Horses and Wine

Being a single mom is so hard. Being a single mom on vacation is both easier and harder. It is a little bit easier because I have one on one time with Mary. She gets my complete undivided attention and so her behavior is better than at home--because she is getting so much positive attention. I am not saying, "can you hold on" or give me just a minute to finish this." Yet at the same time it is hard because I have no adults to really engage in conversation. I have made small talk with other people we have encountered, but I mean full on adult conversation. Also when Mary is driving me nuts, I can't hand her off to my husband, or friend, or mom and say can you just watch her for a minute so I can look at this or do this really quickly. There are so many things in Vienna that I like to do that I know Mary would not wanna do. I want to go to the Kunsthistorisches Museum and sit and gaze at my favorite Breugel paintings without interruption, without having to tell Mary she needs to be quiet or sit still. I want to linger in a cafe with my Wiener Melange and my apfelstrudel or sit and chat with someone over a glass of wine. Next time I am bringing the nanny! Oh wait I don't have one.

Today Mary and I woke up early because I set the alarm. We had breakfast and then we walked to the Hofburg palace. Unfortunately there were some other children playing on Mary's elephant so we had to keep walking. In the Hofburg is the Spanish Riding School where the Lipizzaner stallions perform. I have never seen them perform and thought it might be something that Mary would like to see, so I bought a ticket. We picked up our ticket and then went in the gift shop. Mary was being pretty good, but there was a large box full of bouncy balls that were just to enticing. Each ball had a different colored horse inside. But everyone time Mary picked one up or put one back, two more would fall out and bounce all over the floor. I helped her put them back and told her to move away and look at something else. I turned my back for one second--you moms know how it is--and I heard lots of bouncy balls bounce all over the floor. The cashier rolled her eyes and gave me a loud annoyed sigh. I mumbled sorry in German and helped Mary pick them all up and we quickly exited the store.

I took Mary out to Michaelerplatz and read to her about the statues in front of the Hofburg. There are four statues of Hercules fighting some kind of monsters. Mary kept asking me why Hercules doesn't have any clothes on. Hmmm...not sure how to answer that one. Finally it was time to go back into the Riding School. I didn't have to purchase a ticket for Mary because she is only three. The drawback of that is that she has to sit on my lap. After studying the seating chart for a really long time, I decided the front row of the balcony would be best because Mary would be able to stand if she wanted without disturbing anyone else. We got to our seat and it was awesome! Right next to the imperial box. We couldn't take pictures of the performance as it can distract the horses. That is kind of a bummer. The show starts kind of slow with the younger horses showing a little bit of what they are able to do. Then the stallions come out and they are gorgeous. They do these jumps and stand on their hind legs. Mary was talking in my ear the whole time and could not sit still. Finally I thought we should leave so as not to disturb anyone else, but she didn't want to and said she would be good. I was glad we did because there was only one last sequence left. It was eight of the horses doing a sort of choreographed dance--it was really cool. Mary sat quietly the whole rest of the show. Hooray! The horses are so amazing and yet I couldn't help but wonder what they are thinking. Mary said to me, "mommy that horsey is sad." When I asked her why she said, "because he wants to run." Do they wish they were running free in a field or do they like performing for the people? Who knows?

After the performance we went and ate the the Spanische Hofreitschule Cafe. We chose a table outside because it was beautiful out. The cafe is in a courtyard in the Hofburg behind the Spanish Riding School. There is a round sort of track in the courtyard in which the horses run around. It is all mechanical so the horses are forced to trot along. After so long it stops and changes direction and the horses stop and change direction as well. Wow that must be how they are exercised. Who knew?  It was pleasant sitting outside in the sunshine and watching the horses trot along. I ordered us spinatknödel mit parmesan (spinach dumplings with parmesan). They were delicious and Mary devoured them. I also ordered apple strudel. It was delicious! However Mary took a bite and spit it out. What?! She didn't like the apple strudel! What's not to like? The cafe was perfect because we could sit outside so Mary could get up out of her seat and go watch the horses. It was very relaxing.

We left the Hofburg and wandered a little through the park to the Rathaus (city hall). Usually they have something going on in front of the Rathaus and I thought they might have something that Mary would enjoy. For example at Christmas time they usually have a Christmas market. In the winter there is iceskating and they even put in fake snow so people can ski. In the spring they once had these giant trampolines. That's what I was kind of hoping for because Mary would love that. However when we got there they were cleaning up some event that was clearly over. So we hopped on the strassenbahn for a bit and then walked back to the hotel. First we stopped at a park that is near the hotel because Mary had been begging me since we got here if she could play. There were some boys playing in some mud. Mary kept asking them why they were playing in the water. They just ignored her. It was so funny because they were bigger boys and she was just following them and trying to talk to them. I tried to tell her that they speak German, but she was determined to talk to them. It was kinda cute actually. I managed to drag her away and then we took a nap.

When we woke up, we walked back to the center. We took the u-bahn and then the bus to Grinzing. Grinzing used to be a separate small wine village, but now it is part of Vienna. It lies at the foot of the Vienna woods. One of my favorite things to do in Vienna is to go to a Heurigen. Heurigen are small rustic wine taverns--sort of like a beer garden--but a wine garden instead. Some heurigen serve their wine in mugs as well. The heurigen celebrate the arrival of each year's new wine by placing pine branches over the door. Mary and I went to a heurigen I had never been to before called "Zum Martin Sepp." It was yummy and everyone was very friendly. Traditionally one would have an assortment of ham and cheeses with his or her glass of grüner veltliner. So I ordered this for me and Mary, but apple juice for Mary and wine for me.  It was so good.  I also ordered tafelspitz (boiled beef--which is much tastier than it sounds--and it was a favorite of the emperor Franz Josef) and a risotto dish that was delicious. Everything was so good and the atmosphere was great. We finished up and walked back to the bus. We took the u-bahn back to Stephansplatz and then got gelato at Zanoni and Zanoni before walking back to the hotel. Good thing we are doing so much walking or Mary would have to roll me home.