vienna Archives - Meine Klein Welt

Tiergarten Schönbrunn

June 21, 2012 by kleineklein

As part of our Vienna bucket list, we’re visiting some of our favorite places. Today we went with our dear friends to the Tiergarten Schönbrunn (Vienna Zoo). This the oldest zoo in the world, and it’s a truly beautiful place. I’m so glad we decided to go early because by midday the heat was pretty unbearable. I was even more tempted than normal to jump in and swim with the penguins! Mollie made sure we were there in time to see them feed the sea lions. That was awesome! Then, we found the albino peacock, the coolest animal in the zoo. It was showing off it’s plumage. So, so cool!

You can see more photos here: Tiergarten Schönbrunn

Letters from Vietnam

January 18, 2012 by Matt

So, yeah, this is a new one. In case you’re having trouble reading it, that stamp does in fact say “Missent to HO CHI MINH CITY.”

People have mistaken Vienna for Venice and Austria for Australia, but I don’t know that anyone’s ever mistaken Vienna for Vietnam. Sure, they have plenty in common. They both start with ‘V’. They both, um, have, um, you know, um people?

Yeah, so not much in common it turns out. In the US Post Office’s defense, the sender did neglect to write Austria in as the country. I’m not sure it’s that great a defense, though.

In any case, I’m glad this Christmas letter’s incredible journey ended in our mailbox.

Haus des Meeres

January 9, 2012 by kleineklein

On Friday we took a trip to the Haus des Meeres with our friends the Stocketts.

The Haus des Meeres is Vienna’s aquarium. It’s built in an old Flakturm, which I think is an awesome way to redeem a not so awesome thing.

We got to see lots of fun creatures.

We also got to watch an amazing sunset from the roof. You can walk all the way around the turm, thus getting a 360 degree view of Vienna. Beautiful!

We finished our visit with a rousing game of Peek-a-Boo. Pretty great day all around.

You can see more pictures here: Haus des Meeres

Bleigiessen in der Silvesternacht

January 4, 2012 by kleineklein

New Year’s Eve in Vienna is something that we are going to miss greatly when we return to the States. There are fireworks, and fun hats, and Gluehwein, and a fun little tradition called Bleigiessen.

Bleigiessen is a game that is played after the toast on New Year’s Eve. Each person melts a small piece of lead over candle flame in a special spoon. The pieces of lead are in the shapes of things that are considered good luck or are associated with New Year’s Eve: mushrooms, bottles of Sekt, pigs, gold coins, clovers. Once the lead is melted, you drop it into cold water. It instantly cools into a new shape.

After the lead cools, you must decide what you think it looks like. Each shape is supposed to tell you what kind of luck you’ll have in the new year. We decided that our lead took the following shapes:

A: Drache (Dragon) – Victory

B: Jagdhorn (Hunting Horn) – Great luck will come to your house.

C: Quelle (Natural Spring) – You will have enviable health.

D: Geweih (Antlers) – Do not gamble when the stakes are high.

E: Elefant (Elephant) – You will need to have thick skin in your professional life.

This is a bit like opening a fortune cookie, but a lot more interactive. We hope that you all had a great New Year’s Eve!

Cross Country Update 2

October 28, 2011 by Matt

Another quick update before our next race.

A few weeks ago we ran another 5k. This time Coach Guv’nah ran along with us.

As you can see from the picture, we had quite a successful day. Both students placed in their respective age groups, one first and one second.

And coach placed second in his age group. Sadly, I missed placing 3rd in my age group by about 20 seconds. But 3 out of 4 isn’t too bad, I think.

We’ve got another race coming up next weekend. Stay tuned for results!