Sightseeing in Vienna

This week we tried to get out quite a bit, even though the weather was frigid.

Looking towards the Natural History Museum.
It was very cold, though the sun was out.

Here is the door to our apartment.

On our way out.

And here is the lift we take when we have the stroller, which is pretty much always, or when we have the shopping trolley filled with groceries.

They love operating the lift (it says "lift" on the door).

We saw something new just about every day this week: The Imperial Apartments, the Natural History Museum, the Art History Museum, the Technical Museum (aka Robot Museum), and a department store where the children each chose a toy (Legos, Duplos, things for dolls).

In the Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg, we saw the Sissi Museum (Empress Elizabeth) and saw what a tragic figure she was. She suffered from all sorts of problems, including anorexia and depression. She had a 20-inch waist, which was expanded to 21" at the end of her life, and was 5'9". They don't allow photos in that museum, but we took a number of photos in the Porcelain Collection.

These are some of the cake dishes and other things, like an asparagus cooker.

This was a nice collection. Old, but pretty.

Henry liked these green dishes.

A table setting. If you can figure out how to fold these napkins,
you will join the other two people in the world that know this secret.

These are folded napkins.

After we left the palace, we saw a man blowing huge bubbles. It was perfect weather: 100% humidity with a breeze. The children had more fun here than looking at dishes and pretty rooms.

So we gave the man 2 Euros.

I took the children to the Natural History Museum. It has one of just about everything, including this small mineral from Wah Wah Mountain in Utah.

The Natural History Museum also has the world's largest collection of meteorites.

Lucy and Henry with a few meteorites.

The children with more meteorites.

We found a piece of petrified wood from the Petrified Forest in Arizona.

Lucy and petrified wood.

Since Kirk wasn't there, I took a picture of a Chiguire (Capybara) for him 

We finally left the museum, but the children found some things they enjoyed seeing.

We also visited part of the Art History Museum (Kunst Historisches Museum Wien), specifically the Kunstkammer, which is about 1/4 of the museum. It has the famous Bellini Salt Cellar.

Famous Bellini Salt Cellar: gaudy, but artistic.

Most of the other works were just gaudy. A few were pretty. Kirk took photos for a while, but then quit.

Lapis Lazuli bowl

Close up of lapis lazuli bowl.

When I was in Vienna in 1990, I remembered seeing this medallion,
so I took a picture this time when I found it again.

They have redesigned this part of the museum, and it is quite nice. They have lots of tablets (iPads) in each room, and you can get on them and look at the pieces in the room. For the things that work (like clocks and automated toys and such), they show movies of them. The children loved this. They would race to the tablets, find things they liked, and then run around the room to find the object.

If you want more interesting views of the week, read Lucy's comments. Andrew and Edward update their pages with new information each week. Just click on the tab at the top that has their name on it.