Some Catching Up...

So, I know I'm behind in my blogging. I'm just getting to the pictures taken in Vienna almost two months ago. We loved Vienna and hope to go back. It was beautiful and classic and clean and vibrant. The architecture was amazing... much of it from the 18th century.

My mom and Mary were enthusiastic travelers. It was Mary's first time being on a train!

Some famous dude (you can see I'm quite the connoisseur of Viennese history).

Mary at the National Museum

We learned about the long reigning Habsburg family (who I knew nothing about before). This is Franz Josef and his wife Elizabeth (Sisi) who were both fascinating figures.

This gold centerpiece/table runner is from the Habsburg era when they would put on lavish dinners. My camera couldn't catch all of it, but the piece on the very left is just the center. So, you can imagine how long this table runner was. Opulent!
Me, dork. But admire the beautiful architecture.

We spent a full day at Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home and gardens of the Habsburgs. It was beautiful to say the least.

So, this random guy approached us and offered to take our picture. He was awesome. My mom thought a picture of him would be a lot more interesting than a picture of us! So, in typical Debi style she snapped a quick photo as he walked off.

The palace also had a great zoo which Em loved.

Some great shots of Em and her blankie and Elmo waiting for the train. She loves the trains.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of our favorite things was attending this live concert that played all the typical Viennese classics... Strauss, Mozart, Schubert. It was just a little chamber orchestra, but they did awesome!

The apartment we stayed at. It had a really cool door. I know, we're dorks.

And one of the best parts of our visit was eating at Cafe Central, which has historically been a famous gathering place for intellectuals (that would be excluding us) and been frequented by the likes of Leon Trotsky, Sigmund Freud, Vladimir Lenin and Adolf Hitler. It was so fabulous we went there twice! We could have eaten there every day and been happy.

Our last night there we orded six desserts among the four of us. Worth every calorie.

Caroline was more interested in her coif than in her food, but what else is new?

Live music definitely added to the atmosphere

We took the overnight train from Vienna back to Warsaw. C was pretty pumped to be on the train.
She is Miss Speedy Gonzalez

And Em was perfectly happy to hunker down for the night, with Elmo and blankie of course. And we arrived back in Warsaw at 7:15 a.m. on Sunday and made it for 10:00 church! Now that's dedication I tell ya.