When in Wien

Vienna. I didn't know much about this place before we got here. To be honest, I kept getting it confused with Venice in my mind, except that I knew this one was without the canals (I still mix up Austria and Australia too... I was comforted to learn that both names derive from the latin "south" so I'm not too far off). We had 2 full days here, so there's too much to really update... back to point form:

- it was 34 celsius when we got here. My brain shuts down around 30.
- the "air conditioner" in our hotel room is just a noise maker. Nothing more, nothing less. so we headed straight for the closest public swimming pool we could find to cool off.
- next day was Shronbrun (sp?) Palace and Park. I could do without tours of old rooms and art by "famous" artists I've never heard of, but some of the stories of the Imperial Hapsburg members were amusing, and the grounds were very impressive. Acres and acres of incredibly manicured gardens and fountains, with nice views of Vienna. A stroll (at least) through here is definitely a must.
- best part was the labrynth... 2700m2 (a VERY small fraction of the grounds) worth of mazes cut through hedges and trees. The first one looked pretty small and I figured it was going to be lame, er, I mean meant for kids, but 30 minutes later we were still wandering through it ending up back at the entrance every time.
- thunderstorms rolled in that afternoon and it has been raining off and on ever since. I'll take that over 34 degrees and humid anyday though.
- that night we took the subway (we have got to figure out how to build things like this in Canada!) to the Danube River and Donau City area. I highly recommend exploring the sunken city island area, we didn't get there until after dark but it still seemed like a cool area to explore
- our hotel room is an oven. They installed the blinds so as to prevent the windows from opening more than a crack, and even after the rain, it was still cooking hot in here. Fortuantely the water leaking in the through the roof is refreshingly cold. :)
- today was spent exploring the old city. Not as "european" as other cities I've explored, but still very cool, and every so often you stumble across a sight that simply catches you off guard rounding a corner. Personal favorite was the St. Stphen Cathedral and it's south tower... 340-some steps to the top, all in a very tight, spiral staircase that still makes me dizzy just remembering it. Highlight of the day (other than the amazing views) was halfway back down. Behind me Ethan was laughing about how dizzy he was getting and said he felt like he was going to fall... by then I was already wondering how they haven't had problems with people falling or getting injured in there too. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blur of blue as 58 pounds of boy plunged headfirst down the solid stone stairwell. I'm still not really sure what happened, but somehow he landed behind me on his knees and looked up at me laughing. No harm, no foul I guess. He is still laughing about it.

Pics of the aforementioned forthcoming. Tommorrow we head to Prague, which was my destination of choice on this here trip. I've heard great things about it, so expectations are high!