Vienna

After receiving our SUV in mid December, we decided to take it for a spin...to Vienna, Austria, which is a 4 hour drive from Zagreb.  We staked out a hotel on the outskirts of the city on the Danube River.  It turned out to be a great spot - it was a very nice hotel, with a friendly (English speaking) staff, beautiful decor, great amenities, and a spacious room by European standards.  Our SUV stayed parked in the lot and we used the subway to get around the city, which we all enjoyed.

Some highlights of our trip:
The Christmas Markets - they do them here in Zagreb, but not anywhere near the size and scale that they boast in Vienna.  Mulled wine, hot cocoa, warm milk...they had something for everyone.  The lights and atmosphere were incredible and there were so many beautiful things to look at.

Schönbrunn Palace - This was an enormous estate, that for many years housed the Austrian royal family.  It now belongs to the country itself.  We had fun touring the Children's Museum portion of the palace and walking around the expansive backyard grounds.  And it wouldn't be a site in Austria in December without a Christmas market of its own.  We bought several ornaments at this one.  And the usual mulled wine (Scot and me), hot cocoa (Ava) and warm milk (Reese).  :-)

The Giant Ferris Wheel (Riesenrad) - This was a subway stop between downtown Vienna and our hotel, so we hopped off to take it for a spin.  It was a pretty incredible piece of equipment, standing 200 feet high, built in 1897.  It actually was destroyed in World War II, but was rebuilt in 1945.  It offered amazing views of Vienna in all directions.  The ferris wheel was in the middle of a large amusement park, which would be fun to see again in warmer weather.

Mall - there was a mall adjacent to the subway stop by our hotel.  We stopped there for some shopping and discovered a play area with very inexpensive babysitting (not free like Zagreb but it was like $4 for 2 hours for both girls).  The girls were in heaven as the play area extended the three levels of the mall.  No, not a European historical site by any means, but a pragmatic stop.  Kids aren't necessarily entertained by all of the history, as incredible as it is to us. Gave Scot and I a good sanity check as well.  :-)

Butterfly Museum - This isn't probably something Scot and I would have seen solo, but again, we were looking to temper our adult sightseeing interests with that of the kids.  So, we ended up here and it was a really cute little greenhouse with hundreds of butterflies swarming about.  It didn't hurt that it was also warm and humid inside, against a cold and rainy Sunday morning.

St. Stephen's Cathedral (St. Stephansdom) - Wow.  Just wow.  This cathedral was amazing.  And it was even more beautiful with the lighted display for Advent.  We lit 3 candles for Diane, Gardy, and Margie.  The day we were there was actually the 8th anniversary of Margie's death, hard to believe.

Starbucks - Ah, a taste of America.  I hadn't had a supersized, sugared, chocolated coffee in 3 months.  It was delicious.