Getting Ready for the Disney World Half Marathon!

I leave late tonight for Disney World! I am so excited to have a girls weekend at Disney and to be running a half marathon with one of my dearest friends.  Oh yea, and we get to wear tutus while we run!  I am going to be Ariel and Beth is going to be Belle.  Did I mention it's the Disney's princess half marathon? I cannot wait for a weekend of fun!  I'll update with pictures and details after the weekend, but here is a sneak peek at the crafts I've been doing to prepare for the event.

Ariel's tutu... because I figured I couldn't run with a fin.

Hair piece.

Vienna Sightseeing, Part 2

Sunday morning we woke up a bit sore from all the walking the day before, but we were still excited for day two of four in Vienna!  We took the train to the Prater station to meet Gerhart for a morning walk around the park, but of course we stopped for delicious pastries and coffee first.

I love German/Austrian breakfast :)

The Prater park also brought back some memories of the time my grandmother took me to ride anything I wanted! It was a ten-year-old's dream (mine at least) and I still remember that day.  This Sunday in the Prater park was a bit chilly, and almost everything was closed, but we still had a nice relaxing stroll around the park as Gerhart told us stories about his memories there.

The famous Prater ferris wheel.

Boyfriend being a clown in the Prater park :)

The amusement park is free to walk around and you can pay per ride with very pricey tickets.  The amusement park also backs up to a city park, also called the Prater, which continues for about 4.5 kilometers along the Danube River.  Despite the freezing cold weather there were runners galore enjoying the park.  We managed to have a little fun ourselves inside a rope maze in the park.

Me in the Prater Park.

We walked along the edge of the city park back past the train station and a few blocks further to Gerhart and Traude's apartment for a wonderful warm lunch.  After our rest and meal all four of us took the train out to the Schönbrunn Palace, which is just a few kilometers outside the old city.  We spent at least an hour wandering the property and enjoying the beautiful scenery.  Once again we were told that the gardens are filled with beautiful flowers in the springtime; I guess we'll just have to come back.

Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

We returned to the city via train and said goodbye to our wonderful tour guides, Traude and Gerhart.  We were on our own for the next day and a half in Vienna and only had a few 'must sees' left to fit in our schedule.  That night we had tickets for the State Opera House, so we first went back to the hotel to change for the evening.  Right next door to the operahouse is the Sacher Hotel, famous for its Sachertorte, a rich (and expensive) chocolate cake that my grandmother used to send to us for Christmas.  We arrived in the area early enough to enjoy a delicious slice of Sachertorte and coffee before heading to the Staatsoper for the ballet, La Sylphide. 

The Sachertorte. Yum!

Inside the Staatsoper.

Luckily the ballet was in a universal language, dance, so I could understand it perfectly.  Not sure boyfriend speaks dance, but nevertheless, he enjoyed it also.  It was a wonderful evening out with the best company I could have asked for.  

I have to add this picture of the bathroom in the train station 

underneath the operahouse that we visited on Saturday :) 

Luckily the real operahouse music and ambiance was better!

We weren't quite ready to call it a night after the ballet, so we opted for a stroll around the pedestrian area to enjoy the fresh air.  Eventually we found ourselves just a couple tram stops away from our hotel, so we decided to head home.  But, first we grabbed a couple sausages to eat along the way.  We were both so hungry and I love trying the different street food in new cities.  This sausage stand even makes a sausage-shaped hole in the bread, fills it with mustard (or other condiments to your liking) and fits the sausage right in.  Delicious and innovative; gotta love it!

Late night street food.

The next morning was our last day in Vienna so we packed up our bags, checked out of the hotel and left our backpacks in storage for the day.  There were only a few things left on our to-do list, and the first one was a certainly on my list, not necessarily on boyfriend's: Ice skating in front of the city hall!  We walked past it on Saturday and my eyes widened like a little kid. I wanted to go so badly! I know boyfriend loves me because he agreed to go back with me :) The best part about it is that it isn't just a rink, but also ice paths through the park!

See all the ice paths? How cool is that?

After it took us a while to get the tickets and ice skates, we were ready to hit the ice!  I was so excited; in fact, I'm still excited while writing this almost a month later!  It was beyond fun to just be a kid for a couple hours.  Here are a few shots of our adventure on ice:

Me and boyfriend in front of the city hall.

Boyfriend zooming past me.

We were exhausted from ice skating, and a bit chilly, so we rested in a restaurant next to the park and shared a delicious dampfnudel.  It is a yeast dumpling filled with plum jam and topped with vanilla poppy creme sauce. Yum.  It was just what we needed to refuel for our last few hours in Vienna.

The dampfnudel.

 The only thing left to see was the Stephansplatz cathedral in the middle of the old city.  We visited a couple nights ago, but it was too dark to take a decent picture and the inside was blocked off because of an event going on the next day.  It was fun to go back, especially since this was the one other part of Vienna that I remember from my childhood.

The Stephansplatz Cathedral, Vienna

We stopped for a coffee to warm up and process our incredible weekend.  Then we stopped just once more for street food; this time it was a schnitzel burger.  I swear I found the secret of Chick-fil-a.  I've never tasted anything so close to my beloved chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a, but this came very close, and it was just food from a street vendor.  I'm telling you, if you don't taste the street food in a new city then you're missing out on something delicious!

The chicken schnitzel sandwich.

Alas it was time to head towards the airport.  It was sad to leave this new city, but also wonderful to know we fit everything in on our list of things to do.  We had such a wonderful time in Vienna.  After collecting our luggage from hotel storage and taking the reverse series of trains from three days before, we arrived at the airport just as the sun was setting.

