It’s a cold, snowy (!), rainy weekend here in Vienna. To be fair, this is our first truly miserable weather since arriving in Europe and I feel like we’ve mostly dodged a springtime bullet.
Honestly, it even feels a bit cozy to hunker down. I saved lots of indoor experiences for such a time as this (Museum of Natural History! Vienna Crime Museum! The aquarium!).
Everyone has stayed healthy in body, if a bit battered in spirit. This week has had some ups and downs in terms of emotions. It’s… a lot for kids. They’re missing friends and routines; all these growing pains are to be expected.The hiccups are part of the process. And, overall, things are going very well.
On that note, I have lots of Happy Things to share this week!
TRAVEL JOURNALS
I thought it was going to be a slog getting the kids to fill out their travel journals, but so far they’ve been shockingly compliant. I think both of them have found it helpful to have a written record of our adventures to jog their memories.
Both kids have been prepping slideshows about our trip (Belle’s has delved into the history of Germany, which is very cool). As I type this, I see Indy’s travel journal open because he was referring to it earlier. I count that as a win.
Here is the exact journal I bought (one for each kid; not an affiliate link); the quality seems good, and I like that there’s an envelope on the back cover to keep ticket stubs, etc.
BLOG FRIEND = MONEY SAVINGS
I have another frugal hack for travel. Have a blog and amazing readers who write in to let you know that because of a train delay, you’re eligible for a partial refund!!
I would never have clued in to this without Sabine and, thanks to her timely advice, we will be getting 50% back on our recent Westbahn tickets which works out to just over $90 CAD.
Yes, please. Thank you SO much, Sabine. What a great piece of advice.
A DAY HOME ALONE
Sunday afternoon John took the kids to the Schönbrunn Zoo (which happens to be the oldest zoo in the world!), and I got my first alone time in two weeks.
It was glorious.
I mostly worked on blog posts, but the silence was golden and I appreciated getting periodic photo updates from their adventures on the other side of the city.
I’ll post a bit more about the zoo in a separate post, but the highlight was definitely the fact they have pandas. Indy has been OBSESSED with pandas for years and this was his first time seeing one with his own two eyes.
Very cool!
OUR AIRBNB
I have loved this little spot. It’s tucked away in a residential area—close to public transit and grocery stores—and the apartment is quiet and bright and spacious and has truly felt like a home away from home.
INCREDIBLE FEMALE ENDURANCE
Here are my goals for when I turn 60.
- Be alive.
- Be somewhere warm with people I love.
- Be sipping a cold drink.
- Take a long afternoon nap.
- Be alive.
Here’s Jenny’s goal for her 60th birthday: RUN 60 MILES.
And that’s exactly what she did; she ran 60.01 miles on her 60th birthday and I. am. in. awe.
Coco ran a 10K in Brazil and came in third out of all women!
San recently ran the Shamrock’n Half Marathon and came 4th out of 115 females in her age category.
Not to be outdone, Catrina, in preparation for her upcoming London Marathon, ran a 30 km race and beat Obertina Kanyongo (a Zimbabwean athlete), to place first in her age category.
I AM IN AWE.
GOOD FOOD
My kids favourite meal is meatballs and rice and I recreated the recipe here. Of course everything’s a bit different in terms of ingredients, but it felt comforting to have something that tasted very similar to a go-to meal from home.
Another day we had charcuterie for lunch and it was so easy and yummy and I need to do this more often.
We tried our first Wiener schnitzel at an authentic Bavarian restaurant!
Yogurt, berries, fiber (a sprinkle of psyllium), and raisins = my go-to dessert/evening snack. I just finished a bowl.
Belle celebrated her 15th birthday yesterday and her requests were: a trip to the mall (we went to two!), pizza for lunch (done!), and a movie night with snacks (currently watching Lord of the Rings, per her request).
BRATISLAVA/SLOVAKIA
We celebrated a unique family travel milestone: Saturday was the first time we all visited a brand new country for the first time together.
Belle, John, and I went to Denmark, Sweden and Iceland together for the first time, but that was before Indy was born. All the other places the kids have gone, John and/or I have already been.
But NONE of us had been to Slovakia and we went on Saturday. It was a great little day trip.
Stay tuned for (lots) more details.
VIENNA AT NIGHT
I love exploring a city after dark. When I was young, my mom and I would visit my grandmother in a small city in New Brunswick. My favourite was when we made the trip at night. We’d arrive via ferry from Nova Scotia and it took my breath away to see the (small!!) city alight at night.
Vienna is that experience on steroids.
Visiting in spring means it gets dark relatively early, so I can see all the beautiful sights AND be back in my bed at a reasonable time. There’s also very little light pollution so the sky looks like someone spilled a bottle of ink.
STUNNING. Pictures can never fully do it justice but this evening was a very special memory for me.
COOL BLOGGERS WALKING CLUB
All the details are in this post, but a friendly (excited) reminder that our little walking club starts NEXT WEDNESDAY.
I’m aiming for at least 10 minutes of intentional movement each day in April and hope you’ll join me/tell a friend!
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- Watching the kids research Beethoven’s life which included listening to all sorts of his music.
- Visiting the Johann Strauss monument + passing by the Danube River a few hours after listening to The Blue Danube.
- Sunshine.
- All my layers!!! Pictured on the aforementioned night of exploring the city after dark; I was so cozy.
