Dinosaurs, Wild Boars, and Stuffed Dogs: The Components of Any Good Family Trip to Vienna

The past couple of weeks have been hectic as we prepare to return to the US.  Suitcases and rucksacks need to be packed, our money needs to magically turn from Euros to USDs across the Atlantic, our little apartment needs to be cleaned, etc.  We'll be accomplishing most of these tasks within the next couple of days, but let's talk about some adventures we've had, shall we?

Earlier this month, we met our cousins in Vienna for a day of dinosaur exhibits, Vietnamese food, laughter, and complaining about the Viennese weather.  (Does the precipitation ever stop?)  It happened to be International Museum Day and Mother's Day too. 

My cousin Haakon is a dinosaur-enthusiast.  When we visited Budapest, he showed us his favorite dinosaur book, and laughed at me when I guessed "Stegosaurus" for every picture he pointed at.  This time, his arsenal included a backpack filled with mini-dinosaurs, a dinosaur T-shirt, and a wild distrust of my dinosaur knowledge.  Basically, he was well-prepared.

So off we went to the Naturhistorische Museum Wien (the Vienna Natural History Museum).  But first, some tourists posing, full-on photo-shoot style!

Interesting things abound in every direction, yes? :)

       
Once we arrived at the museum, we decided to opt out of seeing the featured Body exhibit, figuring that it might be too scary for the children.  Instead, we proceeded to the normal exhibits, the first of which was this little, not-creepy-at-all dog. 

Did we make a good choice?  Natalie didn't seem scared; maybe the doggie was just sitting really still.

While she was very brave, I was less so.  Exhibit A: The Wild Boar

My father is a bit obsessed with wild boars/feral pigs for some reason, and he was overjoyed when Ben sent him this article about wild boars in Berlin.  Of course, I had to see what all the fuss was about.  I didn't like it very much.

Exhibit B: The Whale

  
Weird Fact: I'm terrified of whales.  My weird phobias could be a blog post in itself, but suffice it to say, my expression of discontent is real.

 Here's Ben being brave

 

and excited.  The museum itself is beautiful, as you can see in this picture.

Next, patriotism and two surprises:  

Even the baby gorilla had to use its Mom to protect itself. 

Finally, the Dinosaur Hall!

 
Out of nowhere, this dinosaur roared and swung his tail!  Haakon was a little scared of his dino-pal, but Mom protected him. 

Besides feeding Natalie to the disembodied dino skull, we also touched a dinosaur bone and dino-poo.  What more could you want in a dino exhibit?

We finished up the museum by checking out the Meteorite Hall, which had an impressive selection of meteorites of all sizes and compositions.  Ben, being a space-enthusiast, loved it, and he could have been content roaming amidst the display cases all afternoon, however, we needed food.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the delicious Vietnamese food that we had at Saigon.  Check out the online menu for the number of dishes you could try - how do they stock their kitchen!?  I never had Vietnamese food before that week, and I somehow ended up having it twice.  Trending? 
      
It truly has been so nice having family a train ride away and being able to meet up several times since we came to Austria.  It's something that I'm going to miss.  Dear cousins, thank you for a wonderful day in Vienna, and we hope to see you soon in the States!  

Botanischer Garten Salzburgs

The Botanischer Garten Salzburgs (Salzburg Botanical Garden) is hidden behind a crop of trees about a ten minutes' walk from our apartment.  On a day when the sun and wind mixed to create the perfect weather, we spent a couple hours in the garden, admiring the plants and learning along the way.   

Above is a model of what is called a "historical farmer's house garden."  The trellis and wooden fence are traditional (and very charming), as is the vegetation.  Vegetables (Gemüse), spice plants (Gewürzpflanzen), healing plants (Heilpflanzen), perennials (Stauden), and bushes (Sträucher) fill the garden and serve their individual purposes.  It's difficult to imagine that, at one time, everyday people grew their own produce, or they at least grew some of it to supplement what they bought at market.  It makes so much sense to utilize the land we have to grow food, but it seems like most people ignore this in favor of green grass and flower beds.  Plant some seeds!  Eat (extremely) locally!  Have all of your vegetables and herbs at your fingertips! 

Soapbox dismounted.      

Near the house garden and the heirloom vegetable garden, we found these interesting structures, which happen to be insect nesting-aides (Nisthilfen), or insect hotels, if we want to be creative.  Each hotel is intended for a certain type of insect, and like the plants in the the house garden, each insect serves a purpose in the garden.  And, because we saw a humongous wasp emerge from the stone structure on the bottom right, we knew that, in these hotels, there were zero vacancies.  (So funny.)
Also, I was going to leave this out on account of my dear mother on Mother's Day Eve, but the iron hotel has swooping, aimless, fanged guests.  I believe in blogging integrity, so I had to mention it.  Sorry, Mom.   

Could this man be any deeper into his safari? 

Now, on to more flowery subjects.

I want to garden.  May I have a bit of earth?

Revising My Approach

Earlier this week, I had my first taste of writer's block in months.  An application called for a writing sample in which I explain why I'm a well-qualified teacher, but after going through the usual steps of my writing process, I kept coming up empty when it came to turning my thoughts into coherent sentences.  I couldn't think of how to best showcase myself while showcasing my writing.  I tried all of my tricks: writing on lined paper, brainstorming to make an outline, creating possible topic sentences for each paragraph, reading aloud, crossing out weak words, adding in synonym possibilities, arrows galore, etc.  

After three or four false starts, I decided to give myself a break until I could write something I liked.  It felt unsettling to go to bed without having it done, the deadline boring a proverbial hole into my confidence as a writer and a teacher.

I did the only thing I could do.

I went to the mall bright and early the next morning.

And, as I was finally free of my desk and the unwritten writing sample, my mind finally cleared, and I wrote the whole thing on that quiet bus ride to the mall: sub-headings, full sentences, illustrative examples, alles.

Lessons relearned?  Writing is difficult.  It's a process.  It involves starting and stopping.  It involves thinking and rethinking.  It takes time.  Even English teachers don't have poetry spouting from their pens or fingertips.  Writers will produce something they like as long as they don't give up and are willing to put in the work.  (Sometimes you just need to go to the mall?)

Because all blog posts need some sort of visual, here are some glimpses into life lately.

 
My first taste of Spargelcremesuppe (asparagus creme soup - so delicious), Ben amidst the flower beds at Mirabell, and a look up from our lunch table, respectively.  We can't forget that our time here is limited and that we have to make the most of it!

Also, here's what thirteen famous writers have said about writer's block.