Christmas Vacation part I: Skating, Schönbrunn & Schnitzel in Vienna

As Christmas neared, we still had visions of gleeful bicycle rides in Copenhagen dancing in our heads and weren’t sure we should plan another trip so soon after our impromptu Danish adventure. But with some gloom about not being able to see family over Christmas, and knowing that Tim and the boys had rare days off work/school at the same time we decided to go for it. When deciding where to go, we were looking for beautiful city that could still have a Christmas-y vibe, and also possibly be able to ski. We sifted through flights and options before landing on Vienna > Semmering > Prague. Here’s a recap from our first stop, exquisite Vienna.

We arrived on December 26, ready to hit the town running after an early morning flight and a relaxed few days at home celebrating Christmas. We landed, however, to a fairly quiet city because Dec. 26 is St. Stephen’s Day and a public holiday celebrated widely in Austria. After dropping our bags at the hotel, it was clear our finding food should be our top priority. We found a place to get some sausages, schnitzel and beer for mom & dad. We were powered up.

We continued on to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna and the Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna. The church was built beginning in 1137 and completed in 1160, with ongoing reconstruction after fires and expansion lasted until 1511. It was also undergoing renovations while we were there (complete with Coca Cola advertisements covering the scaffolding, ugh).

We decided to climb the stairs of the South Tower – all 343 steps up a very narrow, often dark, winding staircase. (I sometimes have a moment of déjà vu during these climbs, because I have climbed narrow, tight, winding stairs of old buildings, cathedrals and castles more than ever imagined I might. Like our fun “hikes!” I reckon this is something the boys will eventually push back on, ha.) Bennett was nervous the whole time, noting that he is not a fan of heights while we kept reassuring him. He was relieved when he got to the top, since it was an enclosed room at the top of the tower with windows.

The cathedral is in a central part of the city, so each window provided a spectacular view over a different part of the city, from the Danube Tower to the Rathaus city hall, to the markets and streets below. We looked out each window a few times, putting some Euros in little viewfinders and taking in the view before heading back down. There were many moments of sucking and squeezing in everything we had to pass by other people, or wait until you could tuck into a corner. (Does anyone else think its difficult to teach your own children to be polite or wait, when so many adults seem incapable of doing the same?) We were relieved to be down, though the trip up was worth it.

We had promised the boys that if they made the climb, we would get them a treat. We browsed the Christmas market in the church square in search of goodies and hot chocolate. We failed on the hot chocolate, but got our keepsake red boot mug filled with some warm apple-ish cider that the boys promptly handed to us after they tasted it.

Without much of a plan, we wandered the streets of Vienna. We were in awe of how elegant everything seemed –  clean streets, manicured gardens, grand buildings and an overall feeling of fanciness. Vienna is of course known for its culture, art, museums and classical music. If we had more time or if we didn’t have the boys with us, I’m sure we would have explored more of that side of the city, but we were content to just wander under the twinkling lights of the hanging chandeliers and peek into store windows.

Eventually we came to our destination, the Christkindlmarkt at the Rathausplatz, in front of the Vienna City Hall (Wiener Rathaus). There were a few rides for the boys, lots of stalls still peddling Christmas gear and food and drinks galore.

After we got some food, we walked over to the main event – a large ice skating area, complete with a kiddie area, a track with mini hills and a larger open rink. We hemmed and hawed for a bit whether we should do it as none of us are exactly ice skating champions, and it wasn’t cheap. Tim finally said, “We’re here and we should do it!” so we began the tedious process of renting skates, converting our shoe sizes to European sizes, waiting in various lines to get different skates when we had converted wrong, etc. Finally, we were laced up and ready.

We cautiously stepped out onto the ice, as skaters whizzed by us. We were glued to the wall, carefully inching forward. There were many spills. Nate and Tim headed out to the kiddie area where finding a free skate-assist-penguin-with-handles was like finding gold. Bennett and I stayed on the track, slowly gaining a bit more confidence, which was knocked out of me rather quickly (by a wall).

We all met up in the larger rink again, doing our best to steady ourselves and make some unassisted laps. The setting was beautiful – sparkling Christmas lights and stands with the grand city hall standing above us. I took a moment to take in the atmosphere, and rest.

