look Dad! The Lipizzanar horses!

The famous white stallions are out of Vienna, enjoying their well-earned summer break!
BUT "up & coming" stars from the Lipizzaner Stud Piber will be visiting Vienna & I want to go watch them! This program says the foals will be on display, romping & fighting, with their moms there & pulling historical carriages. Sounds interesting... and eh, 10Euro for standing room.. but it might be worth seeing!

Spanish Riding School:




Lipizzanar Museum

Hofburg... wondering around the palace

Monument to Maria-Theresia

My second favorite building in Vienna!! The "Neue Burg" in the Hofbug
I read "its balcony holds famous distinction:"
"...it was from here that Hitler addressed a rally during his triumphant 1938 visit to Vienna after the Anschluss."

Mozart Park... by day the park we hung out in on one of my first nights in Vienna... it's right behind the Neue Burg & very relaxing.. & somehow smells comforting. like old books!

Map of the Hofburg, Imperial Palaces

"Keine trink wasser!"
now, doesn't it make sense that it means "Don't drink the water" ?

view into platz looking at Monument to Emperor Franz

statue outside the Hofburg by Michaeler-platz

Burgkapelle

inside it.. so pretty!

Albertina Museum & observations

I love this one! the patina color is perfect!

horse-drawn carriages

grr Mozart! No.. I will not speak to you in German, French, Italian, Spanish or even English!

On the balcony of the Albertina

Stephansdom & around...

Australian pub.. in Austria!
"No kangaroos in Austria!"

....pretty spinny ring thing


I'm not sure what this memorial is for...


Stephansdom in the light

Stephansdom
little church I found


Beverly Hills!!
I love Scotch!


interesting building.. ending my walk in Schwedenplatz

21st District / Donaufelder / "In the ghettttooo"

No pooping, dogs!

bar/cafe attached to the first building of our complex

Donaufelder from across the street


Across the street..



Looking towards Kaisermuhlen.. where school is & towards the City Center

mama! I'm sick in Austria!

So I have a little cold.. :( I think it was from hanging out in the park on Friday night when it was chilly & damp & then Saturday night going out to the Donauinselfest and carrying on.. Last night (Monday night) was torture! but (knock on wood) I feel a little better now! I started to feel sick yesterday and I did a lot of walking and exploring to try and fight it off. It just wore me out.. but anyway.. oh! I found the BEST soup ever! it's a like a delicious mix of potato soup & chicken noodle soup. "Kartoffelsuppe mit Pilzen" who knows? who cares? it's delicious!

(above is my cold remedy: an Almdudler, awesome soup & a liter of OJ a day.. oh! and Dayquil.. that should do the trick!)

rainy Sunday.. movie night

Went & saw a movie last night at an international theater in Vienna that has movies in English. The movie we saw was "State of Play," with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck & Rachel McAdams. It was so good! Everyone should go see it! I still really want to see the hangover!

I was hungover.. so I made breakfast!

Ravin and Ravin! Donauinselfest

Last night I went with the MBA kids to the Donauinselfest, the "Danube Island Festival." It is the largest open-air festivals in Europe & it is free!! Danube Island is a long skinny island that was manmade when they redirected the Danube (Donau) & added the canal. Anyway, so this festival is 4.3 km (about 3 miles) long, with 14 stages, over 300 bands perform throughout the course of the 3-day festival. I read that most years they have over 300,000 people attend. Think of the biggest concert you have ever been to outside, plus 4th of July type stuff... booths, food, glow sticks for miles & that's this festival. An American band, Snow Patrol was playing there & that's who we headed to see. We started out with about 15 of us and the crowd was so thick and we walked for about 45 minutes and we got down to only 4 people. So, finally we decided to duck into the nearest stage & watched whoever was playing. It was so packed! I have never been so squished & pushed in all my life! The crowd was so big, we thought maybe it was Snow Patrol.. but no it was "Scooter" & the crowd was going nuts for them. It was some weird techno-DJ with bright blonde hair, buck teeth & old... I kept yelling "who the hell is Scooter?!" It was definitely a cultural-experience... this idiot also did a rendition of "walking in memphis," which he changed to "I'm ravin' and ravin" ..."put on my ravin' shoes & I boarded the plane"
oh! and a friend told me today that there were 15,000 for Snow Patrol.. nuts!







walkway


Pretty drink stand. aw! I love punch! yes! can I just have the whole thing?




Emily & Theresa


view across the Donau

Hit up the Latin-Quarter after the festival.. I finally understood what people were saying!
I was talking to an old guy in Spanish!



Chris & Kevin attempting to salsa... they were holding each other.. ever so gently!