Glögger: Time to teach Jon the Viennese Waltz

For one glorious weekend, Jon and I slept past 7am, stayed out past 7pm and drank beer with every lunch and dinner. We indulged in too much pastry, ice cream, alcohol and fried foods. It was a perfect weekend in Vienna.

Dave and Joann took care of baby C while Jon and I snuck away for a brief respite. It was the first time I had ever spent more than 12 hours away from him and instead of being really sad, I was thrilled. We really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and enjoy ourselves as a couple.

For the trip, Jon put me in charge of finding things to do. Fortunately, it did not matter that I did absolutely no research on the city before we landed. Vienna has the most beautiful buildings around every corner and tons of lush green gardens and trees. All we really needed was a map and good walking shoes. Done and done!

I wanted to see the old ferris wheel at the Prater that looks very Wellsian. It was built in 1897 and still moans and creaks like it was built in 1897. Apparently only half of the gondolas/caboose thingies were rebuilt after it was damaged in WWII. Two of the gondolas were dining cars and all of them had the most amazing views of the lush blooming trees in the park beneath the wheel.

Wiener Riesenrad ferris wheel

Views from atop the ferris wheel

inside the ferris wheel

We looked out across the city and saw these swings whipping through the stratosphere at amazing speeds. I think there was even faint screaming off in the distance. Jon looks at me with wide eyes and says, "Are those the swings from that bucket list email?" A few months ago, we had received one of those long emails from my Aunt that has pictures of all of the most amazing places in the world. At the top of the list was the Vienna Unchained Carousel -- or in other words -- this ridiculously high carousel of swings that will induce nausea upon sight. Jon asked me if I was up to the challenge. Umm...you can't pass up a chance to fulfill someone's email bucket list, right? I mean, if these swings are so awesome, then we definitely need to check them out! And yes, I thought about what would happen to Calvin if we died...don't worry. Our families know what to do, blah blah blah. LIVE LIFE PEOPLE!

Just got off the tallest swings in the world

Terrifying!

The ferris wheel/unchained carousel was amazing. It was terrifying, thrilling and fun. Note: if you have flip flops or flats on, take them off before you go up. My shoes would have flown off in a heartbeat and probably killed someone. The swings rise up to about 400 ft and they start whipping at a ridiculously fast rate. I was so paralyzed with fear that I couldn't look up or down. Did I mention I was afraid of heights? Sometimes you just have to do things regardless if you are scared. It was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. One woman actually took a video of herself on the swings (which they explicitly say not to do) and her experience was pretty much like ours. At one point, she is screaming, "This is terrible" but laughing the entire time. Our ride was at 10pm so it was pitch black and the lights were beautiful. If only I had the guts to look down...

We finished off our first night with a big beer in the Bier Garden. Guys were tapping their Jaegermeister mini bottles and shouting at each other in German. The entire night was raucous and rowdy. Jon took a shot before we left just so they could do their glass tapping and yell at him. What a night!

Bier garden

The next day we slept until 7:02am which is a new record for us since Calvin was born. And yes, I know how pathetic that sounds but believe me, we call that "sleeping in." We headed in the general direction of the heart of Vienna and just let our curiosities determine what streets to walk down. I did absolutely no homework so every time Jon asked me about the name of each impressive building we saw, I just shrugged my shoulders and looked in the guide book. I'm not even sure if these captions are correct! Hah!

In front of the royal palace

This baby cupid butt made me miss Calvin a little bit

We meandered through the city and just wandered from one beautiful street to the next. I thought people were exaggerating when they said that Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. They weren't.