The week started out with a crash and an "aaaaaahhhhhhhhh". Dane was pushed from a ledge and fell onto a dresser drawer. He cut a gash in his shin. It was about 2 inches long and was as deep as the bone. It didn't bleed, so I had time to get a quick picture of it before Dan took him to the ER. It was our first experience with the ER (well, Dan and Dane had the experience, the rest of us stayed home and wished them luck). Dan called me once on the way to the hospital to ask for the German word for "Emergency Room". They did end up finding it, after asking directions and playing charades with the guy at the door. Dane had 4 stitches put in and a drain. The drain came out on Tuesday and the stitches come out next Thursday, so now we just wait for it to heal.
After that, we ended up having a pretty fun week. They don't celebrate Canada Day or the 4th of July here--no surprises there. So, the kids and I tried to have a little fun anyway. We made suckers to celebrate both holidays (the odd shaped one is supposed to be a maple leaf), and we made some salted caramel suckers too, just because they sounded good--(they were). As for the days, on the 4th, the kids and I went to Schloss Schonbrunn. They have a labyrinth and mazes in the gardens. We went through and tried to get lost. In some parts of the maze, they have little activities for the
kids to do like
a math maze, or climbing a pole (I was the only one to make it to the top), or musical stepping stones. It was a fun time. There were some stepping stones that shot out water as well. The kids had so much fun on those. We spent a lot of time there. Dane almost forgot that he couldn't get his stitches wet. In the gardens, there is an avenue that forms a tunnel of Wisteria. It was all in bloom, smelled wonderfully and was fun to walk through. We hiked to the top of the hill behind the castle and took in the beautiful panoramic view of Vienna. Of course, no trip would be complete without buying ice cream. We returned home and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the pool. (Dane didn't find this very fun.)
We continued with the kids' meals: Deagan made some cookies, Dane omelets, and Dyllan made chili. Hopefully, they will be able to cook a lot of different things before too long. This was the first time that we saw corn on the cob. It tasted so good. Not necessarily because the corn was that good, but because it was nice to be eating corn on the cob, in the summer.
The Danyon update: He is now pulling up on furniture, trying to stand. He stood up on his own, and stayed standing all by himself for a few seconds. He was on a couch when he did it, so there was a cushion behind him, but he is making good progress!
We planned to go to Budapest for the weekend to go to the Aquapark. It is the largest water park in Europe. With Dane's stitches, that plan was out. We decided to keep our reservations in Budapest and go see the city. We have a friend here who is native Hungarian, and knows Budapest very well. He and his wife went with us, and served as our personal tour guides for the whole weekend. We had so much fun. We absolutely LOVE
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| Our flat was 3rd floor corner on right |
Budapest. It is a really cool city. We drove into the city on Friday night. Our friends took us on a drive along the Danube, through the city. My jaw dropped open as we drove along. The city was all lit up and it was absolutely amazing! The bridges across the Danube were lit up as well as all the monuments and buildings. It was incredible. We stayed at an old apartment that had a very fun feel. Dan woke up early Saturday morning and went on a walk. Not far away, he found a market that was absolutely crawling with people at 6:30am! We wouldn't find that at home on a Saturday morning! He bought some pastries that made for a yummy breakfast. Poppy seed is very popular here. They make a thick sludge with them and put them in the pastries, or mix the sludge with fruit. Pretty tasty!
We met up with our friends and started out the day. We went to the Buda Castle district (It was built in the 1200s). There is some really neat medieval architecture, and because there are hills in Budapest, there are several spots for some really good city views. They really use the Danube to their advantage and have built right up to it. It makes the city so charming! In Vienna, we don't have as many hills, and they haven't built right on the Danube (we guess because of flooding). On the grounds, we saw the office where the President of Hungary works. Dane loved that we got to see the "White House" of Hungary. We got to see Chain Bridge, the Opera House, Fisherman's Bastion, Mattias Church, the Citadella, and much more! We walked the grounds of the Vajdahunyad Castle (it's the old castle) and we went boating on the moat! (It wasn't really the moat, but it was a pond right by it.) This pond had boating in the summer, and in the winter, it freezes over and turns into a public ice skating rink. We saw a Jewish synagogue that is the second largest in the world. The Jewish population in Budapest is very high.
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| Synagogue |
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| Chain Bridge |
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| Old Castle |
We found an ice cream shop that had several interesting ice cream flavors. We tried Chili Chocolate, Cinnamon Plum (real plum pieces), Grapefruit (real pieces of fruit and a bit of zest), Pistachio, Lemon Basil, Camembert Vanilla (small chunks on cheese in it), Caramelized Fig (my favorite), Caramel, and Green Apple (real apple pieces in it).
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| Hero's Square |
We got to ride in the oldest subway, perhaps, in the world. We went to Hero's Square (despite the Gay demonstration going on that day). It is an interesting public square. The monument has 7 men on horseback representing the 7 tribes that converged and founded Hungary, and a guardian angel (Gabriel) watching over them. They also had all the Kings of Hungary behind it. It was pretty interesting. We got to eat a traditional Hungarian meal. Mine had noodles with a light gravy sauce with mushrooms and steak strips. Dan had paprika chicken with a potato dumpling. The dumpling had more of a frittata taste and texture than what we would picture a dumpling to be. We went to a Tesco which is like a Walmart, and it was open 24 hours! They had a huge selection of sausage and cheese and the bakery had a lot of fun breads and tortes. Dinner we ate at our apartment and consisted of all the fun things we found at the Tesco (heavy on the torte side).
