Just back from 2 nights in Vienna which was preceded by a week in the Czech Republic.
First off big thanks to Emily for the tip on free travel for kids during the summer holidays. This wasn't obvious anywhere and the discount certainly wasn't applied at the ticket machine so knowing that we didn't need to buy them a 48 hour pass saved a fair few euros, and also the tip about selecting the 'outside city limits' portion for the train to the station.
We had hired a car so first tack was to return this to Fox Autorent's 'down town' office, which turned out to be very straight forward. Then a bus to our hotel - the Mercure Biedermeier is Landstrasse district. Hotel is located both sides of a charming cobbled alley with colourful umbrellas suspended above. A large family room awaited with okayish aircon. Having checked in and some what tired from the journey (and conscious of the 30+ degree heat) we decided we wouldn't pack too much in.
So we took the tram down to Schloss Belvedere, starting at the Upper end and working our way down through the gardens to the lower end. From here we walked via the beautiful Karlskirche over to the Nachsmarkt where my son was happy to browse the knock off football shirts and husband even happier to sit down with some interesting food and drink. We walked back via the Stadt Park to our hotel and had a few drinks in the alley (so much better than that sounds!) before retiring for the night.
Our first and only full day we took the tram over to Herrengasse with the aim of walking around the main ring. After struggling with my bearings initially we found ourselves in front of the town hall. Turns out the space between the Rathaus and Burgs theatre is taken over by the Vienna Film Festival for the whole of July and August, Whilst this did somewhat spoil the view of the Rathaus (what we could see was stunning) it did provide a whole host of well organised food and drink outlets with a central covered seating space. The films seemed to only be on show in the evening so it felt like we were actually at a food and drink festival without the usual crowds. It made for a very pleasant place to sit and refuel before we moved on. Took the route past the Parliament and Natural History museum (both beautiful) before reaching the Hofburg. My husband had identified the Imperial Treasury as the one museum he wanted to see. Kids were free and it was full of interesting treasures and relics which held everyone's interest for the hour or so we were there. It was a relief to be out of the sun but no aircon so lots of improvised fans being made. We didn't get the audio guide so were glad that we had read up beforehand otherwise we might have missed some of the relics.
We moved on and continued the loop through the main shopping streets (it was a bank holiday so everything was closed!) and past St Stephens and down to the Opera. Then in need of another break (there's a theme developing) we walked over to Karlsplat and the Kunsthalle (Art hall). There wasn't any obvious art (might have been closed due to the bank holiday or it's well hidden) but a nice outdooor seating area with some tasty snacks and drink on offer. We then took the U-bahn back to our hotel and revived before heading out to Prater Park via the tram. Arrived as the evening light was beginning to change colour and as the queue wasn't too long headed straight for the Ferris wheel. I had come armed with around 50euro for the kids to spend on rides but when we got to the ticket office he said he couldn't accept card only cash. I mumbled something about it wiping me out of most of my euros but he reduced the price form 34 to 24Euro for a family ticket so that helped. Everyone enjoyed the ride and time spent in the park - we left at 9pm and the crowds were still pouring in.
Our final morning we unashamedly headed back to the film festival to fill up on tasty food before several hours of travel ahead. All in all everyone enjoyed their time.