There's nothing like packing in a couple of cities before Christmas and since Budapest is close to Vienna we stopped there for two days and a night on our way home.
We arrived in Vienna for an early lunch at the park before visiting the city centre. Today our mission was to look around St Stephens Cathedral and find the Mozart statue. We found the cathedral easily and after a couple of wrong turns also found the Mozart statue. From here we found more Christmas markets in Vienna Old Town and the Parliament buildings. After negotiating with a horse carriage driver, we also took an early evening ride through Old Town as a memorable moment for the little kids.
Day two in Vienna was another packed day. Taylor took Leo, Liam and Riley to the Military Museum (under 18's free) while we did a spot of Christmas shopping in the city. Liam liked the suits of armour, tanks and guns.
We picked the kids up from the Museum and headed to the Schonbrunn Palace. It was pretty windy and cold so it was nice to do an inside tour of the Palace and learn about some of Vienna's royal history. It was surprising how much they loved and adored Princess Sissi (Elizabeth), Riley liked the palace and learning about Sissi. It was also good to learn that her daughter was Marie Antoinette, we had previously learned about her from our visit to Versailles last year.
As the sun began to disappear we managed to have walk around the gardens. Unfortunately the Neptune fountain was turned off for winter but we did get to see a lovely sunset at Gloriette. With a four hour drive to get home and darkness already set in, it was time to leave Vienna and get ready for Christmas.
