33 degrees celsius is too hot to be attacked by a butterfly!
June 19, 2024
Today was a hot one and we decided to “take it easy”, although we always say that and end up packing every minute of the day and end up exhausted. While we tried to limit what we did today, the heat made up for it and
Liam just wanted tomatoes!
We slept in a bit so our day officially began by going out for lunch. On the way we stopped to take in the views of the Vienna Opera House. Like every other building here this was another ornate and beautiful place. We stopped into the lobby and admired the beautiful doors before continuing onto lunch.
We went to Glacis Beisl, a very quaint garden restaurant right in the Museum Quarter. So far we have been impressed by the quality of the restaurants even in the most touristy areas and again we are not disappointed. Our waiter was so kind and patient even as Liam just kept stating that he wanted “just tomatoes” for his lunch every time the guy walked by. This was our first Austrian meal that we were pretty blown away by. We ordered a smoked tuna tartare, perogi and dumplings. They were by far the best perogi or dumplings we have ever had!
We then tried to escape the heat by going to Zoom, a children’s museum nearby. This is set up by exhibits/rooms where you get a one hour slot. We picked the Ocean room and got to sit (for at least a few minutes) and watch Liam and the other kids lose their minds fishing and pretending to do all the jobs on the boat. He had a great time!
Burrgarten picnic
We picked up some snacks for a picnic and headed to Burggarten. This garden sits behind the Hofburg and had the classic European park feel with winding paths covered with tall trees and pond and statues throughout. The park was built after Napoleon’s troops withdrew from Vienna and was called the Kaisergarten or Emperor’s Garden, as a place for the royal family to enjoy. However, in 1919 after the fall of the monarchy, many of the streets and locations changed names to get rid of the monarch labels, so the parks name changed to Burrgarten. We found a shady spot to enjoy a picnic and sit under the trees. We saw the Mozart statue with the pretty flowers in the shape of a music note and the Hercules state in the pond. We visited the butterfly garden, which sits along the park in the palace greenhouse. It was a terrible idea to spend an already 90+ degree day in a glass greenhouse, but we made the most of it and enjoyed seeing all the butterflies including one that landed on Chuck’s shoe and stuck with us for a chunk of the visit. Liam also enjoyed using his little camera to take pictures of every butterfly he could.
Butterfly garden
We then walked back through the Hofurg grounds to the Waldviertel, a festival for the nearby region of the same name. They are apparently known for their poppies, as this was the theme for food and handicrafts. We bought a couple pastries, grab a beer and Wien Spritzer and listened to some lively Austrian music. We wish we could have enjoyed this longer, but in case we haven’t mentioned it was a super hot day. Of course this means our next stop was for ice cream which will clearly become a daily activity. We found a gelateria run by Italians and it was the real deal, bickering and all! We ended the day checking out a local restaurant right near the apartment we are staying in. It was more traditional Austrian food and again was so much better than anything like it we’ve had. We enjoyed more dumplings and pork cheek, and of course lots of cabbage and spatzle. The food here is turning out to be better than we were expecting and we are very happy about that.
