16. - 20. August 2007: Vienna
Our short holiday this year brought us to Vienna (Wien) ... only Cynthia Natasha Claudia and Thomas ... Carola was in her pre-university practice, so she couldn't come.
It was a 730km drive with a stop-over in Regensburg with Thomas' mum and lunch. Finally we arrived in our hotel and started a walk to the city centre. There, close to the Stephansdom (cathedral) we had a drink in a bar.
For our first dinner Thomas found an Italian restaurant again, where we had a lovely dinner with pizza from a wood-burning stove.
Next day we took the tram to the castle of Schönbrunn, where Sisi lived (the empress Elisabeth). We had a tour through the castle and walked around a lot. The picture is taken from the gardens, Vienna in the background.
Here the four of us after having a drink. A nice zoo was part of the castle area, so we followed Natasha's wish ... it turned out to be quite huge and interesting ... including a panda bear.
After returning to the hotel we were thirsty ;-) ... finishing the day in a traditional Austrian restaurant with Wiener Schnitzel.
Next day we went through the city centre ... absolutely beautiful, Cynthia was enthusiastic. Many many old buildings in wonderful condition! We went to the "Hawelka", one of the traditional coffee houses in Vienna ... it looked like 100 years ago!
In the afternoon we took a ride in a "Fiaker", a coach with two horses ... very touristic, but lovely. Natasha could sit on the coach box...
In the evening we bought tickets for a concert, Mozart and Strauß ... which was very nice ... so the cultural requirements were also satisfied ;-)
Sunday, we followed Claudia's wish and went for a swim in a 100 year old pool at the river Danube ... little bit cold, but refreshing ... of course not suitable for an Australian wuss, i. e. Cynthia watched the water from a safe distance! Furthermore we went to the "Prater" park, where Cynthia and Thomas had a ride in one of the oldest ferris wheels and the girls had some fun rides.
So we can report, that it was a wonderful trip ... on Monday we got safely back ... the photo shows the two in the zoo ... unfortunately we couldn't find the front plate of the box ;-)