The Adventures of Eloise and Abbey: Vienna

Ah Vienna ... you made us feel very cultured! In our five days in Vienna we managed to fit in the ballet, opera, a Mozart and Strauss concert, Vienna Boys choir, Spanish Riding School and even the oldest zoo in the world !

At the Strauss and Mozart concert where we also saw some ballet and heard some opera

The streets of Vienna were impressive to wander around. Everywhere you looked there was a very well preserved grand old building.

Stephanplatz church

Lots of horses and carriages in front of Stephanplatz

Stephanplatz church

Stephanplatz in miniature !

Stephanplatz

Graben

Graben (one of the main shopping streets in Vienna)

Walking towards Michaelplatz

Michaelplatz

Gates near Hofburg Palace

On our first day in Vienna we stumbled upon the Soldiers guards saluting visiting dignitaries in front of the parliamentary offices.

Viennese red Beret Soldier's Guards

Eloise was inspired to be a guard after watching the red beret guards!

Like many other European cities there were lots of fountains and statutes in Vienna

This was one of the girls favourite fountains, they loved the gory scene, Michaelplatz

Statue of Mozart

Statue of Strauss

Horse statue in front of Hofburgh Palace

We visited Vienna Zoo which is apparently one of the oldest zoos in the world. the added bonus was that they had some rare animals that the girls had not seen (or in Eloise's case she has seen them at San Diego but can't remember them) like Pandas and Polar Bears. The zoo is part of the Schonbrun palace and is located in the palace gardens. And the gardens itself was very pretty.

Schnobrun Palace Gardens

The old homestead at Vienna zoo

Vienna (Schonbrun) Zoo

Lazy panda at the Schonbrun Zoo

Vienna (Schonbrun) Zoo

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We also took the girls out to Prater Park to ride the famed Prater wheel. But the girls (and Brett) got a little distracted along the way as they found a very good playground on the way!

Awesome playground near Prater Park

Brett hanging around at the awesome playground near Prater Park

Prater Wheel

Prater Park amusement park

Prater Park

Vienna is also famous for its Vienna coffee houses where you have coffee and cake, its Weiner Snitzel and its goulash. So we had to try these off course

Café Pruckel, an old and typical Viennese coffee house

Weiner snitzel in Vienna!

Goulash

We were told to book it six months in advance ... tickets to the Spanish Riding School. So we did and we got some fantastic seats and also got to hear the world famous Vienna Boys choir perform at the Spanish Riding School tribute show.