Vienna 2025: Cool, cool summer

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How different this summer is to our previous ones! 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021... while there were a few rare cooler days in some of those years (though not a single one last year) it was generally stifling, 30+ degrees every day, we've had balmy mid-20's almost the entire time now. The first week was hot, but it has since cooled down and this has enabled us to do lots of things we just couldn't face in the heat of previous years!

Museums

On the weekend, we visited the Vienna City Museum and learned about the city's roots in antiquity, as well as noting quite a few artefacts I remember from my own youth - such as the metal whale, which had been outside a well known restaurant called 'The Whalefish' when I was a kid... I remember finding it quite fascinating, and my kids did too, seeing it in the museum!






The next day, we visited Schönbrunn Palace - not the main Palace part, which I thought would be too dry for the kids, but the children's museum and labyrinth. Dressing up was much enjoyed, and it was interesting seeing their reactions to how princes and princesses would have lived at that time: D wasn't sure about learning to fight, as boys would have done, and N thought sewing would be rather boring.









Finally, we decided to have a look at the 'Gaming Museum' where we ended up spending four hours! I was really taken back to my misspent youth there.... Tetris, Gameboys (Dr. Mario!), Bubble Shooters, and I even Tric-O-Tronics which I hadn't even thought about in 30-odd years. My goodness I'm old.

A very early football game had her attention for a while



At the Water

We didn't avoid the water entirely: while it's not stifling hot, it is still balmy and that actually meant less crowded prime spots. There was also a 'nature detectives' session where the kids got to catch various water creatures and examine them.

Up close & personal with the swans - but only because this man helped D find his confidence to do this!




Torrential rain, but warm - he loved it!


Outdoor Exploits

We spent quite a bit of time at playgrounds, and went on a walk through the Vienna vineyards (it's the only city in Europe that has vineyards within city limits) with my aunt and my sister's dog. Got caught in torrential rain again halfway through, but not before we found the most ginormous spider ever!









The Military

Finally, our by-now annual special kids day with the military happened in beautiful sunshine but manageable temperatures. A perfect day for it, and much fun was had.











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