Sunset at the Vienna airport.

What a wonderful trip! Sorry it took me so long to tell the stories, but I wanted to make sure I didn't leave out anything (plus school has been busy!).  I hope you enjoyed the tales!

Vienna Sightseeing, Part 1

We started Saturday (our first full day in Vienna) off right with some yummy pastries at a local bakery and a big ol' coffee for me.  Then we met our awesome tour guides (my distant relatives, Traude and Gerhart) at 10am to start our full day of touring the city!

A yummy start to the day.

After taking the tram to the old city center (what used to be a walled city) we walked around the border and admired the beautiful architecture.  We stopped to look through the old university buildings, passed the town hall, and wandered off through the museum section (without stopping to see the insides -- my favorite part of museums are typically the outsides ;) ).  After reaching the parliament building we found our way to the pedestrian area of the old city and enjoyed wandering the streets.

One of the museum buildings

The Parliament building.

Another take at the Parliament building.

The pedestrian area was the one part of Vienna that really sparked some memories of childhood visits.  I enjoyed following Traude and Gerhart through the streets and hearing the history of each church as we ducked inside for a quick visit.  Since Traude studied history (and amazingly remembered it all) she was a wealth of knowledge.

The pedestrian area of Vienna.

We took a quick pause for lunch and hopped on the subway to eat near T & G's house.  It was a great break to thaw our fingers and eat way too much pizza.  Then the game plan was to take the train out to the far end of The Belvedere, a palace surrounded by beautiful gardens (in springtime) just outside the old city.  By taking the train to the far end we were able to walk the length of the gardens and return to the city for more touring.  The Belvedere was very impressive; my favorite thing to do in places like that is to imagine all the grand things that happened in that very place. And I have a feeling this palace saw some pretty grand times.

The Belvedere

Me in the Belvedere gardens with Traude and Gerhart,
overlooking the city center.

Once returning to the city center our first day of touring was turning into night, and our toes were turning into icicles.  Boyfriend and I were desperate for a coffee (ok, that was maybe just me), but our tour guides had a couple places left for us to see.  A quick evening view of a few areas in the city center and we realized that only daylight would do them justice.  We bid farewell (until the next day) to T & G and found ourselves a warm coffee shop for defrosting (ok, it was Starbucks, but don't tell anyone).

Boyfriend and I had one thing left on the agenda for the evening even though we were completely worn out from the day full of walking: Wiener Schnitzel; the best in town, we were told!  T & G told us that Figlmüller is famous for its schnitzel, so we just had to try it.

Figlmüller, Vienna

The schnitzel came out of the kitchen overflowing its plate, just as we were told.  On the menu it actually admits that its famous schnitzel is made from pork, not veal as a true wiener schnitzel is, but this was the famous one, so that is what we went with (true veal wiener schnitzel was also on the menu, but we opted for the specialty).  And boy was it delicious!   We weren't overly hungry so we decided to share one, which was a great choice since it was so big!

Me with the famous Figlmüller schnitzel.

We were stuffed to say the least, and simply exhausted.  A short tram ride back to the hotel and we were quickly sound asleep, resting up for our next day of adventures in Vienna!

Arriving in Vienna

We arrived at our hotel on Friday by 2PM and took a few minutes to get settled before calling my distant relatives to see if they wanted to meet up soon.  They had been awaiting our call and decided to pick us up at 3PM with their car are take us to see an overview of the city.  We grabbed a quick lunch in the meantime at my favorite European eatery, any bakery I can find! I have a slight obsession with German bakeries and it turns out Austrian bakeries are also delicious.  I will seriously walk down the street sometimes and stare into the windows of street-side bakeries while completely forgetting to look where I am walking.

After eating a pretzel each from the grocery store bakery down the street we waited in the lobby for our ride to arrive.  Traude and Gerhart were wonderful hosts right from the beginning.  The first stop during our afternoon outing was the cemetery where my Omi and Opa are buried.  It certainly brought back a lot of memories to be there and I am grateful we were able to visit.  The next stop was an overlook atop a small mountain where we could see the whole city.  It was COLD and a bit foggy, but the view was still beautiful!

Overlooking Vienna

After a short walk around the area we hopped back in the car and they took us back to our hotel. Boyfriend and I had tickets to the "Die Zauberflöte" or "The Magic Flute" by Mozart that evening at the Volksoper.  I wasn't only fitting to see this opera in Vienna where it was originally performed, but also because this Friday night happened to be Mozart's birthday! We left ourselves just enough time to change clothes and take a tram to the opera house.  After arriving and picking up our tickets from the box office we hurried across the street for dinner at a kebab stand.  We both love these kebab stands that are popular in Europe so it was the perfect quick dinner.

The Volksoper in Vienna

We were lucky we had purchased tickets online a few weeks before because the show was sold out.  We battled the crowds to find our seats at the top of the theater and sat back to enjoy the show.  I admit that I had woken up before 4AM that morning and the German opera at one point lost the battle for my attention, but apart from about five minutes with my eyes closed I really loved the opera.  We both had the best time and felt like we couldn't have spent our first evening in Vienna in any better place.

Needless to say, we slept well that night! And we were eager to see the city the next day... but we had no idea we were in for a FULL tour the next day with my relatives.  We were able to see so much in just one Saturday; I really love having a local to help you see a new city.  I'll write soon about our adventure around the city that next day!