We survived the death swings, the Black Plague and the Bermuda Triangle

This morning, we had a bus tour with Ingrid, a local guide, who pointed out various important sites, including a weird apartment complex, the Hundertwasser House, where the man wanted the architecture to blend with nature so nothing is level, there are trees on the roof, and no right angles. Then, with Ingrid, we faced the cold rain to visit the beautiful palace of Schönbrunn just outside of Vienna. We visited the gorgeous gardens and 22 of the 1,441 rooms of the palace, which were incredibly impressive especially with the original floors. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I can't even show you how beautifully intricate they were.  Here are the gardens in the back: 

After, it was still sprinkling a bit but we headed to the Prater, a local permanent amusement park/carnival featuring the Riesenrad, a big, antique Ferris wheel with trolley cars. (They even have special cars for a romantic dinner for two or another for dinner for eight.) We ate lunch  and by the time we finished, the rain had stopped and the sky started to clear. 

We were terrified of these really high swings that we nicknamed the death swings. No...way...would we ever go on these! We think they were taller than the Riesenrad! 

Then it was almost time for dinner so we headed back down to the 1st district to the shopping area which also includes a memorial to the victims of the Black Plague that wiped out about half of the city's population. Dinner was noodle soup, a giant meatball, mashed potatoes and apple strudel for dessert. One of our girls has been sick all day and stayed back at the hotel with her dad (who's luckily along for the trip) so Frau decided to head back to the hotel to check on them and the rest of our group stayed downtown for a little longer. We walked to Ottokar's favorite ice cream place, walked through the historical Jewish neighborhood which part of is also nicknamed the Bermuda Triangle for its number of bars and probable crazy nights. We then took the underground (subway/metro) back to the hotel. 

Now we're done with Vienna and will be visiting Salzburg tomorrow before heading out of Austria and onto Munich, Germany. 

Please say a prayer for Kelcey and her health, especially for having to be a few hours in a bus tomorrow. Nobody likes to be feeling sick away from home.