- Apparently, one life skill Indy has managed to master is folding clothes. Does he usually take the time to fold them this neatly. Um, no. But for some reason when I gave him clean clothes to put away this week, he decided to approach his folding with great attention to detail and it was delightful!
- We went back to Setagayapark this week; the blossoms are starting and it’s beautiful.
One last blossom picture, this time from Stadtpark.
That’s a wrap from my part of the world this week. Now I want to hear all about your life lately.
- Tell me your recent Happy Things!
- Do you like to explore places at night?
- What’s your go-to comfort meal?
Discover more from The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist
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Panda! I have seen one- Atlanta zoo many years ago. They are so big! They look so n much like their bear relatives that pictures would lead you to believe.
I love zoos but my kids aren’t as interested anymore.
So much happy- glad you’re enjoying so much about Vienna! Even at night! Your layers do you proud.
It is FREEZING here today, and I was so, so, so thankful to have something to cover my ears and hands while out and about.
What a great week. Happy Birthday Belle!!! Booyah to Indy on the clothes folding (even if he never does it again in his life, you have documentation that he did it once).
I know he CAN do it. That doesn’t mean he WILL do it 🙂
Happy birthday Belle!
I have that EXACT travel journal! I find it so important to keep a journal because all the places blur together after a while – even things I think will stick in my memory forever. It’s great to have it to refresh things.
It’s been a great journal for them so far! And I love how often both of them refer to it.
Aw, thanks for the shoutout! Lots of fun things happening in the runner/blogging world lately!
Are you going to Heiligenstadt? I went when I was in Vienna and I remember it was a very moving experience. Beethoven’s life is incredibly tragic.
Happy birthday to Belle!!! Sounds like she found a perfect way to celebrate the day. And… your afternoon alone while the others went to the zoo sounds amazing. You were probably craving alone time by that point- nice that you could make it happen.
We’re staying close to Heiligenstadt, but haven’t gone to the museum yet. It sounds like he had a very troubled life, indeed. His music is incredible, though!
Happy birthday to Belle! It sounds like she had a great day. She’ll certainly remember this birthday for the rest of her life!
My happy moment is being on vacation as of today! It’s nice to get on a flight for a fun trip for a change! Paul is such a delight to travel with. He’s so positive and excited. He sprung out of bed at 5:15 when I woke him up!
Have the BEST time with Paul. It is so much easier to parent one child and Paul sounds like a wonderful travel companion <3
Those night/light photos are incredible! I could look at them all day (they would make a lovely little wall gallery once you’re home).
It was all so picturesque. And there is no light pollution, so it doesn’t feel like nighttime in a big city. I could see stars and the moon at all points which really added to the magic.
Turning 15 in Vienna sounds magical! What a great memory, and how nice that your kids are keeping travel journals. Vienna looks beautiful, both by day and by night. I’m so glad that you’re enjoying so many happy things!
Thanks, Michelle,
It’s a truly beautiful city.
I’m glad to hear Belle and Indy are happy to do their journaling. I’m sure they’ll love to have them to look back on later. I love wandering a city at night, especially when it is dark so early that you can still get to bed at a reasonable hour. The recent achievements of our little group of bloggers have been stellar. I’m feeling a little jealous as I have another virus and missed running this weekend. We did have a wonderful time on Kangaroo Island though.
You were such an inspiration when you quoted from your travel journal <3
Your recap of Kangaroo Island looked amazing.
Happy belated birthday to Belle! I love her wish list for her birthday. Sounds like a great day.
Hooray for getting spring weather! It’s been sunny today and yesterday which is so welcome. Baby M has been struggling my with weight gain and jaundice (turns out he is one of the small percentage of kids for whom delayed cord clamping does bad things, poor guy!). We’re finally on the upswing after two weeks. I kept being told “put him in the sun to help him clear the jaundice” which made me a little nuts because it’s like “Hello. You also live here Dr or Nurse. Have you noticed that it’s not been sunny?!?” LOL. Anyway, my major happy thing is that M’s jaundice is finally cleared, his weight gain is finally good, the cause of his issues has been identified and it’s simply a side effect from delivery, not a long term thing, THANK GOD, and that in all this he’s been well cared for by kind and professional nurses and doctors!
Oh, Maria! What a stressful start to the first few weeks with Baby M. Praise the Lord everything has cleared up now, but I can only imagine all those well visits must have been utterly exhausting and terrifying as things didn’t clear up nearly as quickly as you had hoped.
I hope now you can really settle in and enjoy those newborn snuggles <3
Vienna is such a beautiful and romantic city, so romantic that I feel like fainting, haha. I remember going to music museum and they had piano keyboard as stairs and cool features.
What a great idea to do travel logs. I should get one for myself next time.
March went by so quickly for me and I feel not grounded yet many happy things: finding a new boutique gym that I decided to sign up, the ability to help out a colleague, cooking good food for the family, and obviously surprise podium at the race (thanks for the shout out). April will be another travel month but I’ll see my BFF in Buenos Aires, so super excited.
The travel journals have been a huge hit!
That gym sounds amazing, and your race was so fun to read about (and inspirational).
Turning 15 in Vienna – now, that’s a way to do birthdays right! Happy birthday to your girl!
I might need that travel journal for myself on my next trip. Looks great!
It’s a great little journal; both kids have really enjoyed using it!