Austria Trip June 13-16, 2011 Graz

So our next stop was Graz, Austria. It is the second largest city in Austria but that is definitely not what made us want to visit it. It's old city is one of the best preserved in all of Austria. It was a city that made you want to walk up every street just to see the different architect and art work.

 If you are stuck in a city with no place for a yard this is definitely a cool idea.

 This is the city hall building.

 Elise wanted to stop and watch every fountain that we came to and usually was not so happy to leave. I think she is part fish.

 This is the staircase up to the remains of a castle. Although the castle was destroyed there is still the original clock and bell towers as well as gardens at the top.

 Elise wanted to climb every stair but we compromised and let her climb a few stairs and then she had to be carried again. Otherwise we would probably still be in Graz. Our little miss independent.

 Looking out over Graz.

 The Clock tower.

 The Bell tower.

 The only part of the castle that remains. They use it to preform plays in.

 I thought this Gazebo was very pretty.

 I think the gardens were one of my favorite things. I love flower gardens with paths and benches throughout.

 This is a man mad island on the Mur River. It was built for a fair and then people liked it so much that is was left. It is kind of a shell like shape that has a walkway connecting it to both sides of the river and it has a cafe in the middle.

 I don't know if Elise liked to watch the water or herself in the glass more.

 We were walking past the cafe and I think Elise all of a sudden realized she could see herself and what she did her image copied. It was very funny.

 Cog trains going up to the castle. The easy way to get to the top, boring.

 The painted house. I knew there was a painted house somewhere that we wanted to try and see but there were so many cool buildings that I was just taking pictures and then when we got back to the hotel I remembered the painted house and thought we had missed it but when we looked through our pictures we had in fact seen it there were just so many cool buildings that it didn't stand out as much as we had thought it would.

 Elise loved riding the city buses. We also just bought a bus pass in Graz instead of trying to use the car, much easier.

 This is actually a cemetery but the building looks really cool.

 These reminded us of the Seven Dwarfs, very cute but a picture of them is much lighter and cheaper.

 Our hotel

Austria Trip June 13-16, 2011 Wien (Vienna)

We spent about a day and a half in Wien. Because of the holiday we were able to wander around Wien especially the rest of Monday with not as many people as usual.

 This is in the city center. Next to the cathedral there are many carriages that will take you around the city for I am sure a pretty penny but we decided that this would be a job that Spencer's dad would enjoy.

 There is the Austria and Swiss symbols on the roof of the cathedral for some reason.

 A small model of the city when there was walls all around it.

 Elise and I had our first ride on a Subway in Wien. You can definitely get turned around trying to get down to the line you need on the right side of the tracks but I was very impressed with how fast you were able to get places and how little wait time we had. There was a subway every 5 minutes. Sooooo easy to get anywhere in the city. We didn't even try to use the car here. We just bought a 24 hr. pass and road the subway. Elise loved it. She wanted to ride the subway but didn't want to just sit so once we were on the subway then she would tell us it was time to get off. She hasn't quite grasped wait time yet.

 The schloss (palace) of Wien.

 This is a courtyard that has four big museums that face each other.

 Elise loved the elephant.

 The Wien opera building

 Spencer and Elise enjoying a chance to watch TV in German. Actually mostly Spencer but Elise must do whatever you are doing so she was being just like daddy.

 The Wiener Riesenrad. It is one of the earliest Ferris Wheels built in 1897. At this time it was the largest in the world with an overall height of 64.75 meters(212.4 ft). It was severly damaged during WWII along with a lot of the city but was rebuilt among the first things rebuilt to boost moral.

 It was very cool to be up where you could look out over Wien. Although Wien is a very big city. I enjoyed visiting but I am glad that I don't have to live there.

 Gardens at Schönbrunn Palace.

 Schönbrunn Palace

Our hotel in Wien.

Austria Trip June 13-16, 2011 Linz

So I know that I am kind of behind but hopefully I can get caught up again today. We are just to busy having fun :). So We got up early and drove so that Elise would sleep most of the way. Our first stop was Linz, Austria at about breakfast time. We went this week because it was a free week from school. Although we hadn't completely remembered that Monday was the holiday but it worked out perfectly because Linz didn't have very many people so we had the place virtually to ourselves. Linz was a fun city to see because it had a lot of the old building architect.

 Our breakfast spot by the river.

 This is the city building. I thought it was kind of a cool design.

Linz is a big city so you can see how deserted the place was. This is the city center.

 An old cathedral. It is definitely the coolest cathedral we have seen so far and it is huge. It is tucked in among to many tall buildings so we couldn't get far enough away to take a picture of the whole thing.

Spencer thought this building looked cool but couldn't quite understand the wasted space just for the sake of the design.