Vienna

After Carcasonne, we stopped back in Antwerp for a few weeks to complete some administrative tasks. While there, the kids went to a Thrillz camp for a week and had a great time doing high climbing, paintball, archery, giant swings, etc.

After camp finished, we drove off to Vienna where we were booked in to attend a one week pop-up worldschooling hub. There were lots of families in the hub and we met a lot of new friends. We were there the week before Easter and there were Easter markets everywhere around town.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the things we did/saw in Vienna:

Treasury

We visited the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg palace. The collection was incredible – the Habsburgs and Austro-Hungarian Empire had a lot of wealth! The crowning item (pun intended) was the crown used to crown the Holy Roman Emperors – it was actually a collection of prior crowns all put together (The crown in the bottom row below). They also had an amazingly huge emerald (pictured below with K) and tons of opals (including a really big one pictured below) and other jewels in the collection.

Schronbrunn Palace

This palace was the summer residence of the Habsburgs and what I like to think of as their response to Versailles. I had been here before years ago but was excited to go back again – it didn’t disappoint. The ticket prices were really expensive, but we decided it was a ‘must-see’ and bought them anyway. I thought it was worth it.

Cathedral and Clock

The cathedral is located in the center of the old town. It is very tall so it’s hard to take good photos of it with the buildings around. Nearby is the Anker Clock (Ankeruhr). At noon, this clock moves through a list of various famous people (e.g. Kings and composers) accompanied by music. (Click on the videos below the photos).

Around Vienna

We also visited a few other churches, the Vienna museum (which was excellent), the parliament and the Rathaus, the Prater amusement park, the Naschmarkt and the Belvedere palace. Here are some photos from around Vienna.

One of the churches we visited was giving a free organ concert on Easter Sunday. Here’s a snippet:

We really enjoyed our week in Vienna – it remains one of my favourite cities in Europe. Next stop: Bratislava.