Showing posts with label Vienna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vienna. Show all posts

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).

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!