Vienna

We started our trip with a walk to the town square and seeing St Stephen's grand cathedral.  There are lots of shops that I wanted to peruse through (can't wait to get kids in school so I can go shopping) and we noted a very diverse culture here or at least tourists from many different countries.  We would have liked to see the famous Lipizzaner Stallions but they were off for the summer.  Entrepreneurs take advantage of the horse theme and there are many horse and buggy ride options for tourists. We ended up heading to a famous old bakery -- Demel -- where you inhale the wonderful smell of fresh pastries and cakes.  We had a delicious lunch and an even tastier dessert.  We were curious about "cat tongue" ice cream but no one ventured to try it that day.

Our second day in Vienna was spent touring the Schonbrunn Palace.  Paige and I decided we could live here comfortably given the 1400 rooms.  Every room is decorated with ornate gold on the walls, furniture, and fireplaces that are stoked from the back wall (imagine servants running around behind the walls of the rooms constantly to ensure a good fire).  We especially liked Maria Theresa's red canopy bed with woven gold and silver threads.  The kids enjoyed the extensive gardens which the Hapsburg elders must have needed for their 16 kids.  We ended our day with the traditional dish apfelstrudel.

Our final day in Vienna was spent seeing the crown jewels with ornate crowns, septors, swords, etc.  They even had a fancy jewelry box and a cradle.  Then after an ice cream lunch break (Clay's birthday so we could justify ice cream for lunch), we rushed to catch our train to Melk.  What a darling town!  There we hopped on a boat and floated down the Danube river viewing 9th and 11th century castle remains, picturesque steeples, and colorful villages.  Clay thought it was pretty funny to see a naked sunbather!  (On another day Paige said, "why do they like so much naked art?") Then we ended our day with cat tongues which we found out were small, rectangular pieces of chocolate.

(Pictures to be posted later.)