....continued...

Well the rest of the trip, I mean flight went well. Ahh the rest of the trip. I know why they call it "trip" Lots of falling, dusting yourself off, learning from your mistakes. Makes life better. Let me explain....

I think it was like our second day in Budapest when mom, Sophie and I headed over to Vienna for the day. There was not much of a plan at first, but than I thought, Ahh Schonbrunn Palace. We took the 0600ish train over to Vienna, it is almost a 3 hour ride, and looking like a perfect day. (Not!) This place is enermous. Apparently in the 14th centuery it was a Monastery, than slowly transformed into a manorial estate. It ended up falling into the Habsburg family in 1569. This place is huge. OK, I can see it as a monastery, but a family home, not really. Well look at the this picture, it is massive. I never understood the concept of an enermous palace. I could picture us living there. "Honey which room did you leave the remote in?" It would take days or weeks to find the darned thing. Yes, I know there were no tv's back than, but how many times have you gone back into the house, getting ready to go somewhere, because you forgot something. Just imagine... Ok, it would not be bad, and I would jump at the opportunity to live in a "Palace" but as of yet, no offers... oh well. http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/home.html
The grounds on the other hand are amazing...here you can see the courtyard... (for some odd reason, Sophie always looks like she has been photo shopped into pictures. Trust me, she was there.)

We spent most of the day strolling the grounds, there was plenty to stroll around. The gardens are amazing the grass is so green, beautifully manicured, and of course posted full of "Keep off the grass" signs. How I would have loved to take off my Nikes and socks, and run through the grass, but many times I heard people being reprimanded for stepping on the grass. Plus my little one was there, rule 1. Do not break the rules, when the child is present.

There were gardens and gardens to walk through. Almost as far as the eye could see. There were 2 mazes and Sophie begged me to go through them. The cost was extra, but well worth the giggles she paid me back with. We laughed and froliced in the gardens, than headed back to pick up mom who had rested on the bench, snacked and people watched on the kritika bench.

After strolling around the grounds for 4 or 5 hours, it was time to head back to the city center. Oh first we stopped to pick up some rum, well sure I could have used a drink or 2, but mom got it for baking. It was good that we headed back, because the rains came. Making the afternoon a bit soggy, but it was fun. We sent to St. Stephen's Cathedral, lit a few candles, prayed for the lost souls, took a few pics, and headed on. By now the beautiful morning had turned into a blustry afternoon. Good thing I made the mad dash back up stairs while we were waiting for the bus in Budapest this morning. I ran up the 3 flights of stairs, and back down in record time. The bus was already there as I ran down the front stairs and across the small street. I always have this image while running for the bus, I see myself tripping over who knows what, probably my own feet, falling face first, and knocking out my front teeth. So far, I still have all 32 pearly whites.

Since the weather had changed, we opted to take the earlier train back to Budapest. (They run every hour or so http://www.oebb.at/en/index.jsp check here for the schedule) We had stopped at the local grocery and picked up some cheese, bread, sliced ham, cucumbers, tomatoes, and drinks. As soon as we settled in on the train, we made dinner. Quite a good meal. After that, we all settled in for a nice relaxing ride back to BUD. The rocking and clanking of the train made for a nice sleep-aide.
We arrived after dark, hopped on the bus that dropped us right across the street from our house. Went up, took showers and slept like logs. It was a fun day, not too much disagreeing, and we learned a lot.