After a couple of hours, we were ready to call it a night. One plus of Vienna is the public transportation system – from trams to trains, they are easy to ride and your ticket lasts all day, making it easy to navigate the city. (One “con” of Vienna could be that you have to pay to use any public restrooms, which can be annoying when you don’t have the proper change. However, the cleanliness of the monitored bathrooms moves this back to the “pro” list for me.)

We began the next day with our proper hotel breakfast and then headed to Schönbrunn Palace and grounds. Tim waited in line to buy tickets for an audio tour, while the boys played a game of “got your shadow” in the large entrance court of the palace. The palace is massive with 1,441 rooms in total and the surrounding grounds cover about 450 acres. The palace was the main summer residence of Austrian monarchs/emperors – the large outdoor area at one time filled with animals brought in for hunting and recreation purposes. The palace also served as British offices during and after WWII, and now is the most popular tourist attraction in Vienna.

Our tour wasn’t until 1:30, so we started by exploring the grounds (backyard feels wholly wrong as a descriptor), up to a pond and water feature, then walked up a hill to the Gloriette, a building surrounded by large pillars overlooking the gardens of the palace, with views that span across Vienna. Most of the acres of pristinely-planted gardens were without flowers because winter, but I imagine the effect is stunning when in bloom.

The boys ran and enjoyed the fresh air and we ended back up in the New Year’s market (seemed about the same as a Christmas market) market in front of the palace to grab some fresh pretzels and hearty goulash in a bread bowl that we all devoured. We lined up for our tour – we chose the shorter version of the audio tour which was nice we could go at our pace. We were stuck behind a larger tour group at one point, and the steady stream of visitors was a little overwhelming. However, we enjoyed our look of some of the palace rooms, from the Emperor’s Study to the Salon of the Empress, and the “informal” where the family ate or the children played. The boys especially thought the bathrooms were cool, of course.

After our tour, the boys really wanted to go to the zoo (yep, there’s an entire zoo on the grounds) while I said I was going to check out the Palm and Desert House. I knew these were supposed to be pretty and interesting buildings, so they headed in their direction and I entered the Palm House. Then, I eyed the entrance fee for that, and saw that it would also cost me another fee to go into the Desert House. I decided I just wasn’t that into plants of the tropical or desert variety, so I walked for a bit and met up with the boys once they were done. Vienna is beautiful, but that beauty comes at a price.

It was now late afternoon and Tim was focused on going to get our rental car so we could have it ready for an early start to the next morning. Nate was tired and decided to go back with him and chill at the hotel once they got the car. Bennett, however, had been doing a little research on Vienna and on his list was Prater Park, which in his mind was going to be exactly like Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

So he and I parted with Tim and Nate, took another train to Prater, navigating our way there. He was excited but as we were walking up, we could see a lot of the rides were dark. I never quite figured out why this was; my question to a man working a ride didn’t get answered. It looked like ride operators were perhaps individual owners who could decide to shut if they wanted? I’m not sure if it was the time of day or time of year, but probably could have known this if I had done more research ahead of time.

He desperately wanted to ride a big rollercoaster but was shot down because he was too young. The same with his second choice, a tilt-a-whirl ride. He was starting to get frustrated, but finally found some rides he could go on. Begrudgingly, but wanting him to have fun, I volunteered to go with him. I can do roller coasters, but spinning is usually where I draw the line.

This one was an indoor ride that spun you silly while a laser light show flashed furiously at you. It was hell for me and a dream for Bennett. I closed my eyes and prayed for it to be over, and when it was I wobbled outside and asked Bennett for a few minutes to steady myself as he beamed. We did a few more rides and he ended on the bumper cars, we both rejected the long line to the ferris wheel, grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back to the train station. The experience had its highs and lows, but I reminded him how cool it was that we figured out how to get there, we tried as many rides as we could, and we made the most of it.

We met back up with Tim and Nate at the hotel and walked to a restaurant for a traditional Viennese meal featuring schnitzel and goulash (not the version I grew up eating…though that’s good too, Mom). Stuffed, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for our next stop. Two days wasn’t long to spend in the city, but it was an excellent starting point for our trip.