Travel with kids is all about keeping it real. We may not be at home, but that doesn’t mean everything is different from normal. Thus far on our trip, we have probably been to a playground everyday. If we missed a day somewhere, it was offset by the fact that other days we go multiple times! This is simply part of the balance of family travel – we do some activities for the whole family, some for mom & dad, some just for the kids. As it turns out though, there are some awesome playgrounds out there so instead of sitting bored on a bench, we often end up joining in the fun. This is definitely the case in Vienna – among the many things we’ve found over the past 5 days, there have been several amazing playgrounds.
We arrived on Friday morning (Oct 25th) after our overnight train from Italy. Arriving early, we managed to get to the hotel, drop off our bags and head out exploring all by 9:00 am. As you may have guessed, the first stop was a playground, this one in the Prater area of Vienna. Funny enough, so was the second stop – all of 5 minutes after the first stop – this area has lots of of them. I may get parts of this wrong, but from what I can tell, the area known as Prater is Vienna’s version of a central public park, complete with playgrounds, cafes and an amusement park. It’s particularly unique in that it was created for the public by the emperor in the 1766 – now that’s visionary! Being our first day, we also made a point of sampling the local fare so for lunch it was Wiener Schnitzel all around.
Day two we headed to Schonbrunn Palace (think Austrian version of Versailles if not familiar). The palace is simply massive and has a history equally impressive. We managed to experience a solid 5-10% of the grounds, which of course included another awesome playground as well as a labyrinth garden, children’s museum (which was as interesting for adults as for kids) and the zoo – claimed to be the world’s oldest.
Day three we explored the central part of the city, walking through the huge pedestrian area filled with shops from every luxury brand imaginable (and H&M which Lauren pointed out, is not like the others). We followed the pedestrian area to the House of Music (Haus der Musik – German words are so much fun). This was a fantastic museum, with treasure-hunt style info books for the kids so they could search the various rooms for clues to answer puzzles. After the museum, we headed to the Children’s Opera for a 100% German version of Cinderella (we were steeping in culture at this point). So this day was missing a playground stop – must have been the reason our kids were little monsters by the end of the day – too much culture, not enough blowing off steam.
Day four, we took in the Science and Technology museum, moving fast at the “museum” parts and taking our time on the interactive parts. The favourite exhibit was a slide that when the kids were ejected out the bottom, had a big display that indicated their top speed. Naturally, this became a contest to see who could go the fastest. The best part about this contest was that it required them to run back up to the top over & over & over & over & … you get the idea. So science centre-turned-park for the record. Following the museum, we found a perfect Austrian pub for dinner – time for more deep fried food in a cozy spot with a local neighborhood feel.
Next it was day five – tour of the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna. This was a great tour and the kids engaged rather impressively through the tour, asking thoughtful questions about atomic energy, space technologies, how many flags there are (195: 193 member states plus 2 observer states) and other goings on around the complex. To balance out this period of deep thinking, we of course went to… a playground! This one was in a large park behind the UN and turned out to be the crown jewel in Vienna’s playground circuit with several structures large enough for all four of us simultaneously. (I hope to add a picture later).
Next we’re off to Budapest for Halloween (still not sure how they celebrate it but we’ll find out soon). We’ll be there for 2 weeks – time to slow down just a bit to catch our breath before we leave Europe for warmer climates come mid-November.
I wonder how many playgrounds Budapest has?