After staying two days in the city center, near the old town, we prepared to move to our next location where we would be staying for the new year's eve and the next day. This was another small apartment but this time further away from the city center, in the 10th district. We found this place at the last minute, while booking online 2 weeks before our departure. Since most of the good deals were taken and the apartments for rent left near the city were really expensive and out of our budget, we decided to rent a place outside the city center. Finally we found this apartment somewhere on Troststraße street.
We woke up early morning, ate our breakfast, prepared our luggage and headed to the tramway station in front of our building.
We were mostly well prepared and organised until this second move. We didn't predict that on the 31st December, the whole city of Vienna was preparing for the NY's eve celebration, and that included the closure of some streets and Tramway lines which disturbed all our plans. So after waiting for a while for the tram to arrive with 4 kids and several bags, a man approached us to warn us that the line was closed until 1 pm. We started looking for an alternative way to get to our next destination through the public transportation. After asking around and looking through our maps, we finally found which metro station to go to and how to reach the place.
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| Entrance to our apartment |
After two metro trips, We finally took the bus to reach the suburb and when we reached our stop, we weren't quick enough apparently to leave the bus, so one adult ended up stuck in the bus with 3 kids heading for the next stop since the doors closed on them, while the other adult waited outside with the other kid. After 10 minutes, we were finally reunited at the corner street of a very strange neighborhood very far away from the city center, with a 5 year old completely traumatized that we were so abruptly separated by, according to him, a very bad driver who doesn't listen to people:) And for the whole walk to our destination my same 5 year old completely exhausted was calling the driver all kinds of names that he had learned from his friends in kindergarten (that was a complete revelation for me to realize that he had mastered the slang dialogue of Yerevan and was using it whenever too angry to express his feelings gently, hmmm!)
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| Tramway line 1 |
So here we were walking endlessly for 20-25 min, in a very residential area of Vienna, two tired parents with heavy backpacks, two grumpy teenagers, an always hungry 11 year-old asking too many questions and an angry 5-year old talking in Yerevan slang and not getting over the bus driver who closed the door on him. We ended up reaching the place and settled down, relaxed and prepared for our New Year celebration.
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| New Year's eve at Stephansplatz |
The rest of the day and the night was much better. After a good nap, we took the tramway to the city center and started the celebrations by visiting the House of Music, which was free on that day and open until 10pm. The kids had so much fun, as well as the parents, listening to different sounds, enjoying the music and walking around. Then we headed towards the Stephansplatz area and the New Year trail organized by the city with open air concerts, dancing, delicious glint-wine and other local food and entertainment. Everyone was celebrating on the streets of the old town; young, old, kids, tourists, locals, people with disabilities, homeless people...! It was a great ambiance, a night to remember! After watching the midnight fireworks and the new year's celebration, we took the tram back to our apartment.
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| House of Music |
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| Musical steps at the House of Music |
The next day we decided to visit the Albertina museum, which I recommend for families with kids of different ages. We were able to visit a contemporary exhibition, classical collections, film stills and the palace's rooms all under one roof. Museums in Vienna are free for kids and young people (up to 19 year-olds) which makes it even more affordable.
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| Museum Albertina |
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| The Palace |
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