'm not a huge Lawrence fan).

Then I discovered Grazia Deledda (still totally confused why it took so long to find her, hello patriarchy). Deledda, who won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature (wow!!), wrote novels and stories about people on the island.

I chose to read Cosima, Deledda's semi-autobiographical novel of a little girl growing up in small town Sardinia. Cosima is both enraptured by her birthplace's beauty and frustrated by her town and family's embarrassment over her writing and creative life.

This was a really good book, I'd love to read more Deledda in the future.

PRAGUE

Prague Winter - Madeline Albrights' memoir/hisotry book tells the story of World War II through the perspective of Czechoslovakia. If you already know the history, this book may seem redundant, but I learned a lot and Albright continually asks the reader to question how they would have acted under similar circumstances.

VIENNA

The Radetzky March - As best summarized by Amazon, "The Radetzky March, Joseph Roth's classic saga of the privileged von Trotta family, encompasses the entire social fabric of the Austro-Hungarian Empire just before World War I. The author's greatest achievement, The Radetzky March is an unparalleled portrait of a civilization in decline, and as such, a universal story for our times."

At times, I found the story a little dull and the characters unbelievable. But the story itself is a good one, worth a read.

COMMUNISM

Secondhand Time, the Last of the Soviets - I must admit, I still haven't finished this book, as I find I can only read chunks at a time before I have to turn to something else. But that doesn't mean I don't love it. It's just too intense to read for long periods of time.

Svetlana Alexievich, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature, compiles her "fiction" by interviewing common people, then condensing and editing their stories. Her works are referred to as histories of emotions.

The stories are fascinating. And sad. If you want to know what life was really like under the Soviet Union, then this book is a must-read.

Just one of many great quotes, "I asked everyone I met what 'freedom' meant. Fathers and children have very different answers. Those who were born in the USSR and those born after its collapse do not share a common experience - it's like they're from different planets. For the fathers, freedom is the absence of fear . . . A man with his choice of a hundred kinds of salami is freer than one who only has ten to choose from. Freedom is never being flogged, although no generation of Russians has yet avoided a flogging. Russians don't understand freedom, they need the Cossack and the whip. For the children: Freedom is love, inner freedom is an absolute value. Freedom is when you're not afraid of your own desires; having lots of money so that you'll have everything; it's when you can live without having to think about freedom. Freedom is normal."

Places to Go (Vacation) - Europe 2017 - Part VII - Lake Bled, Slovenia

Lake Bled was the second-to-last destination on our 10 city tour of (mostly) Eastern Europe. By this point, we were all pretty tired of traveling and ready for home (in case you haven't noticed, I tend to go overboard when vacation planning, next year we're taking things down a notch).









In order to keep everyone's spirits up, I booked a treehouse at a fancy glamping resort (seriously, how cool is this place?). Or maybe that was just because I've always wanted to glamp. On the upside, I loved our little treehouse - waking up surrounded by trees and the sound of the brook was awesome. On the downside, it was SMALL. And by this point we were all getting on each other's nerves.





We arrived during a cold spell, so the pool was freezing. But the kids still tried.



At first I was upset that the treehouse had a tv, which seemed contrary to all my ideas of glamping/camping. But the kids were thrilled - especially since Slovenia doesn't dub, they just subtitle. So the kids watched Liv and Maddie in English while I had a massage, followed by cocktails with Dan at the restaurant. And on our last night in the treehouse we all stayed up late to watch Reese Witherspoon do her thing in Sweet Home Alabama.



On our first night in town, we walked the circle path around the lake (it's only 4 miles and totally flat), which was great because tourists fade away once you're northwest of the lake and you can really appreciate the beauty. (The town of Bled is pretty hideous, but the lake is gorgeous).





When the group photos look like this, it's probably time to go home.







Nightfall on the lake.























On our second day, we hiked/walked/explored the Vintgar Gorge. The walk itself, through the hills, was gorgeous. But the gorge was the most crowded nature-based tourist attraction I've ever encountered.





The treehouse had a net for chill-axing. But F and P mainly used it for pillow fights.



Another night at the pool.







For our last day in town, I thought we'd drive up to Lake Bohinji (rumored to be less crowded) and find a good hike. But the ski resort in Bled had a ropes course that P really wanted to try. So we hiked up their instead. Unfortunately, the wait times were too long (3-4 hours) for us to stay, but we rode the luge down which was a total vacation highlight (well, for everyone but Dan).



In the morning, we dropped off our rental car and headed to the train station to reach our final destination - Vienna, Austria.