Ivan and Jen do Europe

Ivan, Lil Dave and I left the apartment around noon on June, 16, 2010.  We had sandwiches at Nordsee.  It’s a great place for seafood.  We’ve been there a few times in Vienna. I got two shrimp sandwiches while Ivan got trout and a salmon sandwich.  Lil Dave brought along two banana and honey sandwiches.

We ate our sandwiches while waiting for the bus.   We boarded the #25 bus.  We got off and headed to Hellbrunn.  It’s a palace that also has fountains on the premises.  We took a tour of the fountains.  It was a big group.  Our guide spoke in German first and then English.  The fountains are 400 years old.  They’re not run by electricity, but by pressure. 

The first fountain is around a table.  All the kids sat down and Ivan as well.  I didn’t want to get wet since it was already a little cold outside. 

Ivan didn’t get wet much.  I don’t think the lady put it on high enough.  She did at the end when everybody was about to leave the area.

The lady took us to other fountains.  Most of the fountains were hidden. 

She showed us one that had a crown on top. 

The fountain was turned on and the crown was carried towards the ceiling.  It was cool!  Lil Dave wanted to sit on the crown and then have the water take him up the ceiling.  But, the tour guide lady wouldn’t allow it.  Outside, there was water coming out of a reindeer.  I got wet from the hidden fountains.  It was fun and did surprise us.  Some of the people were avoiding the fountains.  It was like they were afraid of water.  It’s just water, it’s not going to hurt you!

It was great seeing all the cool fountains. 

The admission included the palace, but we didn’t go in.  I knew it wouldn’t be as impressive as other palaces we’ve seen in the past like Buckingham Palace.

We took the bus back into the Old Town.  We visited Mirabell Park & Garden.  The garden was in the movie The Sound of Music. 

The gardens are very pretty.

We walked back to the hotel since we bought a few strawberries and raspberries for our train ride tomorrow.  We put them in the apartment.

Then, we walked to Afro Cafe.  Ivan and I each got a pot of tea.  Lil Dave had a banana shake.  We read our books while drinking our tea.

We walked back to the apartment to chill for a little while.

We had to walk 10 minutes to get to The Augustiner Brewery Beer Garden.  There are different places right before the beer halls to get food.  Ivan and I got fish and corn, onions, beet root and beans.  The fish was rubbery and had no flavor.  Lil Dave got a banana schnitzel.  He said it was only average.  Ivan got two beers.  There’s only one beer available which was a smooth lager. 

If you want a beer, you have to wash out a mug.  Then, you pay for it and then a guy fills your mug with beer.

Ivan and I were still hungry.  We grabbed a salmon salad and a pretzel. 

We ate and drank our beer.  We’re not big beer drinkers.  It was noisy in the beer hall.  There wasn’t much going on.  One room did have a football match, but there was no seats in there.  Plus, it was teams we didn’t care about watching.

We walked to Zum Bacchus.  Ivan and I each had a tasty Riesling. 

We walked back to the apartment.  Karin wanted to stay up and talk to us.  But, she was too tired.  We said goodbye and thanked her for letting us stay.