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| Castle Grounds |
Sunday we found a church building that had translation in English. We were able to catch the Sacrament service and then we went back to sight seeing. We saw the Parliament Building. It is the largest building in Hungary. They were doing construction, so we couldn't get a close up view, but it is a cool building. We walked down by the Danube and cooled our feet in the waves. Danyon loved this and the boat ride the best). We also went to the Shoes on the Danube Promenade. It is a monument of shoes to represent the Jewish people that were shot, killed, and thrown into the river there. We have tried to talk to the kids about the Holocaust and the war a bit, but they are too young to really understand it all. I think I want to wait until the kids are much older before we go to a concentration camp.
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| View from the Citadella |
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| Yum! |
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| Steps down to the Danube |
We found a restaurant that serves "pancakes". We would call them crepes. They served all kinds and were reasonably priced, so of course, we tried several. The kids loved the Hungarian (kind of a spicy meat) and the Mexican (spicy meat with beans and corn). I loved the Broccoli chicken. They had all kinds of dessert ones as well. All kinds of fruits, nutella, and the favorite was the coconut cream. This is a place we would love to go back too!
We said goodbye to our friends and had a good drive back to Vienna. It only took us 2 1/2 hours to get home. This is a place we would recommend visiting. We can't wait to go back!!
The week started out with a crash and an "aaaaaahhhhhhhhh". Dane was pushed from a ledge and fell onto a dresser drawer. He cut a gash in his shin. It was about 2 inches long and was as deep as the bone. It didn't bleed, so I had time to get a quick picture of it before Dan took him to the ER. It was our first experience with the ER (well, Dan and Dane had the experience, the rest of us stayed home and wished them luck). Dan called me once on the way to the hospital to ask for the German word for "Emergency Room". They did end up finding it, after asking directions and playing charades with the guy at the door. Dane had 4 stitches put in and a drain. The drain came out on Tuesday and the stitches come out next Thursday, so now we just wait for it to heal.
After that, we ended up having a pretty fun week. They don't celebrate Canada Day or the 4th of July here--no surprises there. So, the kids and I tried to have a little fun anyway. We made suckers to celebrate both holidays (the odd shaped one is supposed to be a maple leaf), and we made some salted caramel suckers too, just because they sounded good--(they were). As for the days, on the 4th, the kids and I went to Schloss Schonbrunn. They have a labyrinth and mazes in the gardens. We went through and tried to get lost. In some parts of the maze, they have little activities for the 
kids to do like 
We continued with the kids' meals: Deagan made some cookies, Dane omelets, and Dyllan made chili. Hopefully, they will be able to cook a lot of different things before too long. This was the first time that we saw corn on the cob. It tasted so good. Not necessarily because the corn was that good, but because it was nice to be eating corn on the cob, in the summer.
The Danyon update: He is now pulling up on furniture, trying to stand. He stood up on his own, and stayed standing all by himself for a few seconds. He was on a couch when he did it, so there was a cushion behind him, but he is making good progress!
We planned to go to Budapest for the weekend to go to the Aquapark. It is the largest water park in Europe. With Dane's stitches, that plan was out. We decided to keep our reservations in Budapest and go see the city. We have a friend here who is native Hungarian, and knows Budapest very well. He and his wife went with us, and served as our personal tour guides for the whole weekend. We had so much fun. We absolutely LOVE 
We met up with our friends and started out the day. We went to the Buda Castle district (It was built in the 1200s). There is some really neat medieval architecture, and because there are hills in Budapest, there are several spots for some really good city views. They really use the Danube to their advantage and have built right up to it. It makes the city so charming! In Vienna, we don't have as many hills, and they haven't built right on the Danube (we guess because of flooding). On the grounds, we saw the office where the President of Hungary works. Dane loved that we got to see the "White House" of Hungary. We got to see Chain Bridge, the Opera House, Fisherman's Bastion, Mattias Church, the Citadella, and much more! We walked the grounds of the Vajdahunyad Castle (it's the old castle) and we went boating on the moat! (It wasn't really the moat, but it was a pond right by it.) This pond had boating in the summer, and in the winter, it freezes over and turns into a public ice skating rink. We saw a Jewish synagogue that is the second largest in the world. The Jewish population in Budapest is very high. 
We found an ice cream shop that had several interesting ice cream flavors. We tried Chili Chocolate, Cinnamon Plum (real plum pieces), Grapefruit (real pieces of fruit and a bit of zest), Pistachio, Lemon Basil, Camembert Vanilla (small chunks on cheese in it), Caramelized Fig (my favorite), Caramel, and Green Apple (real apple pieces in it). 
We got to ride in the oldest subway, perhaps, in the world. We went to Hero's Square (despite the Gay demonstration going on that day). It is an interesting public square. The monument has 7 men on horseback representing the 7 tribes that converged and founded Hungary, and a guardian angel (Gabriel) watching over them. They also had all the Kings of Hungary behind it. It was pretty interesting. We got to eat a traditional Hungarian meal. Mine had noodles with a light gravy sauce with mushrooms and steak strips. Dan had paprika chicken with a potato dumpling. The dumpling had more of a frittata taste and texture than what we would picture a dumpling to be. We went to a Tesco which is like a Walmart, and it was open 24 hours! They had a huge selection of sausage and cheese and the bakery had a lot of fun breads and tortes. Dinner we ate at our apartment and consisted of all the fun things we found at the Tesco (heavy on the torte side).
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