Neal, Deanna, Debbie and I met up in Vienna for a family Christmas this year! Neal is there to get a Master's degree. I came south from Norway, Deanna came east from California, and Debbie came west from Kazakhstan. Here's Dec 20, our first day...
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| First day - in Weimar Cafe |
I love Melange - a Viennese cappucino.
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| Furgus and Carson got to come, too! |
Dogs are welcome just about everywhere!
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| Love this wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz! Check out the broom. |
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| My favorite world leader - Marie Therese (oh, and Neal and Deanna, too) |
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| Horsehead accordian players? |
Vienna is full of quirky sights, mixed in with beautiful architecture.
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| Christmas concert at the Volksoper |
We were up in the nosebleed standing room section.
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| Posing in front of the ruby slippers out front of the Volksoper |
We didn't go see the Wizard of Oz, but we did go see Hansel and Gretel!
Day 2 - Debbie came! Then we explored town on day 3.
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| Another cafe, with Carson |
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| This is the Rathaus - great name for city hall, yeah? And its Christmas market. |
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| Karlskirche - St. Charles Church - most outstanding baroque church in Vienna. And its Christmas market! | |
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Day 4 was "stay at home doing crafts" day. Do we not have an outstanding Christmas tree? That's the Leitner Angel on top that I brought from home. Ed and I bought them in Nuremburg in 2008 for all of our Leitners.
Then we dressed up and went to Hansel and Gretel at the Volksoper. No pictures allowed. :-( In this version, the mom is not a bad guy and there were angels to protect Hansel and Gretel. The actress playing the witch had a great time! This little girl in front of us was so excited when the witch turned into a gingerbread witch that she was jumping on her seat.
Day 4, Dec 2
4, we went to
Schönbrunn Palace. The 24th is the day Christmas is celebrated in Austria (and Norway), but there were lots of visitors and another Christmas market. We bought wild boar meatloaf and gluhwein after the tour.
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| Looking good! |
In the evening, we Skyped home and opened our presents. Such a nice day!
Dec 25th, Neal cooked us a wonderful Schweinsbraten and Leberknudel dinner at his apartment.
In keeping with my tradition of catching some terrible cough during Christmas, I spent the next day in the Emergency room. But I was happy afterwards - in Austria, they aren't afraid to prescribe drugs! But next trip, I have to pack my medicines in my luggage...
The 27th was our day to see the Spanish Riding School. Those beautiful white Lipizzaners! That wonderful space! No pictures during the demonstration because those are high-strung horses.
We met with Phil Moran, his wife Jody and sister Nicky after the performance, and had a great time all getting to know each other. Phil was a classmate of mine and Ed's when we took German in Vienna, and we're still in touch.
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| Neal, Phil, Jody, Nicky, Deanna, and Debbie |
Debbie really wanted to see the Danube - the river, not the canal that the S-bahn drives next to all the time. We figured sunset from a tower would be perfect. So we took the U-bahn, only to find the river all fogged in. Boo, hiss! Then we looked at Neal's school in the fog. Vienna is spelled Wien, hence Vienna U is WU.
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| Neal, the Thinker |
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| The lights at the U-bahn station shine mysteriously in the fog |
The 28th was goodbye day. Sigh. The two D's left in the morning. Neal and I spent the afternoon shopping. Lots of sales on Maria Hilfe Strasse. Meisl Markt was a great find for Neal - lots of meat that looked cheap and fresh! We found a super electronics store upstairs there, Conrad's, where I bought a solar panel and a motor for my 3D printed solar bicycle model.
Then the 29th was my goodbye to Neal day. Double sigh.
Happy 2016 to everyone!
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