Countdown is on...

and I'm not talking about Christmas (although that is around the corner too).   We'll be in Vienna in less than a month and I can hardly contain my excitement!  And, while it has been hard saying good-bye to our friends, I know we'll be back next fall so it's really not that long.

I am certainly bummed though that we will be missing out of one of Europe's greatest traditions - the Christmas Market.  We will be arriving right at the New Year so it'll be over, but the thought of a fabled Christmas market where you can exchange chain stores for cozy wooden chalets, Christmas music for angelic choirs and consumer frenzy for down to earth local holiday cheer makes me sad.  Just a different experience that I would love for my son to see.

In the meantime, I'm in a mad rush to finish Christmas shopping...thank God for online stores!

Gruss Gott Weeks 4 & 5

I'm a little behind on our Vienna posts.  The past three weeks we've been battling a nasty virus that has run its course through each one of our family members (poor Luke even got it twice).  We're finally starting to feel normal again.  Today, we made it to Vienna's Eistraum, the outdoor skating rink that winds through Wien's Rathaus (City Hall) platz. The rink is a kilometer long!  Luke had so much fun skating.  It was great!!

Am Rathaus

Drinking Gluhwein! Yum! :)

Luke and Mr. Penguin (Kiddie Rink)

Luke & Daddy! 

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

A Visit to Kartell

On my way to meet my husband for lunch last week, I passed by the Kartell design store here in Vienna.  The Mademoiselle Chair caught my eye...

upholstered in a leopard print silk fabric (a collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana).   Very luxurious!  

And, here it is in the pink floral upholstered fabric.  This is so much fun and I always have had a soft spot for this one!

These optic like tables caught my eye, too!  These would be fun to add as an accent table in a more traditional space to liven things up a bit.  Or as a stool pulled up to a vanity table!

And, one day I would like to own a ghost chair - a trend that  has been popular for a long time.  I would love to throw a leopard print pillow on it to warm it up a bit!!  How about you - which piece is your favorite?

Gruss Gott! Week Three.

I cannot believe we've been here 3 weeks already.  It still seems like we just got here.  This week we were catching up from last week of having visitors.  This week I had a chance to i) join the Vienna babies club (a club where english speaking mothers get together), ii) take kids to the doctor, iii) invite some friends over for dinner (while the kids slept soundly in their bed) and iv) go out to lunch with my husband! A great week all in all even though, little E has caught a bug and is pretty sick. :(

A beautiful florist shop on the way to meet my husband for lunch.  I love boxwoods.  Makes me excited for spring!

Simple pink tulips I picked up at the market.

Looking out our living room window.  I feel like I am constantly being watched!

You can never get tired of the inspiration that exists from all the architecture.  I hope to post more of this during our stay here - I just NEED to remember my camera every time I go out.

Gruss Gott! Week Two.

Sorry for the delayed post.  We had family visit us this past week.  We've only been here two weeks and we were so fortunate to have my brother, my sister in law and my two nephews visit us from Belgium.  My brother, who is in the US Army and working with NATO in Brussels, Belgium had the opportunity to attend a military ball at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna (about 1/2 mile from our apartment).  Ordinarily, he wouldn't have volunteered to come, but with us in town, he piggy-backed a vacation.  So, on Friday night, we got to babysit 4 kids (all under the age of five) while my brother and sister-in-law went to a boring old ball! :)

Aren't they a cute couple?  

Aren't those chandeliers gorgeous??  They look like they are floating in mid air.  Yeah, it does look pretty boring.  I'm glad Kevin and I stayed home with these little monsters. :)

For their last night in town, we cooked a traditional Austrian dinner of Stelze (Schweinshaxe) and sauerkraut paired with weizenbier and rot wein.

Before:

After:

Ohhhhh, the carnage!!

J and C, thanks for the wonderful visit.  We'll get you back when we leave the kids with you and go to Paris in the summer! :)

Gruss Gott! Week One.

So, we made it one week in Vienna.  Well, actually a week and a half.  So far, so good.  What I love about our apartment is the location.  We are central to what seems like everything.  This is the cafe you see when you walk out of our building.

So far, my favorite thing to do is to go to the Naschmarkt (1 block from our apartment) and enjoy all the fresh food.  It is incredible. It certainly is a luxury to have fresh food daily - cheeses, wurst, bread, vegetables, pastries, etc.  Here are some pictures I took yesterday.

They also have fresh flowers daily.  

You can tell the Europeans are used to eating fresh foods daily as their refrigerators are so small.  There is no room to store or freeze much of anything.

Luke completed 3 half days of his new Viennesse Montessori school.  I am so proud of him.  From what I can tell (at this early stage), the kindergarden school system is very different from the American.  And, I can't get over how much smaller everything is here - especially the school class rooms and the playground (which they call 'garden').  It makes you really appreciate 'space'.

Elizabeth is faring well, but I am trying really hard to get her into a fixed sleeping schedule.  Once I can do that, my daily routine will be easier and more predictable.  So, for the time being, I am a bit limited with my outings around the city.  I'm sticking to a radius of about half a mile.

This past week we've been focusing on just getting settled and getting some of the bureaucratic things done  which always is a bit slower here in Europe.  With this behind us and Elizabeth schedule more regular, I am hoping to venture out to explore more of the city - especially the innerstadt, flea markets and the many furniture and antique stores (which seem to be everywhere).