Austria & Slovakia - March 2017:
Thank you St. Patrick for another long weekend! With our time in Europe drawing to a close, we are having a hard time deciding where to spend our time away from the apartment. Both of us had Vienna high on the list, however tickets were quite expensive flying out of Dublin given the holiday weekend. That said, we tried to think out of the box and looked for flights that got us close to Austria, but at an affordable price... ding, ding, ding... Bratislava, Slovakia!
During this trip planning, we also learned an interesting fact... the capitals of Slovakia and Austria (Bratislava and Vienna) are the closest two capitals (in distance) in the world! Who knew!?! We landed in Bratislava and started out drive to Vienna. Our taxi driver was very interested in cars so he and Russ had a lovely conversation about the Detroit automotive industry and the muscle cars from the 60's.
 |
| The Manner Store... |
After settling into the room, we ventured out and explored the city and tried to get our bearings... always makes the next few days easier, once you have a handle on public transport, food options and candy shops (which we find even when we deliberately try to avoid them). The girls have taken an interest in planning our trips, given we have told them if they want to do things that are interesting to them. So, on this trip, they found a museum about music (more on that later) and the Manner Confectionery! The most popular treat made by Manner is the Neapolitan wafer. Boy are these things glorious... Using hazelnuts imported from Naples, Italy, hazelnut-flavored chocolate cream filling,is nestled between five wafers. We ate our weight in these lovely little sweets during our little visit.
After Manner, we headed out in search for dinner (yes, desert before dinner seems to be a common theme on these trips). Everyone was wrecked, so we opted for some authentic street grub. Loralye spotted the "hot dog stand" and dinner was decided. So many options for different sausages, wieners, and hot dogs. I couldn't resist the Käsekrainer; a sausage filled with small chunks of cheese (German: Käse). We discovered the Käsekrainer are also known as Eitrige”, from the German word “eitrig” which means ulcerous or pus-filled. A rather unpleasant description, but understandable when you see cheese seeping out of a sliced Käsekrainer. Regardless, it was delectable and the girls devoured mine instead of their ginormous hot dog that they ordered which was served in bun the size of a baguette!
The next day we headed out for a day full of boring history... first up on the agenda was Schönbrunn Palace, a former imperial summer residence located in Vienna. The 1,441-room Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historical monuments in the country. The history of the palace and its vast gardens spans over 300 years. Given our track record with history museums and all things fancy, we opted for the Children's Ticket and had a blast.
 |
| It's so sunny, I can't keep my eyes open!!! |
 |
| Look at my shadow... it's jumping! |
 |
| We were a bit too early for the Children's musume to open, so we started our visit by terrorizing the gardens. I have to admit the hedge mazes could entertain all of us for days... nothing like a good game of hide and seek in a gorgeous garden. |
 |
| Each of the mazes had a 'key' that gave you clues how to find the center. Loralye loved tracing the routes. |
 |
Each of these were called "labyrinths" which we had to look up to explain what they were to the inquisitive little ladies. Wikipedia taught us the term comes from Greek mythology, where the labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built to hold the Minotaur eventually killed by the hero Theseus. In English, labyrinth translates to maze... to which Annelyse replied "duh". Whewww... the teenage years are going to be interesting...
|
 |
| The next activity involved hopping over these platforms, attempting to avoid getting squirted with water. Lots of good laughs and wet shoes with this one! |
 |
| More super cool play structures... pulley's, levers, slides, sand for days... |
 |
| This thing... 2 of 3 of us loved it and rode it over and over. One of us, got off after the first spin and nearly lost breakfast in the imperial gardens. |
 |
| The "Squirty Things" ... also known as pump action squirt guns. Russ had a great time with these, given he was the only one strong enough to actually get them to function! |
 |
| This place was pretty even in March... but we could only imagine what it would look like in the summer! I guess that is a reason for us to come back and see it again! |
After tearing it up in the gardens, we headed in to the Children's museum to learn all about what life was like in the castle years ago! The girls were a big fan of the fancy costumes and wigs and all the little props and accessories.
The mean queens
 |
| Giving the princess fancy hairstyles |
 |
| Daddy even got in on the action. |
 |
| Commander and Chief |
 |
| There was a section of the castle where they learned about what the day in the life of a child was like. Annelyse's face is a result of the fact that boys went to school and studied math, science, military techniques, horse riding, etc. while the girls learned "how to be a good wife". Needless to say, all of us were less than impressed with the curriculum back in the day! |
After Schönbrunn Palace, we headed over to the Haus der Musik! With Annelyse being all about the piano, we knew this interactive museum would be a
hit!
