Last Day in Vienna, and summary.

Our last day in Vienna was July 30th, which is possibly the only date from this whole trip that I will remember, because it was also my 40th birthday.

Our family tradition is to have cake for breakfast on birthdays, but we decided that was a bit much to coordinate in a foreign city, so we went with croissants instead.  They were delicious.  

There were no candles, but they sang, which was very nice.

After breakfast we head out to see upper and lower Belvedere.  It's a two-part palace, both of which have been somewhat preserved, but mostly turned into art museums.  Lower Belvedere (the less fancy of the two) houses more modern art

Twins, with and without skin

'Meric - wait.

while Upper Belvedere houses more mid-century Austrian classics, including a lot of Klimt, which I like a lot.

Klimt

Just like the family portrait hanging in our living room.

Oh, Napoleon.  So modest.

The buildings themselves and the grounds were really lovely as well.

In Lower Belvedere

Ceiling in Lower Belvedere. 

A series: Children humoring me

Pete and I making the face the kids make when we ask them to take a picture.

View of the gardens and Lower Belvedere from Upper Belvedere

We wanted to get back to Naschmarket to get lunch and snacks for our train ride to Prague, so we went back and had lunch and did some more poking around.  While food shopping, Jax thought that he might want to try eating some marinated baby octopus.  Upon purchase of said octopus, he changed his mind, however.

Baby Octopus

Maybe...

Nope.

We had already walked quite a bit, so we went back to the apartment to pack up (since we left for Prague early the next day) and relax a bit before going to Prater Park that night.

Prater Park is an enormous park in and of itself (we saw tons of open space, baseball fields, off-roading space for BMX bikes, a skate park, some playground equipment, a pond, and soccer and field hockey turf, and we barely explored the park at all) PLUS it has a really famous amusement park with a really famous old ferris wheel.  Of course we wanted to hit that up while we were in town.

We did the ferris wheel first.

Hello!

View of Vienna from near the top.

After that, we decided to do some "real rides."  Each ride is paid for individually, which is a pain, but it also means that there are lots and lots of options.  Jax and I started on a super fun roller coaster, while Lea and Pete did a more "spinny" roller coaster right next to us.  Both super fun.

More rides followed, including a flume ride (thankfully Jax and I didn't get wet at all), and an absolute nightmare of a spinning ride that Jax and Pete went on.  

It was much more spinny than I anticipated.  I'm very excited I didn't puke.

We were still so full from our Naschmarket lunch that we just ended up grabbing a little dinner in the park - Jax and I just had ice cream, which I thought was acceptable because it was my birthday.

Two of my favorites being very goofy.

One more roller coaster before we head out, and then back to the apartment to get some sleep before our train to Prague, from where I write this post.

I did this one next.  I screamed a little.

All in all, Vienna was fun.  We probably needed one fewer days there, if I had to do it again.  If you're thinking about visiting, here are what I saw as the pros and cons.

Pros: it was extremely clean and quiet.  The public transportation system is extremely easy to navigate and very affordable.  Prices were not outrageous.  We got the ViennaPass and really feel like it was worth it.  We collectively speak about 6 words of German, but got by just fine.

Cons: things close _early_.  You really need to plan your trips to the grocery store/pharmacy/etc.  Even restaurants often aren't open on Saturday nights.  Unless your kids are super into impressionist art and/or classical music, it's not the most kid oriented travel destination.  Sights do a lot of "nickel and dime-ing" - one fee to get into the Schonbronn Palace, another for the maze, another for the zoo, another for the tram, another for the garden, etc.  I am not sure if this is the norm everywhere in Europe (Prague is suggesting that it is), but don't assume that your entry fee covers nearly everything (including the bathroom!).  

Anyway, now we're in Prague, which has a _very_ different feel.  We're here for the shortest amount of time, leaving on Saturday.  We'll enjoy it until then, and then on to Berlin!