Edward's View

April 28, 2013
Monday I went to the Alte Donau park. There was a playground there. We didn't notice it at first because it was behind a tiny wall next to a Chinese restaurant.

At the park.

Tuesday I went to the House of Music. The first and second levels of the building were just boring. And the rest were just regular, not fun and not boring. Then I went to Mozart's house, not the Salzburg one, but the Vienna one. Then I went all the way from Mozart's house to Beethoven's house. It cost $5 to go in. It was a really cheap museum.

Inside Beethoven's apartment on the 4th floor.

Wednesday I went to an aquarium. I saw things that you would regularly see in an aquarium, like sharks, turtles, fish, bugs, spiders, and a scorpion as big as my hand. And things that you would see in Arizona. And it was completely not like the Schönbrunn Zoo that I went to because it was a Nazi tower  [the museum was inside a WWII anti-aircraft bunker].

At the aquarium.

On Karlsplatz.

Thursday I went to the Congress Park again with the Picards.
Friday I went to the General Cemetery, near the edge of Vienna. I saw Beethoven's grave—a person from Germany, buried in Austria. Then in the afternoon I went to the Vienna Museum. In the Vienna Museum it told all about Vienna, all the way up to our time.

Edward wasn't in the photo here.

Saturday I went to the Natural History Museum, which is the second time I've ever gone to it. And I went to it because last time Dad didn't get to go to it. Then after that I walked all the way to the Hofburg and I had a picnic near the entrance that used to be the entrance to the old city.Then I went further into the Hofburg. What I saw there was the head-dress of Moctezuma. Then I went out of the Hofburg and went to an ice cream store. I got an ice cream in a cup that was 1 ft. big and I couldn't eat all the ice cream and fruit because it was too much—and there wasn't a bit of chocolate in it. It was kind of healthy, wasn't it? [Yes, it was.]

Picnic at the Hofburg palace yard.

My ice cream dessert.

*******************************************************************
April 21, 2013
Monday I went shopping in the morning, and in the evening I had dinner at the Picards. For dinner I had a burrito-like thing that was made of rice and water [rice paper wrap]. It was as big as a regular burrito, and I had lots and lots of vegetables in it, and I choked two times on it.
Tuesday I went on a tram because my Mom wanted to go shopping. We took the wrong tram on purpose because Mom wasn't thinking, and when we got off, it was when Mom found out that we got almost lost. Near that stop was a church, the Votivkirche. And then, once we found our way, we got to the store that Mom wanted to go. It was a store that sells only wooden statues and Nativity sets. Mom bought some Nativity set pieces, and then we went home.

In the Votivkirche.

Wednesday I went to the Military History Museum. I saw a real piece of a sunken submarine. (I'm not doing these in order.) I saw tanks, guns, the biggest model of a ship in all of Austria and maybe Europe.  I saw almost all of the Austrian World War II arms, and some World War I arms, but not all. I saw Archduke Franz Ferdinand's car that started World War I.

The car the archduke was in when he was assassinated.

The large model ship.

A mine-sweeper tank.

Cannons with fancy plugs in them.

More cannons.

Tanks. [Edward took these photos.]

Tanks. [Edward took these photos.]

Tanks. [Edward took these photos.]

Tanks. [Edward took these photos.]

Tanks. [Edward took these photos.]

Old cannon with exploding cannonballs. [Edward took these photos.]

Cannon. [Edward took these photos.]

More stuff Tanks. [Edward took these photos.]

Thursday I went to the Lichtenstein Park; I wanted to go home because of all the wasps and bees there. In the afternoon I went to the toy store and got a China Lego pack. [Correction: toy store in the morning, park in the afternoon.]
Friday I went to the Art History Museum [Kunst historisches Museum]. It was actually several museums attached. I saw some of the most famous paintings in the whole world.

The Tower of Babel

Random painting Edward took a picture of.

