Austria

So we're back from our 8 day long vacation in Austria.

We spent the first two days in Vienna, a city that always seemed distant and cold to me for some reason or another... Well this trip changed that - I have never seen a more child (and dog!) friendly place before! Everywhere we went, children were welcome and thoroughly tolerated with activities available specifically for them - from bars and pubs to museums and stores. I would have liked to spend a bit more time exploring museums and galleries and maybe even getting some "quality" music time, but such is life...

It was wonderful being with my brother's family as well, and despite countless times of telling the kids to "stop, wait, come back, get in here, walk, run, stop, go, eat, don't eat, don't touch, be nice, stop hitting each other, I WILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND NOW, no, we're not there yet, go to sleep, wake up, please, PLEASE..." we all had a great time...

Bahar, Sima and Berndt made us feel at home in their delightful hotel, Rothensteiner Apartments... It is an amazingly impressive apart-hotel decorated with antiques and is so close to everywhere in the city. We had a two-bedroom apartment with a living room, nice big kitchen and everything.

After waking up at 4:30AM to catch a 7:30 flight, all the kids could do was play with their DS' at the cafe we went to in Vienna... They're all drinking "apfelzapft" (sp?)

At the zoo... (During a fight and amidst constant complaining as to why Tunca is in the front and why Ali can't climb the lion and how come we have to take the bus back and darn it they want ice cream and yes, they KNOW it's freezing cold!)

We moved on to Gostling/Hochkar for five days where Arda and Ali (my brother's son) learned how to ski. Tunca was really not that interested in skiing - he preferred eating snow (and lollipops while we waited in the bar for his brother to come down from the slopes) and hanging out with Burak (who had a terribly busy week at the LME but was a good sport!) at the hotel.

First ski lesson with Suzi in front of JoSki bar (where we spent LOTS of time)

That's me trying to get Tunca to get up...

3rd lollipop while waiting for Arda...

By the creek in front of Waldesruh - waiting for us to come back from the slopes.

One of the (many) places my SIL crashed into during her skiing experience...

And... Arda is skiing! (Thanks Suzannah, Katrina, David, & Günther)