Gruss Gott Week 6 and 7

I'm sorry I've gotten so behind with my Gruss Gott posts.  Oh well.  I'll start off with week 6 and 7 will catch up soon with the rest.

A couple of weekends ago, we met up with one of Kevin's friends and her family.  They went to Michigan together and her family was here in Europe also doing a sabbatical too (Germany and Italy).  Anyway, we met for dinner at Zwolf Apostlekeller, built in 1339.  And, it was great fun!

Zwolf Apostlekeller 

So, part of our daily routine here in Vienna, is the playground.  Practically everyday after I pick up Luke from school, we hit the playground.  What is great about where we live is that there are four fantastic playgrounds all within short walking distance from our apartment and Luke's school.  And, it is not uncommon for Luke to meet up with his school buddies and just run rampant.

Am Naschmarkt (literally a block from our apartment)

A little zipline action

E taking her first stab at the slide

What amazes me is that regardless of the weather (rain, freezing cold, sun or snow) kids are always playing at the playground.  They just throw on their rain gear or snow gear and hit the playgrounds.  It is pretty awesome.  

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, they celebrate carnival here (or Fasching).  It's a bit like Mardi Gras expect not as wild.  Kids dress up in costumes and everyone eats Krapfens (jelly donuts).  These are true bakery donuts, more of a pastry than a Dunkin Donuts type donut.  The idea is that kids get their fill of Krapfens on Tuesday and then give them up for Lent.  Anyway, Luke, of course, dressed up as a pirate and they had a big party at school.  I'm still waiting for the school to send me the pictures, but I thought I'd share Luke's costume.  

This is a store window of one of Vienna's most famous bakeries (Demel) and this window is dedicated to Fasching.  Do you notice the puppet's bodies?  

They are all Krapfens!  How cute is that?!?  

Last weekend Luke and I went to the Naturhistorische Museum with Luke (see some of the pictures here).  It was great for both of us.  The architecture was unbelievable and the exhibits were interesting for both of us and very interactive.  Definitely a must-see for families with kids.  

Okay, well, that is all for now.  Will update more later.  Tschuss!  

Orange and Brown

our rental in Vienna

This mama is ready for the weekend!  After a week of sick children and a sick mama, I am looking forward to the weekend of just relaxing and getting out and about.  I hope all of you have a lovely weekend - spring is in the air!!  I couldn't resist and had to post this picture - I love the colorway orange and brown!  See you next week!

Thank you all who voted for Green Street!  

Inspiration in Vienna

It is everywhere.  Every corner I turn, every museum I enter, every walk I take, every playground I visit, I am continually inspired while living here.  And, quite frankly, I can't adequately express the degree to which I am caught off guard (visually) by the art and architecture that fills every nook and cranny of Vienna.  I try to take my camera wherever we go.  Here are some photos but they don't fully capture the beauty or in many cases the scale, but this is what you get! :)

Riding Stables at The Hofburg Palace

Hofburg Palace

Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

Hofburg Palace

Graben

Escada @ Graben

Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

And, one last picture for good measure....me before a night out on the town!  Woohoo!

And, on a separate note, my good friend Camille from The Vintique Object, nominated Green Street for Apartment Thearpy's The Homies Home Design Blog Award.  Feel free to hop on over and vote!  Go here.  You'll see Green Street way at the bottom of the list! ;)

Gruss Gott Weeks 4 & 5

I'm a little behind on our Vienna posts.  The past three weeks we've been battling a nasty virus that has run its course through each one of our family members (poor Luke even got it twice).  We're finally starting to feel normal again.  Today, we made it to Vienna's Eistraum, the outdoor skating rink that winds through Wien's Rathaus (City Hall) platz. The rink is a kilometer long!  Luke had so much fun skating.  It was great!!

Am Rathaus

Drinking Gluhwein! Yum! :)

Luke and Mr. Penguin (Kiddie Rink)

Luke & Daddy! 

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

A Visit to Kartell

On my way to meet my husband for lunch last week, I passed by the Kartell design store here in Vienna.  The Mademoiselle Chair caught my eye...

upholstered in a leopard print silk fabric (a collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana).   Very luxurious!  

And, here it is in the pink floral upholstered fabric.  This is so much fun and I always have had a soft spot for this one!

These optic like tables caught my eye, too!  These would be fun to add as an accent table in a more traditional space to liven things up a bit.  Or as a stool pulled up to a vanity table!

And, one day I would like to own a ghost chair - a trend that  has been popular for a long time.  I would love to throw a leopard print pillow on it to warm it up a bit!!  How about you - which piece is your favorite?

Gruss Gott! Week Three.