The museum highlighted some of the famous composers from the areas, with Mozart being a favorite of the girls. They were fascinated by the fact that he demonstrated prodigious ability from early childhood and by the age of 5 was competent on the keyboard and violin. Not only could he play, he composed his own music and performed before European royalty!!!
 |
| The "piano stairs" ... we played (and argued) on these for a good bit! |
 |
| This exhibit was hilarious... Here you were able to select a piece from one of the composers and attempt to be the conductor for the Vienna Philharmonic. Annelyse choose Eine Kleine Nachtmusik which was great fun to watch... the symphony would become very annoyed and stop playing if the conductor was too fast or too slow. |
 |
| Concentrating on the rhythm in an attempt to pacify the musicians. |
The next day, Prater Park was on the agenda and proved to be another glorious amusement park!!! The word "Prater" was first used in 1403, originally referring to a small island in the Danube north of Freudenau, but was gradually extended to mean the neighboring areas as well.
 |
| Some of the old gondolas had been outfitted with scenes depicting what the park looked like throughout the years. |
Our time in Vienna also proved to be rainy (given it was spring) and while we are used to this type of weather, it doesn’t make for the most leisurely/pleasant walks. That said, we found a few activities that were indoors which allowed us to escape the rain!
First up was the Spanish Riding School. The school is a traditional riding school for Lipizzan horses. It a global center for classical dressage and the leading horses also tour and perform worldwide. We all learned a lot during the performance, however we weren’t allowed to take any pictures during the performance... so we got a few just before.
 |
| So I thought... at least you can see them in this picture (compared to the one above)... then I saw Lo's face :) |
 |
| Best picture I could get of us sharing a piece of Sachertorte, a specific type of chocolate cake, or torte, invented by Austrian Franz Sacher in 1832 for Prince Wenzel von Metternich. It is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties, so of course, we had to have a sample! Lo obviously is more concerned about ensuring she gets her fair share than smiling with our cake! Russ and I also had a Viennese coffee and were shaking like leafs after a tiny cup! |
Russ snuck a couple of short videos’ just so we could remember the experience! And one bad photo.
 |
| The Rule Follower telling him not to take a picture! |
After the horses, we headed towards the Museum quarter. Not that we had any intention of going inside of any of them, but were interested in meandering around and taking pictures of the beautiful buildings. The rain however was relentless and the wind seemed to have picked up and instead of meandering, we made a beeline to the nearest café for lunch. After lunch we headed to Zoom Children's’ Museum, which we thought would be a magnificent find, given we sopping wet and two of the four of us were ready for something 'not-intended for adults'.
However the girls seem to have become connoisseurs of these places and are constantly comparing each to one another. Unfortunately, this one didn’t leave much of an impression and we didn't stay very long!
The Schreikabine "scream room" was a favorite, and while I was certain we would take a spot on the record board, surprisingly the kids in Austria are louder than the American/Irish... Let's just say, I was happy we lost this competition!
 |
| Her head almost exploded during this exercise, while sister was happy to take the lead recording the "dezibilmessung" (decibels) for any child wanting to take a crack at screaming their face off! |
 |
| Life through the eyes of a fly... |
The next day, we took the train back towards Bratislava where we spent our final night of this mini-trip. We made our way to the Bratislava castle and just took in the sights and smells of the “Old Town”… yes another country, with another Old Town!
 |
| Entering the castle! |
 |
| Yep... still raining in Slovakia! |
The highlights of Bratsliva were the statues throughout the town which were perfect for photo ops. We had an authentic Slovak lunch, complete with Wurst, chicken noodle soup and gnoochi with goat cheese. We think the girls are getting tired of traveling because they keep asking if they can just go lay around the hotel. Typically we respond with something like “why would we do that when we are in (INSERT COUNTRY) you can do that at home… this time, we got the reply, yeah I just want to go home. I guess the novelty has worn off and home.
 |
| We loved the Irish Pub across the street, but decided we could have that at home :) |
The next day we headed out for a day full of boring history... first up on the agenda was Schönbrunn Palace, a former imperial summer residence located in Vienna. The 1,441-room Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historical monuments in the country. The history of the palace and its vast gardens spans over 300 years. Given our track record with history museums and all things fancy, we opted for the Children's Ticket and had a blast. 
The highlights of Bratsliva were the statues throughout the town which were perfect for photo ops. We had an authentic Slovak lunch, complete with Wurst, chicken noodle soup and gnoochi with goat cheese. We think the girls are getting tired of traveling because they keep asking if they can just go lay around the hotel. Typically we respond with something like “why would we do that when we are in (INSERT COUNTRY) you can do that at home… this time, we got the reply, yeah I just want to go home. I guess the novelty has worn off and home.
