Day 112/365: Vienna: Day 2: Schoenbrunn + Tiergarten

[nanila]

Humuhumu colours in a castle in her colouring book. Keiki looks through his green 'noculars at his toys on the table (green dinosaur & tentacle). The Schoenbrunn Palace, summer residence of the Hapsburgs, is in the background.

We spent our second full day in Vienna in the grounds of the Schoenbrunn palace and the Tiergarten (Zoo). Our first stop after disembarking from the U-Bahn at the Schoenbrunn station was the cafe, to refuel with coffee and cake.


Keiki and Humuhumu build castles out of the stones in front of the palace.

Afterward, we meandered toward the zoo. On the way, we encountered a red squirrel.


Keiki tried to approach the red squirrel stealthily.


His plan was foiled when his sibling noticed the squirrel.

As you can see from the two photos below, the main charm of the formal gardens when you're a small child is the opportunity to hunt for bugs in the rigidly ordered hedgerows.





And do dances along the paths.


At last we approached the zoo, and paused as usual to admire the ornate Palmenhaus.


According to Keiki, the important thing in this photo is not the pretty church. It is the tractor.


Keiki hitched a ride on Granddad's shoulders to the zoo. Granny walks in front (she's in the hat and the pink top).


Humuhumu zooms ahead. I cannot tell you how appropriate that Rainbow Dash backpack is for her. She attracted so much (positive) attention from everyone as she ran around the city.


We entered the zoo in time to see the panoas being fed.

The red panda also favoured us with its company.


Red panda washes its tummy.


Red panda climbs over a log.

Keiki made the acquaintance of a lizard.

I kid you not, this chap ran across his very large enclosure just to go eye-to-eye with Keiki. They were absolutely riveted by one another.


For context, here they are together.


Humuhumu speaks no evil with the monkey statues.

We lunched at the cafe in the middle of the Tiergarten.

Keiki and Humuhumu enjoy their apfelsaft gespritz.

And then we went to visit the penguins.

Keiki and Humuhumu at the penguin enclosure. They spent a good half hour entranced by the penguins' antics.


To be fair, they are pretty good antics.


Humuhumu and Keiki climbed a tree.


And a baby elephant statue.


The tusks as well.


We went to visit the seals. I don't think they liked the heat much. This was the most active one, and all it could bring itself to do was occasionally wave a flipper feebly as if to say, "...Hot...so hot..."


Humuhumu had a go on the climbing wall above the polar bear enclosure. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the polar bears were decidedly not venturing outside.

And then it was ice cream o'clock again.

From left to right: Granddad, Granny, Humuhumu, bloke, Keiki sitting on the bench across from the water buffalo enclosure. Bloke has finished his ice cream. Everyone else is still working on it.


Humuhumu and Keiki have a squiz at the water buffalo.


We headed back toward the entrance via a small childrens' play area. Keiki and Humuhumu had a sit-down on a wooden lizard.


Humuhumu navigated a tunnel.


We admired the dexterity of the baby goats clambering over the roof of their presumed accommodation.

Finally, we said goodbye to the Tiergarten and walked back to the U-Bahn, sun-baked and satisfied.

Comments

[nanila]

I think the hedgerows were biding their time, as there was snow on the ground the previous week! The leaves were just starting to emerge while we were there.

Heh. I'm just imagining how surprised Humuhumu and Keiki would upon suddenly acquiring an *older* brother...