Central Europe Trip Report-6/21

[sayhello]

Being more than a year away, any details should fade so that you can be surprised.

You got a bag of anonymous pretzels. You could definitely tell the ones that the pros made versus the ones we made.

This is true. I'm old, and forgetful!

How could you tell the difference?

Sayhello

 

[RSM]

Our first day of activity in Vienna included a tour of Schonbrunn palace, the former imperial summer residence, a lesson in making apple strudel, a marionnette show, and after some on-your-own time a private tour of the Vienna zoo followed by dinner.

After a buffet breakfast at the Ritz Carlton, we boarded the coach for a short ride to Schonbrunn palace. We loved the architecture in Vienna:

After arriving at Schonbrunn palace we took family and group photos:

All the kids in front of the palace

From here, the group split up. The adults went on a tour of some of the staterooms and living quarters. I say some, because the palace has 1400+ rooms. The tour we had largely focused on Maria Teresia and her time in the palace. The kids went on their own little tour and dressed up like royalty. Photos weren't allowed on the tour, so we don't have pictures inside the palace.

Glad to see it is not just at home that Aiden thinks he is king of the castle:

After the tour of the staterooms and living quarters, we got a few minutes to go into the gardens:

After our tour of Schonbrunn palace, we took a short walk to our strudel making demonstation

We all got a piece of apple strudel at the conclusion of the demonstration. Then it was another short walk to the marionnette show where we were greeted by our host

The show itself was about 20 minutes long and truly showed the skill of the puppeteers. There were some that had up to 17 strings going. The artists made the marionnettes seem like they came to life.

I know the ABD brochure says that you put on your own show with the marionnettes you made in Prague. This is not the case though. In fact, I'm not sure how we would even do it given the constrained space in the back. We did get to try our hand at using the marionnettes though. Let's say, the artists make it look alot easier than it really is.

Some of the marionnettes

Jenn seemed to catch on pretty quickly

After finishing up around the palace, we headed back to the hotel and had some time on our own. We let Aiden decide where to head to next, and he wanted to go to Prater Park. So, we took the metro and went to the amusement park. One note on the metro in Vienna. It is basically the honor system. You buy a ticket or pass, validate it, and hop on the metro. However, there are periodic checks by security and if you are caught without a ticket the fine is 110 euro.

On our way to Prater Park we passed Vienna's version of the walk of stars

The first thing we went on at Prater Park was the ferris wheel. Think of this as an early version of the London Eye. It takes about 20 minutes to do a full rotation.

Views from the ferris wheel

We then went on a number of the rides. There is no admission to enter the park. You pay for each ride you want to go on. Here we are on Volare. You basically lay face down and flat. You are then strapped in, so you are in a position like superman flying. The ride then twists and turns and flips you upside down.

We probably spent 2-3 hours at the park and had a good time. It is not quite as extreme as some of the parks in the US, but it does have some pretty cool rides.

After Prater Park, we decided to stop for a snack. We stopped at

where we had spaghetti. Actually, it is spaghetti ice cream. They have a bunch of deserts like this to choose from.

We then went back to the hotel, rested for a little bit and got ready for an after hours tour of the zoo and dinner.

Continued in the next post...

 

[RSM]

After freshening up we met up with the group and headed back towards Schonbrunn palace which is close to the Vienna Zoo. The Vienna Zoo is the oldest in Europe. The following are some photos from our tour of the zoo:

I was struck by the size of this guys paws

Our guide at the zoo told us the story of a little boy who had been on a previous tour. He didn't see any tigers and was upset. As the group was moving on, he sat down and hunched over with his back to the enclosure. The guide said within a minute one of the big cats was over pawing at the plexi glass. The cat saw the little boy as easy prey and a possible quick meal.

The lioness doesn't look very happy about having her photo taken

Finally, the stars of the show were three newborn leopards playing

Under the watchful eye of mom

After our tour, we went to the gazebo for dinner

The inside of the gazebo

 

[RSM]

Today would be our last day of activities for our Central Europe ABD. In the morning we went to the Spanish Riding School, we then had about 5 hours of on-your-own time. We met about 4:30 and had a 1 hour dancing lesson (waltzing) followed by our farewell dinner.

First up was the Spanish Riding School. The Spanish Riding School is a traditional riding school for Lippizan horses which perform traditional dressage in the winter riding school in the Hofberg. The school is over 400 years old. The day we went they were breaking down from a summer ball which they had the night before, so the arena floor wasn't as it would appear during the show season.

Outside sign for the Spanish Riding School:

The uniforms of the riders:

Looking out a window over Josefsplatz near the Hofberg in central Vienna:

The night before there had been the summer ball in what was the arena, so it was all set up for a banquet. The arena was being broken down and re-set for a show:

From there we split up into 2 different groups. One group saw the horses in the stables, the second got a tour of the equipment room where the riders saddles, bits, etc. were stored. We started in the equipment area then moved to the horses.

We then moved into the stables to see some of the Lippizaner horses:

Branded with the symbol of the school:

The brown lippizaner is considered the highlight of the show:

After our tour of the Spanish Riding School we had about 5 hours of on-your-own time. We did some shopping in the gift shop and walked around Vienna a little bit. We wanted to get the majority of our packing done as we had an early flight to Munich the next morning. We walked back to the hotel and stopped at St. Stephens Church:

We made our way back to the Ritz, packed up and rested a bit. Next up was our waltzing lessons. The current owner of the school is one of the judges on Austria's version of Dancing with the Stars.

We considered this a rousing success as Jenn was able to walk away without a limp or broken foot after dancing with Rich (ok, so we don't have high standards for success )

The professionals show us how it should be done:

After our dance lesson, we made our way to our farewell dinner. Out of all the ABD's we have been on, this was probably the most fun we have had at a farewll dinner. We were greeted by the owner of the restaurant/museum and given a tour of the place. Let's just say the owner is a combination of eccentric and eclectic.

Aiden having a farewell drink:

Overall, this ABD was jammed packed with great activities. The group bonded really well from the outset. Aiden still keeps in touch with 2 or 3 of his new friends from the trip.

Day 9 of the ABD was a travel day. Our flight to Munich was at 9:00 am, so we had the 6:30 shuttle to the airport. We met up with Jennae and Betti, along with 8 other fellow adventurer's, for a final goodbye and headed to the airport. For our flight to Munich, we hung out with members of the Commodores. Jenn recognized them and new a bunch of their songs (Jenn went to school in NYC in the early 80's when the Commodores were pretty big). Aiden was clueless until he looked them up on his phone. Anyways it was basically us and them for the better part of an hour and they were great. The drummer gave Aiden some lessons and they did an impromptu little show. One of the funner waits at an airport that I've had.

Anyways, we would continue our vacation with five days in Munich. We had arranged a bike tour of the city, a day at Neuschwanstein, a tour of the Dachau concentration camp memorial site, a trip to the BMW welt and museum, and a tour of Allianz Stadium where FC Bayern plays. All in all, this was a great vacation to the Bavaria area and we would highly recommend this ABD. Please feel free to PM me or ask any questions regarding this trip.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your own travels and adventures.