Imperial Vienna

Today, Austria is a small country in central Europe. It's about the size of Maine and has about 9 million people. But just over 100 years ago, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the second largest country in Europe (after Russia) and had about 50 million people. Emperors in Vienna ruled modern-day Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia... not to mention parts of Italy, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, and more.

That said, Vienna used to be a major world capital and you can tell when you visit. It feels like there's an extremely impressive imperial building on every street corner. 

Vienna has no shortage of palaces. The Hofburg is right in the center of Vienna, and used to be the emperor's main winter residence. It is a huge place thanks to different emperors continually adding on their own wings onto the palace. 

Today it's still home to the Austrian president's office, as well as several museums. 

Toddlers that are tired from traveling don't tend to do well on guided tours of historic buildings (evidence: Rosalie's epic Capitol screams), so as a group we only enjoyed the exterior.

 I did visit the Sisi Museum on my 2014 trip to Vienna, if you're curious to read more.

Cute on the outside .. but not entirely trustworthy around priceless artifacts.

Fun fact for WWII history nerds like me: this balcony is where Hitler stood to announce the Anschluss (Austria's annexation to the Third Reich) to a cheering crowd of locals. 

The Burggarten is right outside the maze of Hofburg courtyards, and has a statue of Mozart that David wanted to visit.

One day during nap time, I ventured out alone to see the State Hall of the Austrian National Library; which is part of the Hofburg complex.

It holds about 200,000 books. The statue in the middle is Empress Maria Theresa's father Charles VI, who founded the library in the 1700s. I would be happy to move in anytime :) 

Next door you can find the Augustinerkirche. This was the royal family's personal church and many royal weddings took place here- including the wedding of Empress Sisi and Franz Joseph.

Schönbrunn Palace was the Hapsburg family's summer residence. It's a bit of a metro ride out from the city center. I've always had a soft spot for it because Marie Antoinette had a soft spot for it- Schönbrunn was one of her childhood homes.

We visited at the end of April and were surprised to still find the Easter Market still going on outside the palace entrance. It was festive and exciting for the girls- they got to go on a few little rides. Rosie asked to bring the giant Easter egg back to the Airbnb.

Our next stop was the Children's Museum. The girls got to try on princess dresses, style wigs, and learn a little bit about Hapsburg children. There was even a slide!

The Schönbrunn gardens are so impressive and worth a trip on their own. We walked over to the fountain and then stopped at the maze and playground. 

The highlight for the girls was playing in the gravel. Magnolia filled her pockets with it and became emotionally attached to one rock that she named "Cutie Pie." It even made the trip home to America. Free souvenir!

The Belvedere Palace wasn't built by the royal family, but it was eventually acquired by them. Who else could handle this place? It was never the emperor's main residence, but I'm sure it was nice to have a fun extra palace on hand just in case. 

There's both an upper and a lower palace, with gardens in between the two. The pictures above show the upper palace, and these next ones show the lower. Today, both buildings are art museums.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk in the gardens and even found a tiny playground. 

After two years away from Europe, it filled my soul to be around palaces again. Not to mention the cathedrals and museums and cute cobblestone streets. There is so much to see in Vienna.. this was just the tip of the iceberg! More to come.

See also: Visiting Paris castles with baby Magnolia

                Visiting Schönbrunn in 2014