A New Kind of Exhausted: Exhaustingly Fantastic

As John flopped down on the bed this afternoon in exhaustion and gave a big old tired harrumph, I turned to him and said: "we've had a good weekend, huh Papa?". That was a gross understatement.  The girls and I wore poor John (not to mention ourselves) out this weekend.

Running down the main drive of the Oberes Belvedere

Saturday morning we woke to cloudy skies and thunderstorms, so we did what any sensible Viennese family would--we put on our rain gear and seized the day.  We were off to the Belvedere yet again.  The last time we visited this palace the rain shortened our jaunt around the grounds, but luckily this time we were determined to disregard the inclement weather in favor of the art galleries housed inside.  We found out when we arrived that the Lower Belvedere is closed until next week, so we got tickets for exhibits in the Upper Belvedere and headed inside to get our fill.  Although we only made it through two floors of galeries before the girls started falling apart, we still got to take in some really amazing works.  Some of my favorite outbursts from Bailey along the way were: "Me want a ice cream!" and "Me watch a Lion King!" If only, kid...if only.

The exhibits that we did see were very impressive and we got to see all the works of Gustav Klimt that were on display.  Klimt is Austria's most famous painter, best known for his painting 'The Kiss', which we were able to view.  I hadn't been too crazy about the few paintings and prints of his I'd previously seen, but taking in such a wide array of his works in person made me change my mind.  His paintings at a glance appear very disjointed and chaotic, but in person I found a new appreciation for them. 

My one picture inside the Oberes Belvedere...whoops!

And the palace itself?  Was quite fascinating, yet underwhelming. I was under the impression that the Upper Belvedere was designed for the sole purpose of hosting functions and parties, but I was surprised to find how domestic (for lack of a better word) the rooms we toured were.  Pictures weren't allowed, but I did manage to take one photo of the large main room on the second floor.  (In my defense, I had no idea photos weren't allowed.  I'll figure some way to blame it on the children) But this was the most opulent room we saw (aside from the chapel...yowza). Most of the other rooms had detailed scenes decorating the ceilings, but aside from that, seemed quite functional or boringly appointed. i.e.: This room housed four bookshelves.  *yawn* In his defense, Prince Eugene of Savoy was a military man.  I'll save my giddiness for Schonbrunn's interior. 

lunch at Salm Brau..she's looking loopy

Anyway, after boring our children, we let them loose in the gardens on our way to lunch at Salm Brau, where we drank big beers (or apple juice) and stuffed our faces with schnitzel.  A good day in any book.

Blazing a trail!

Although we do try to find time for more grown up pursuits on the weekends, we still like to make sure the girls have something that is just for them.  So, Sunday we took them to the zoo in celebration of the sun's glorious return.  It was really just an excuse to have a place to let the kiddos run around as much as they wanted without fear of getting hit by a car.  We tried to hit up some of the enclosures that we haven't seen yet, but, honestly, the girls' favorite part was running through a wooded path up the hill to the mini Triol Villiage.  (Where we got to see exotic cows, bunnies, goats and chickens.) And as most things in our lives are dictated, by the time we had our fill of farm animals, Bailey started demanding ice cream..which means we had to eat lunch first...which is how we ended up leaving the zoo to eat in the adjoining Triolergarten Gasthaus.  Lunch was actually really good and Bailey eventually got her ice cream fix before we headed to the grounds of Schonbrunn palace.

I could not pry her down from here.

Audrey loved the huge fountain that sits at the bottom of the hill in the gardens at Schonbrunn.  We walked up behind it and got a really cool view of the palace through the falling water.  It was, by far, her favorite part of the day. Then we took a bit of a stroll through the side paths of the lower garden and found a bird house? bird cage? bird sanctuary?  Either way, Bailey declared that it was HER house and she let the birdies live there.  So, take that, Vienna. 

"This a-mine's house!!"

By that time we were all wilting a bit.  Bailey had just guzzled the last of our water supply and was tyrannically demanding more, so we hit up the gift shop for provisions and headed home...where John finally declared defeat from an awesome weekend.  This is really why we celebrate Friday nights--we know whatever the next two days bring will surely be exhaustingly fantastic.