Museums on the Menu

Rainy days aren't getting us down.  We had a smattering of beautiful weather this week before returning to the regularly scheduled rain/sun/thunder/wind/more rain saga.  We were planning on taking a day trip out to Baden this Saturday to do a bit of hiking, but the forecast made us put it off for another weekend.  Instead, we took the opportunity to knock a few more museums off our list.

That's one gorgeous arsenal, Vienna.

Saturday morning we headed to the Heeresgeschictliches museum (say that three times fast) also known as the Viennese Military History museum.  This had the potential to be an incredible bore, if it weren't for three very important factors: First, the museum is housed in an immaculately designed arsenal built in the mid 1800's--quite a new building for Vienna's standards. The museum was actually part of the original design, making it the oldest (and largest) purpose-built military museum in the world.  Second, the layout and quality of the items on display were really impressive--even for my two and nearly-four year-old, who are now experts on these kinds of things.  Third, and most importantly, this museum has on display the car that Archduke Francis Ferdinand was riding in when he was assassinated in Sarajevo...along with his blood-stained uniform (complete with bullet hole) and the couch on which he died.  I know it sounds morbid, but it was so very cool to see these items connected to an event that has intensely shaped our history.  John was over the moon.  Our trip there was worth every Euro penny and I highly recommend a trip to the Heeresgeschichtliches museum to anyone even remotely interested in the history of Austria and their military.

The world's worst picture ever taken of this historic vehicle

Look, Auntie Barb!  Camels!!!

Sunday promised to be yet another dreary day, so after a repeat performance of John's epic story-telling game, we took the girls to a museum that is much more kid friendly and doesn't involve elephant-sized guns: The Natural History Museum, which is home to over 25 million artifacts and specimens.  This basically makes it the world's greatest stuffed animal display.  The museum is overwhelmingly open to kids (which is kind of a rarity in Vienna), the building itself is a work of art, but the amount of stuff to see is just mind blowing.  The girls went nuts running through all the displays before they started to turn into hyper hypos.  We booked it to Nautilus, the cafe housed in the building, and were impressed by the quality of the cuisine. We even ordered a banana split that came decorated as a ship.  But you know what the best part was for me?  (aside from a life-size recreation of a dodo bird) There were so many kids...being kids: screaming, being walked to sleep in their strollers, exclaiming loudly over displays, knocking glasses over.

Angels!! Come winter, we're moving into this place.

Ever since our experience with the crabby downstairs neighbor at our temporary apartment, I've been hypersensitive to the amount of noise my children produce.  I try not to ride them too hard about it, but I always feel more comfortable when someone else's kid is misbehaving or screaming in public.  It's an odd soothing presence...and the Natural History Museum was oozing with it.  I think year passes are in our future--I'll be more than happy to pass the long winter in the company of an automated T-Rex and a cafe serving ice cream with a side of screaming babies.