Vienna: Part 1

We are back from Vienna! Also known as Wien. Boy, was it cold! -12 degrees celsius.While we were at the market we were stopped by a nice German woman who thought there was something wrong with Wiley. That's how he looked. His face was wrapped up in a scarf and his head was on his chest. That is how he rolls. Did I mention that we got up at 4:30 a.m? I can assure you, he had a breathing slit by his nose, and if you were that little and tired, you would look like that too.

To market, to market.

We also went to Schonnbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the Hapsburgs. We saw the Imperial Rooms, and then headed to the zoo. The Imperial Rooms were okay, but not nearly as impressive as those of Windsor Castle. I think it'd be okay to skip those if you didn't have enough time. You will want LOTS of time at the oldest zoo, also located at the Schonnbrunn because it was fantastic!!

Oh, hey little monkey running free in the monkey house. Can you see him?

Cheetah. Very skinny. Very fast.

Um, yeah. So this was not taken with zoom. He was that close.

Yeah. I was terrified. A piece of glass separated us from 3 pacing tigers. We have like 20 shots of these (thanks Wil). Those tigers are huge, and you could just see the power. We later watched them devouring raw meat. I kid you not. They were hungry, hence the pacing earlier. Therefore, I backed up when they came close to the glass where we were standing.

Hungry Hippos. They had an indoor pool (well, their whole house was indoors, at least during the winter) and if they had gone for a swim, you seriously could have touched one. Not that you would want to, but still. Scary/Awesome. I might add that if you've seen Madagascar, you can appreciate how good of a job Pixar did of the hippo character. I kept thinking of her and how sassy and diva-like she was while watching these guys. While these hippos may or may not have been sassy, physically, the animation was spot on. We saw these at the beginning, and then came back right before we left.

Sweet Cuddly Pandas. That is what I wanted to be doing.

We also laughed really hard at the penguins who looked so funny waddling and shaking their heads. We caught a sea lion show that despite a language barrier a Viennese mom had told us about at lunch (international language of mommy-ese) that showcased a large alpha seal who kept taking smaller sea lion's fish. I've never seen so many animals, so active in one day. Maybe it was because they were mostly inside being warm, and we were outside freezing. Maybe it is because they reminded me of the Madagascar movie, and they enjoyed putting on a show for the visitors. Either way: that was an awesome zoo.

No, it didn't snow while we were there. Yes, it was that cold.

(Garden at Schonbrunn)

Coming up next: The Hapsburgs in Vienna: their bling and their famous queen.