On Saturday I took an S-bahn to a tiny town right outside of the city Vienna. There I went onto a hill and I saw the Kloisterneuburg Church. And then we came out and we went to a little tour house that was part of the church, and the whole family got audio guides and I didn't want one. And we followed a tour all the way into the church and all through the church. And while we were walking around in the church I got so tired of looking at things that I just gave my audio guide to Dad.

Back at the art museum.

When I got out, Mom took me to the wrong restaurant so we had to go back on the hill [to the right place]. When I got back home we went to the art museum because Dad didn't get to see them.



*******************************************************************************
April 14, 2013
Monday I went to Schönbrunn palace. I walked through the smallest forest in the world (it is actually just a garden).

At the Schönbrunn gardens.

I went and saw a humongous collection of famous paintings.

By the painting I liked.

And once I did the museum, I went somewhere else and got an ice man made of lemon ice cream. It had cream too, but it didn't have a speck of sugar in it.

Edward with his snowman.

Wednesday I went to see the Augarten and saw a glass porcelain factory. I saw how they made figures, cups, bowls, and plates.

At the porcelain museum. They didn't let you take photos in the factory.

Now Thursday I went to the biggest park in Vienna (Prater). I went on a slide half as big as Budapest's escalators (Budapest's escalators go under the Danube) [they are very long].

At a playground in the Prater.

The very long slide in the Prater.

Friday I went to the biggest zoo I ever imagined. I saw the rarest type of tiger in the world, a Siberian tiger, not white of course. I saw pandas, two types. I saw sea lions, wolves, and black jaguars. I went into a room with bats fluttering everywhere. One even touched my mom's head. I saw lots of birds.

At the sea lion feeding.

Animals in the zoo.

Vicuñas and children at the zoo.

Feeding the Arctic wolf pack at the zoo.

The tiger waiting for his lunch.

The jaguars eating their lunch (that's Edward's hand on the glass).

Saturday I went to Salzburg. I saw a castle that was never ever destroyed, not even in WWI or WWII. It is 900 years old and one of the largest castles in Europe. I saw real cannons that were used. I saw WWI guns and I saw swords and other things like that. I saw a castle toilet. It had a lid like on a pot.

In Salzburg, Austria.

Inside the castle.

View from the top of the castle.

Shooting the cannons.

Shooting more cannons.

Inside the castle.

I'm done now.

******************************************************
April 7, 2013
Monday I went to Budapest.

Edward on the train.

I went and saw Buda Castle at night.

Buda Castle at night (right next to our apartment).

Wednesday Dad went to work [he also went to work on other days]. I saw St. Stephan's Basilica (big church). I saw St. Stephan's hand. It is 1,000 or more years old. I went and saw Daddy at his work building at Central European University.

The case of St. Stephan's hand. 

The main altar in St. Stephan's Basilica
(the white statue is a statue of St. Stephan).

Stained glass window in St. Stephan's Basilica.

Thursday I went to a big market and I got two toys. When I came back to Vienna one of the toys was broken somehow.

Edward at a park across the street from the apartment building.

Edward on Castle Hill, pointing to our apartment building.

Edward on the Chain Bride over the Danube River.

Edward took this photo of a green buoy in the Danube.

Edward took this photo of moss with rain on it.

Edward and Lucy on Castle Hill near some of the ruins of the castle.

Friday Dad took a day off work. And Dad, Andrew, and I got to go up to the church in the Buda Castle, Matthias Church. I got to go to the second level on it and see a statue of Empress Elizabeth (Sisi). She was the Queen of Hungary and Empress of Austria.

On Castle Hill, Buda. 

Matthias Church, Buda Castle Hill. 

Matthais Church. 

Looking at our apartment from Castle Hill.

Looking up at the Castle and Church from our apartment.

In the afternoon I got to go to the Parliament Building and I saw St. Stephen's sword and crown and staff and orb [the crown jewels of Hungary].

