The Snells: Vienna & Budapest

It's hard to believe that it's already been a few weeks since we got back from our vacation. So, I figured I should write about our trip before we get on our next airplane, in just over a week, to go back to the States for Christmas! We left Saudi late on a Thursday night (unfortunately pretty much all flights out of Saudi leave around midnight, which makes for a tough travel day). By the time we arrived at our air B&B on Friday, we were pretty tired, so we rested up a bit before going out for the night. We decided to go check out the World's tallest Ferris Wheel from 1920 to 1985. The Wiener Riesenrad is in a large park with lots of other amusement rides, but it gives great views of the city! And it was especially pretty to see at night! Each car had a large bench in the middle and could hold roughly 20 people. After riding the 30 minutes it takes to go all the way around, we decided to go find something to eat, and then called it a night.

The Ferris Wheel

On Saturday, we decided to see several of the historical sights in the city. We went to St. Stephens Cathedral, which was a beautiful church. We then went to the Hofburg Palace grounds, which was where the royal family lived in the city. We toured the Austrian National Library, as well as the Imperial Treasury. Both were extremely impressive. The library had books dating back to the 14th century, and had over 2.5 million books! It was absolutely stunning! The treasury was equally as impressive, with many treasures from the Holy Roman Empire as well as the Austrian crown jewels. It also had several relics from the Roman Empire. We then walked to the Rathaus and the Parliament building, which was unfortunately (or fortunately for me and the kids :) ) closed due to renovation. So we just walked around and looked at them from the outside. By the time we were done with that, it was time to find some supper. So we found a traditional Austrian restaurant, where we got wiener schnitzel and some delicious beer!

Inside St. Stephen's Cathedral

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Enjoying the cooler weather!

Soren found Pinocchio!

Inside the Austrian National Library

Beautiful paintings and walls of books!

Part of the Hofburg Palace grounds

On Sunday, we took the train out to the Schonbrunn Palace grounds, which is where the royal family had their vacation palace as well as the site for the world's oldest zoo. We took a tour of the palace, which was much grander than we were expecting. I would venture to say it came close to Versailles. They had some fun mazes for the kids to do in the gardens and then we went to the zoo. The kids had fun seeing all the animals! After the zoo, we climbed to the top of the hill to see the Glorietta, which looks out over all the palace grounds. After spending the day out there, we headed back to find some supper. Again, we enjoyed some traditional Austrian food!

Schonbrunn Palace

The Glorietta is on top of the hill in the distance

The other side of the palace

Daddy helping Elsa with the different obstacles in the maze

Soren liked finding all the metal animals in the zoo!

The pandas!

Enjoying a delicious pretzel while watching the Lemur

Lining up with the penguins!

A view from the top of the zoo!

A view of the palace from the Glorietta

Schonbrunn Palace

Wiener Schnitzel and beer!!!

The next morning, we took a train to Budapest. It was about a 2 1/2 hour journey that took us through some very pretty countryside! Once we got to Budapest, we were greeted by our very good friends who are expats living in Budapest. We spent time just hanging out at their house for the remainder of the afternoon. On Tuesday, we decided to explore the Buda Castle grounds, which is set atop a hill right on the Danube and offers wonderful views of the Pest side. We first went into Mathias church, which was constructed back in the 14th century. The roof is unique in that it is made of individual brightly colored tiles. The inside was covered in beautiful mosaics that must have taken an enormous amount of time to create. We then walked around and explored more of the castle grounds, taking in the beautiful views!

Mathias Church

The mosaics inside the church

The beautiful views of the Danube and Parliament on the Pest side

Exhausted kiddos!


Parliament on the Pest side

Wednesday brought cooler temperatures and rain, but that didn't keep us away! We decided to explore the Pest side, starting off with St. Stephens Basilica. It is named after Stephen, the first king of Hungary, whose supposed right hand is housed inside the Basilica. We were able to "see" the hand, although it was quite difficult to see as we weren't able to get up too close. We also went up to the top of the dome and saw some awesome views of the city! After the Basilica, Katelyn and I decided to take the kids home because it was pretty chilly. Ryan and Clark went on to get a tour of Parliament as well as the Hungarian National Museum. As the third largest parliament building in the world, the guys were quite impressed at what they saw!

My flannel twin!

St. Stephens Basilica

View of the city from the top of St. Stephens Basilica

My goof ball!

Kjerstin didn't really like her hat!

We found a playground!!!

On Thursday, Katelyn, Kjerstin, and I went up to Szentendre, a small town just north of Budapest. It was such a cute town with streets of cobblestone and small shops lined on each side. The shops were filled with beautiful Hungarian pottery, Christmas ornaments and decorations, and so much more! We walked in and out of shops, and then enjoyed some delicious Hungarian food for lunch. We ordered langos, which is fried dough topped with sour cream, garlic butter, and cheese. Although it sounds kind of weird, it was absolutely to die for! We also enjoyed Hungarian goulash, which was also really tasty! That night, Ryan and I got to go on a date, and our friends recommended a langos restaurant on Andrassy boulevard, a cute street with lots of restaurants. We ordered goulash and langos, so Ryan got to try both! Yes, I had langos and goulash for lunch and dinner and it was awesome!

Hungarian goulash...made delicious by the one and only PAPRIKA!

Langos, with some non-traditional toppings!

Parliament at night.

Friday was probably my favorite day of our whole vacation because we got to go to the Budapest CHRISTMAS MARKET!!! When we were first planning our trip, we didn't think the markets would be open in time, but come to our surprise, they opened the day before we left. And they were absolutely magical! The smells of Christmas food, the beautiful decorations, and all the hand crafted items were just so much fun! The kids enjoyed trying chimney cake, Ryan enjoyed mulled wine, and I enjoyed some concoction of potatoes and sausage and sour cream. So yummy! After soaking in our time at the Christmas market, we went back up to the castle grounds to explore the labyrinth. The labyrinth is a system of caves and tunnels, which once imprisoned Count Dracula (yes there was a real Count Dracula who actually lived....not just the purple guy on Sesame Street). After going through the labyrinth, Clark and Ryan took the big kids to the pinball museum. It was a big arcade that had over 130 pinball machines from all different years! Everyone had fun!! It was a wonderful vacation filled with delicious food, beautiful sights, great memories, and the best of friends!!!