Sunday, April 25, 2010

Schönbrunn

Everyday so far I have not brought the stroller with us when we leave the hotel and everyday I wish I had brought it.  What the heck?  Part of me doesn't want to deal with it, but then Mary keeps asking me to hold her and she walks so stinking slow.  She would probably nap in it too if I brought it along, which would be nice for me to stroll through the city.  I dragged the stroller clear to Europe and then I'm not even using it and I SHOULD be using it.  It would make my life and Mary's easier!


Today we went to Schönbrunn palace.  Schönbrunn was the summer residence of the Habsburgs.  The grounds of Schonbrunn are huge.  It's gorgeous and one of my favorite places to go in Vienna.  I really enjoy the tour of the Imperial apartments, although this tour shows only forty of over two thousand rooms.  I didn't think Mary would enjoy that long of a tour, so luckily I did my research because I have never seen this in a guide book, but Schönbrunn has a kindermuseum.  It was awesome!!!  I really don't know who liked it more: me or Mary.  We started out in the Imperial courtyard.  In the courtyard there are several wardrobes which contain princess dresses of all different sizes for the children and adults to try out (there are also clothes for the boys to dress up in: fancy jackets and three point hats).  Is this my dream come true or what?  I get to dress up like a princess in a real royal palace!!!  Oh and so did Mary. haha.  There was just about everything a princess would need.  There were wigs, gloves, purses, crowns, fans, and even hoop skirts and petticoats!  They also had a sort of throne set up to take your picture on.  I only wore my costume long enough for Mary and me to get a picture together.  Then Mary pranced around and twirled.  She said, "mommy, I think this dress twirls nicely."  One problem: I could not get Mary to take it off.  Finally I promised her that after we finished the tour we could come back and dress up again.





The rest of the kindermuseum was cute.  It was good because the children can touch things and interact.    Although the first room we went into after the courtyard was just a room with a slide--not sure what that had to do with anything, but Mary enjoyed it.  The next room explained the children's hygiene rituals and beauty rituals for the girls.  There were four wigs set up and all these accessories and the kids could do hair.  There was a dressing table that explained make-up in the 18th century.  There was a room that showed the clothing that the  royal children and their servants wore--also in the 18th century.  There was an explanation of the daily routine of the royal children.  There was a toy room, where the kids could actually play with the toys.  The last room was a dining room.  It had all these dishes and pretend food that the kids could play with and practice setting the table.  It was very cute.  However Mary wanted to hurry through the rooms so she could dress up again--the little stinker.  Well so we were back in the courtyard and Mary dressed up yet again.  I chatted with another mom (Austrian) who was so friendly.  Finally everyone else had left and Mary and I were the only ones left in the courtyard.  I made her take off her dress, so we could go outside.  It wasn't easy.




We walked through the grounds a bit and then entered the zoo.  Since it was well past lunchtime we stopped at the wurstel stand and got a hot dog.  Hot dogs here are so good!  Not that they are that different from in the US but here they are brilliant because the hot dog roll has only one small opening on the top.  The roll is filled with ketchup and mustard or whatever you want and then the hot dog slides in.  It is so much easier for kids because there is no mess--it is all contained in the roll.  I mean Mary could walk and still eat her hot dog.  I just think it is so much better than cutting the roll open all along the side.  AND they sell carbonated juice!  Anyone who knows me well knows that I buy sprite for my juice.  I love carbonation, but not soda.  I want my juice to be carbonated or spicy as Mary calls it.  Okay I sort of went off on a tangent there, but I had to get that off my chest.

Back to the zoo; which was founded in 1752 by Franz I.  Some of the animals are still housed in the original baroque enclosures.  The emperor liked to have his breakfast surrounded by his exotic animals.  There is also a large section of the zoo that is a reconstructed Tyrolean farm.  That was great because it was up in the trees and it was nice and cool.  There were just farm animals, but it was nice.  The zoo was a little strange to me.  I felt much closer to the animals than I would in the States.  It seemed like I could just reach out and touch some of the animals, they were that close.  Seemed like a lawsuit waiting to happen.  I thought the zoo was cool because it of the original baroque buildings and Tyrolean section, but overall a zoo is a zoo.  Mary was getting pretty tired by this time.  I was really wishing I had the stroller.  It was pretty hot and crowded also.  There were so many strollers, I was looking at them all longingly.  Some people had rented wagons.  Wagons--what a great idea, only I couldn't figure out where they rented them until we were leaving.  That would have been great for Mary!


This picture isn't zoomed at all--we are really this close!

Mary and the tastiest popsicle ever!



We left the zoo.  I would have loved to walk around the grounds some more, but Mary was done, and I couldn't carry her.  Too bad I couldn't take the wagon out of the zoo.  We made the long walk back to the u-bahn.  Mary was so tired and whiney.  When we got on the subway, she said, "let's just stay on this for a while."  Luckily the stop is close to our hotel.  We came up to the room and just sat for a bit while I tried to figure out where we should eat dinner.  I decided on the Witwe Bolte because it is only a block away and witwe is widow in German.  It also has a "beautiful tree-shaded terrace in a fountain splashed, cobbled square," according to Frommer's which gave it three stars. Doesn't that sound lovely and enticing?

Well it was definitely lovely.  It was a little nicer than I thought it was going to be, but Mary behaved wonderfully.  I was so pleased with her behavior, especially since she had no nap.  I talked to her all through dinner so she couldn't be distracted.  We talked about school, our trip, and her friends.  The food was so good.  All the food that came out of the kitchen looked delicious, I don't think we could go wrong.  I ordered Mary raviolis and I had pumpkin lasagne.  Both were delicious.  It was so pleasant, drinking my gruner veltliner there in the courtyard.  We had dessert and walked back to the hotel.  Today was such a good day!  I felt a little sad leaving Schönbrunn because I don't know when we will be back, but we will definitely be back!

3 comments:

Rayna said...

ok, i know i comment on every post, but i am just so amazed by you! you are doing so many awesome things with mary. she is so lucky to have you as her mom. and.....the hot dogs....brilliant! and the juice...brilliant! and the whole allowing adults to get dressed up...brilliant! you need to take some of these ideas back home :)

Nicole said...

I'm right there with Rayna - I think I comment on every post too, but I too LOVE how incredible you are & what an amazing experience you're giving your daughter right now & how WILD Europe is & how NOT intimidated you are by it. (Whoa! What a run-on sentence.)I'm just inspired. Thank you.

Nicole Strayer said...

i'm with rayna and the other nicole. the hot dogs awsome, the whole experience life changing!! I am also inspired by you. what an amazing mom!! take your stroller tomarrow though so you don't regret not having it. what kind of stroller is it anyhow?