I cannot believe we've been here 3 weeks already.  It still seems like we just got here.  This week we were catching up from last week of having visitors.  This week I had a chance to i) join the Vienna babies club (a club where english speaking mothers get together), ii) take kids to the doctor, iii) invite some friends over for dinner (while the kids slept soundly in their bed) and iv) go out to lunch with my husband! A great week all in all even though, little E has caught a bug and is pretty sick. :(

A beautiful florist shop on the way to meet my husband for lunch.  I love boxwoods.  Makes me excited for spring!

Simple pink tulips I picked up at the market.

Looking out our living room window.  I feel like I am constantly being watched!

You can never get tired of the inspiration that exists from all the architecture.  I hope to post more of this during our stay here - I just NEED to remember my camera every time I go out.

Gruss Gott! Week Two.

Sorry for the delayed post.  We had family visit us this past week.  We've only been here two weeks and we were so fortunate to have my brother, my sister in law and my two nephews visit us from Belgium.  My brother, who is in the US Army and working with NATO in Brussels, Belgium had the opportunity to attend a military ball at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna (about 1/2 mile from our apartment).  Ordinarily, he wouldn't have volunteered to come, but with us in town, he piggy-backed a vacation.  So, on Friday night, we got to babysit 4 kids (all under the age of five) while my brother and sister-in-law went to a boring old ball! :)

Aren't they a cute couple?  

Aren't those chandeliers gorgeous??  They look like they are floating in mid air.  Yeah, it does look pretty boring.  I'm glad Kevin and I stayed home with these little monsters. :)

For their last night in town, we cooked a traditional Austrian dinner of Stelze (Schweinshaxe) and sauerkraut paired with weizenbier and rot wein.

Before:

After:

Ohhhhh, the carnage!!

J and C, thanks for the wonderful visit.  We'll get you back when we leave the kids with you and go to Paris in the summer! :)

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!  

Our Rental in Vienna

First a little background......Since we'll be in Vienna, Austria for a short time (9 months) we needed to find a furnished place.  When I first realized this I was disappointed because I really wanted an unfurnished place.  Why?  I wanted to decorate it, silly!!  I already had the vision created and it was going to be cool, urban and funky.  

But, reality kicked in, and with a newborn and a toddler (and not to mention only 9 months) and how realistic would this be?

Everyone told us to look outside of Vienna mainly because it's better for families, more space, more land and it'll be cheaper.  I was attracted to cheaper part, but, we won't have a car.  And, I didn't want to be stuck in a house all day.

Besides, I'm a city girl at heart.  I mean we have a chance to go to Vienna and I want to be where all the action is!!

While searching, I found Viennese apartments that were suitable, but I have to say they were so poorly decorated I just couldn't bring myself to even consider them.  I guess you can say I'm a snob that way.  But, I wanted it all - great district, walking distance from everything, true Viennese character (herringbone floors and high ceilings), and large windows with potential for a lot of light.

I know a pipe dream.

Then, one day I found it!! It was like the clouds opened up and choir started to sing!!  It was over our price range, but we decided to talk to owners hoping that a longer rental of 9 months would be a bargaining chip to negotiate an affordable price.  It turns out that it was!  The owners are incredible (American and Austrian) who live in Maryland, but spend their Christmas and summer holidays in Vienna.  They have two small children and it all just clicked.

The kicker??  The location is killer (6th district right - one block from the 1st district) in the Museumsquartier next to Naschmarkt (most popular food and flea market) and three blocks from my son's school and walking distance to the University (my husband's work).  I mean - does it get any better??

Our apartment is in a historically protected building and has a elevator.  This was important (not a deal breaker) but since I will have stroller, a baby, a toddler and groceries to carry this will make life easier.  This is the foyer of our apartment building....

Aren't the details gorgeous?  A little different from the cape cod that I'm living in right now! :)  The first thing that attracted me to this apartment were the floors - yes, ladies and gentlemen, the apartment has herringbone floors!!

This is the living room.  And, below is the other side of this room which is the eating/dining area.  Love those large windows!!

Below is the master.  I like how everything is sparsely decorated and not cluttered.  You really enjoy the architectural elements of the apartment.  How about those french doors leading on to the living room!

The children's room.  This will be Luke's room - he nearly fell off his chair when he saw the playscape in the bedroom!!  

And, the kitchen!  This kitchen is considered quite modern and large for a european city! I am so happy we have a little table and chairs where we can have breakfast in the mornings!

So, those are all the pictures for the moment!  I'm just so thankful we found this apartment in such a great location (walking distance from everything).  I'm looking forward to sharing our time over there with you all!!  Can't wait!