The Parliament Building at night from our apartment. 

Inside the Parliament Building
(the gold is extremely thin, but there are 87 lbs of gold there).

Inside the Parliament building. 

The main stairs in the Parliament Building.  

The Crown Jewels of Hungary. 

One of the Legislative Chambers in the Parliament Building.

Saturday I went back to Vienna. (That was when my globe broke.) I watched Saturday morning general conference session in the evening. Today I watched the Saturday afternoon session because it was in the middle of the night for me.

***************************************************************************
March 31, 2013
Easter Sunday
[This is a week late because we had Internet problems last Sunday.]

This week my throat filled up with mucous. I went to the Augarten park. Friday was Andrew's birthday. He got two boxes of Legos. I got a pack of Legos also, and I built two things.

Andrew and his birthday cake.

Today is Easter. I got a basket full of chocolate Easter candy.

Edward with the Easter baskets.

A giant egg filled with chocolate candy.

A lamb covered in powdered sugar with a necklace.
[The lamb is made out of cake and we ate it.]

***************************************************************************
March 24, 2013
I went to lots of parks [he went to eight different ones this week, seven of which were within about 10 minutes walking-distance of our apartment].

The small park outside our apartment.

Another park, with Edward on a fun swirly thing.

Edward at a park with "Sasha," a dog some friends were dog-sitting.

I went on a train for the first time.

On a train from Vienna to Graz.

 I went to a museum with Egyptian mummies.

These are mummies of crocodiles and other animals (birds, fish, cats, etc.)

At the Egyptian Museum.

I went to Graz. I saw the biggest collection of armor in the world--the biggest collection of armor!

At the armor museum: swords and shields.

Jagged swords and shields.

Tips of spears (Edward took this photo). 

An armory hall. 

Swords stored in the ceiling. 

Armor with a cross on it. 

Ends of rifles. 

Shelves of pistols. 

Morters. 

Pistols. 

Small cannons. 

Smallest cannons in the world. 

Cannons. 

Scale for weighing armor (bought by weight).

Detail of a cannon.

 I went to a castle on a mountain. It didn't have very many walls.

At the bottom of castle hill in Graz.

On top of the castle hill in Graz.
It was snowing a bit and very cold.

**************************************************************************
March 17, 2013
I went to a robot museum. I played video games. [We left the camera in the locker, so we don't have a photo of this.]
I saw the Secession Building that had a gold dome on top of it. It was the thing I wanted to see the most.

This was Edward when he saw the building in the distance.

This is the gold dome. This really was the only thing he wanted to see in Vienna.

After we saw the Secession Building (an art museum that we didn't enter),
Edward said we could now leave Vienna. He was done.

I saw a museum with lots of sculptures and a little bit of crystal cups. I saw a few automatons. [This was the Art History Museum.] I also went to the Natural History Museum.

Edward with a marble ball at the Natural History Museum.

If you pumped the handle up and down, it would move the lava up
and then the volcano would explode.

Each child had a turn. 

In the Natural History Museum.

Edward found his beloved Komodo Dragon. He was thrilled.

They were also excited by things like that huge gold nugget.

I went to two parks. They were fun. One of the parks was new.


*************************************************************************
March 10, 2013

I went to the Hofburg Palace. I saw one of the biggest collections of armor in the world.

Edward and Lucy with some of the armor.

Edward at the Arms and Armor Museum at the Hofburg.

Edward at the Hofburg, standing inside one of the Guard Houses.

I went to two new playgrounds. [We forgot to take the camera, but we will get some photos this next week.] I played with new friends from Church.

I saw lots and lots of jewels.

The Imperial Crown with the children behind.

*******************************************************************************

March 3, 2013

I our apartment. I am holding an Austrian flag.

Here I am climbing the 342 steps in St. Stephan's church in Vienna.

I went to Vienna. I saw a church. I went up a tall steeple in the church.