Today was one of those days. I’ve often said to Dan that these are the days where you make it across the finish line, but rather than making it in one piece, you come across sideways, running on fumes, covered in dirt, with 3 flat tires and a bumper that is hanging off. That’s what today was like: we made it, but it wasn’t pretty.
Dan’s first day
April 26th, 2011Back to work
April 25th, 2011Well, the vacation is over. Dan goes to his first actual day of work tomorrow (first official day was today, but as it’s a government holiday here, he didn’t actually have to go in). I have mixed feelings about it. On the one had, it’s always hard to see a vacation end and get back into the daily groove of work. It’s more difficult here because I’m not in a place that I have set up to do my work easily — neither the place, or the stuff I have at my disposal is ideal (I don’t have any of my baby “stuff” — from changing tables to high chairs to swings to jumperoos to toys . . . even the fridge is tiny so I’ll have to go out to get lunch for B tomorrow). Also, it’ll be hard to say goodbye to Dan after 3 weeks off together. It’s been great to have his help, and just to have so much free time together.
Happy Easter!
April 24th, 2011We had a lovely Easter today. The Easter Bunny made a stop at our apartment last night, and our day started with Benjamin hunting for the Easter bags that had been hidden for him & Liam. The gifts inside were met with definite approval (Benjamin carried his around all day). After overdoing it on chocolate (everyone but Liam) we all went out and actually found a place that was open and serving breakfast. We even nearly got what we ordered (hurray!) and then we came home and all took naps. It was a great morning!
This afternoon, we headed off to Stephansplatz and to St. Stephen’s cathedral. The square was definitely busy, but we were happy to find that we could actually get into the church. We managed (completely by accident) to arrive between masses, and we were able to go in and be tourists and take a look around. (We’ll have to go back sometime that isn’t Easter to get a tour of the whole place.) Benjamin asked a lot of good questions (“What is a church?”, “What is praying?”, “Can we blow those candles out a make a wish?”). I was really happy to be able to be there on Easter — it definitely had an apropriate feel for the day. We had lunch out, and (of course) gelato. Then we wandered from Stephansplatz over to what will be our new neighborhood to do some exploring.
“Mommy, what is Easter?”
April 23rd, 2011As I find happens to me all the time lately, Benjamin asked me a question today that made me really think about something I hadn’t thought about in a long time. So often, I’m explaining something to him, and he’ll respond with, “Mommy what is . . . ?”, or “Why?” These are very normal questions from a 2 year old, but they can be remarkably tricky for a 34 year old to answer. I want to be honest and concise, while keeping the concepts simple and refraining from anything that’s going to worry or scare him — and you have to come up with the answer in about 15 seconds. (And there will probably be follow up questions.)
We’ve been talking a lot about Easter lately around here — what we’re going to do for Easter, how we’re gonig to miss everyone at Easter, how everything here is closed for Easter, how decorated everything is here for Easter. So, naturally, Benjamin hit me today with, “Mommy, what is Easter?”
Schönbrunn Palace
April 22nd, 2011So, Schönbrunn Palace. Wow. Amazing. Unbelievable. Truly on a scale beyond anything I had ever seen before, or even imagined. I’m not overselling it — those of you who have never seen it will STILL be amazed by it when you see it. And we didn’t even go inside — this is just my reaction from seeing a part of the gardens. Opulent, excessive, beautiful, lush and peaceful. I loved it. Easily my favorite place in Vienna so far.
Holding hands
April 21st, 2011Today was a quiet day for our family. Other than stocking up on some groceries (we’re going in to a long holiday weekend here, which means most stores will be closed) we stayed in. Benjamin took a 3+ hour nap this afternoon (half of it with me accompanying him). At dinner time, we decided to all go out to pick up our pizza, just for the sake of us all getting out of the house and getting some fresh air.
On our way, Dan was pushing Liam in the stroller, and I was walking with B, holding his hand. It was a beautiful evening, and I was enjoying the company of my little family. It was so nice to be holding B’s hand, talking to him about what we were seeing along the way. I love those moments with him. He is so little, yet already so grown up. I see the children in Vienna — they are autonomous so quickly. They ride the trains alone, and walk around the city unescorted by 8 or 9 years old — much younger than that if they’re being “supervised” by another child, often younger than 10 themselves. We won’t be here long enough for that to be his experience, but I do know that he’ll grow up quickly, wherever we are.
I love both of my boys so much. I love the way they are right now, and I know I’ll love it as they get bigger, too. For today, though, it was just nice to have a quiet day, and enjoy holding hands with my little boy.
Easter shopping
April 20th, 2011Part of preparing for our move involved separating everything in our house into one of four categories: air shipment, sea shipment, storage and things to pack in suitcases. The idea is for the air shipment to arrive 10 – 14 days after it’s shipped (to provide things you don’t immediately need in your suitcase, but to tide you over until most of your stuff arrives) because the sea shipment doesn’t arrive for 4-6 weeks after it’s shipped. Since Easter is happening almost 3 weeks after we left, I made sure to pack everything we needed for Easter in the air shipment. It’s not a religious holiday in our family, just a tradition, but I was careful to plan to have the things I’d need when we arrived. I packed up cute Easter hand towels for the kitchen, and stuff to decorate eggs, but most importantly, Benjamin & Liam’s Easter baskets and the things that were to go inside of them.
I definitely don’t have it together
April 19th, 2011We’ve found a place, but we can’t move in yet. We haven’t gotten our relocation grant, so we can’t go buy a washer/dryer or any other major purchase for the new place. Dan’s work doesn’t start until next Tuesday. So . . . . we’re on vacation! We really can’t do much that’s productive right now — we might be able to later in the week, but right now, we’re waiting for a bunch of other people to do things, so we decided to have our first really leisurely day since we’ve been here.
Our new place
April 18th, 2011Just over a year ago, I came to Vienna for the first and only time before I decided to move here. I was here for four days — I came to meet Dan on one of his business trips. I wanted to get a feel for the city and see if I could even imagine myself living here. I wasn’t here for long, but we tried to get out, see some sights and experience as much of the city as possible.
Sunday morning of my trip here (which was also Valentine’s Day) we got up very early (not easy to do, due to the jetlag) and went to see the Vienna Boys’ Choir. We weren’t entirely sure where we were going, and we got a little lost on the way. We came up out of the wrong exit from the U station into a silent little square. It was cobblestoned and deserted. We set off, trying to find our way, and encountered a few people making their way to the church that was a little further along the square. It was quiet, beautiful and perfectly my idea of Europe. I loved it instantly. I wanted to know where we were, but we were running late and didn’t have time to explore. We eventually found our way to our destination, and didn’t get a chance to return.
A day outside of Vienna
April 17th, 2011One of Dan’s future co-workers invited Benjamin, Liam, Dan, Bailey & I to lunch today with his family at his home outside of Vienna. We were really excited to get to see some of the area around Vienna, and to hang out with some Americans who had been through what we’re experiencing. When Scott arrived to pick us up, they had outfitted their car with carseats appropriate to our kids’ ages, so we packed Bailey into the back of the minivan, and we all trekked off to Korneuburg.