Mom came to visit Vienna and I enjoyed spending time with her, as they say time flies when you’re having fun. Though by the end of the visit I was exhausted, juggling the sightseeing with Mom, working my day job and getting in enough exercise. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m so lucky to be able to share so many wonderful experiences with my Mom.
The first few days Mom was here were HOT, HOT, HOT! Even so we managed to visit some interesting sights. We took the hop on hop off tour to avoid long lines and long walks. We got up early most days and were able to spend the mornings and early afternoons together.
The first place we visited was Belvedere. There were 2 large buildings, upper and lower with gardens in between. I suggested it as they have many Gustav Klimt paintings. I had seen a few posters while walking around Vienna and had taken a shine to them. It was great to then see the paintings in person.
Mom and I ended up being the perfect museum partners. We moved at about the speed and chatted about what we liked and didn’t like. It’s also great to have someone to share a sweet with when taking a break. In this case we shared a slice of raspberry poppyseed cake. It was absolutely delicious.
In the lower museum we almost missed the most interesting paintings. We saw it after walking through the gift shop. Just like everywhere else, the museums always leave you in the gift shop at the end.
Mom, Kuah and I all decided to take a trip to Melk one day. It was Kuah’s idea and it ended up being perfect. We took an hour train ride to Melk. We got lucky and ended up with 4 seats facing each other so we could chat and eat breakfast during the ride. Kuah had picked up several pretzels, butter & chive, poppy seed and sesame seed from Pretzel Koenig.
We arrived in Melk and had a walk up some steep steps to get to the abby. Then we walked around the abby and learned about it’s history. The scenery was gorgeous. The chapel in the abby was the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. It was full of intricate carvings and paintings. It was mostly in wood and gold.
From the abbey we took a boat to another small town where we had dinner. At that point we had pooped Mom out so we headed back to the train for an hour ride to Vienna.
It turns out that we had picked the perfect day to go to on our day trip. The weather was absolutely beautiful in Melk but in Vienna it was a bit cold and raining. So glad we chose this day to go to Melk.
On Saturday evening we got to go to the Vienna Opera House to see the Vienna Mozart Orchestra perform. The opera house was stunning. Kuah and I had booked the tickets early so we were able to get the front 3 seats in a box. It was lots of fun to sit in a box. As we looked around there were lots of people in the standing room only section so I felt doubly lucky.
The music was good and everyone was in costume. You could tell a lot of the women as they were wearing heels with their costumes. It has cooled down by the time we went to the opera. I imagine it was miserable when the weather was in the 90’s, especially for the performers in costume.
We shared many delicious meals together. It stared off on the first morning when we went to Cafe Central for Viennese Iced Coffee and breakfast. Mom also got to enjoy pork and dumplings with sauerkraut, pirogies, goulash and loads of sweets.
One day we even ate in a barrel in a restaurant. Towards the end of the trip we took her to our favorite restaurant, Glacis Beisl. She liked it so much she decided we would have lunch there again the next day.
We also got to tour a few of the palaces and learn about the history of the rulers of Austria. Although the palaces were huge we only saw a small part of them. It was fun to walk through and see how people of different times lived. It also makes me happy to live in the present.
On the final day we got some shopping in. Mom picked up a few gifts and I was very happy that she found a pair of earrings for herself. All in all it was a wonderful trip. We visited a lot of sights, ate great food and most importantly got to spend a lot of time together.
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