Good Days Sunshine

The sun has been out for 5 days!!!
I thought I loved Vienna before.  Now I am head over heels.  Over the weekend the Turkenschanzpark was packed with people.  College kids playing kickball.  Families walking the dogs, feeding the ducks.  Couples holding hands.  Jugglers juggling.  Slack liners wobbling.  People verbing whatever those strange hourglass-shaped things are that are spun on strings and thrown in the air.  Joggers jogging.  People having snacks and drinks at the Maierai (yep- a restaurant in the park).
I have been walking to the grocery store and catching the public transit back.  The well integrated public transit makes me infinitely happy as it is--but now that the sun is out it is even better.
Over the weekend we met a couple of Sanskritists from the Universitat Wien out at an animal park.  We hiked into the woods and, of course, there was an oldpalacenoweventscenterrestaraunt where we stopped for hot drinks.

The Viennese commitment to sitting outside makes me very happy as well.  Below are photos of Turkenschanzpark on the first sunny day of the year.  The Maierai put out blankets at the outdoor tables even though it was still below 40 degrees and people sat outside in the sun.  There were masses of people sitting on park benches, facing the sun, looking at the ducks on the pond in below 40 degree weather.

Then, on Monday the kids and I went to the thermal baths of Vienna and in the women's only area the thing to do was to get really hot in sauna or hotpool and lay out in the sun---naked--in 50 degrees.

Also with our increased outings, the children are becoming street food connoisseurs.  The street food categories are asian noodles, pizza, kebabs, and sausage.  Best kebabs so far near the Hofburg.  Best pizza on Schwedenplatz, best noodles Wahringer U6 stop, best sausage is Bitzinger by the Opera/Albertina.

 These first three photos are of the Maierai on the first sunny day.  Still lots of snow piles around and not quite as many people around in the early afternoon.

Wurstel Stand near Opera/Albertina