I am not funny, China is funny.

Easter Weekend

Tony and I, along with our friend Emile, made our way to Vienna for Easter weekend. I had my first Schnitzel. You won't see a picture of it because it was just "fine". We actually tried two..you won't see a picture of either. We also tried the Sacher Torte. No thanks. So basically you'll explore Vienna with me as we walked our booty's off, exploring churches and hitting the Easter Markets.

BUT FIRST...we stayed a night in Krakow to see their Easter Market:

Rynek Glowny with Tony and Emile

I believe this is called Oscypek. It is a smoked cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. AMAZING!

The best "sausage dog" we had all weekend.

The next morning, we were off to Vienna. Emile may travel with us reluctantly from now on as it was quite a long walk to our first stop:

Schonbrunn Palace

These were real eggs that were painted beautifully!

In my opinion, Krakow won.

From the Palace, we made our way to the Burggarten Park. This area used to be the Emperor's Garden, but is now owned by the state.

The Mozart Statue is on the grounds of the park.

With all of the walking, it was time to stop at the Palmenhaus Cafe that overlooked the gardens.

St. Charles Church: I look forward to coming back to this spot at Christmas.

The next day, we visited St. Stephens Cathedral. Mass was going on at the time and the music was breathtaking! We spent the rest of the day touring Easter Markets and the streets of Vienna.

St. Stephens Cathedral

Organ pipes in St. Stephens

It was really incredible!

Am Hof Easter Market

Altweiner Ostermarkt= Old Viennese Easter Market

The eggs were all over at each market. Some were wooden, but most were real eggs that had been drained.

Another beautiful church!

Strandbar Hermann

Strandbar Hermann was basically a beach on the edge of the city.

Sacher Hotel: A really cool spot with the largest chocolate bunny I have ever seen and also the worst chocolate cake.

I add this photo only to make fun of us for flying. We are a four hour drive away from Vienna. When I laughed Tony asked, "Do you want to drive?" From then on I kept my laughter to myself because, NO, I hate driving. And before you ask, this was a last minute trip and EVERY train was booked.

I plan to be in Poland next year for Easter Monday so that I can write about the Smigus-Dyngus celebration. Do yourself a favor and look it up!

Copenhagen...I am in love! Of all the places we have lived and visited, Copenhagen ranks right up there at the top! Don't worry, it is too cold there to convince Tony to ever make a permanent move! Why do I love it? Mainly I love it for the lifestyle. Bicycles, trains or your feet will get you anywhere you need to go! No need for me to get behind the wheel! The other night at dinner, the General Manager of the Copenhagen FLUOR office was asked, "What do you do in the winter when it is cold?" She answered, "The same thing we do in the summer." It is true. I have seen it. People walk, jog, ride bikes and SWIM!

Me bundled up in front of the swimming platform while they swim in their swimsuits or perhaps their birthday suit. (I refrained from those photos.)

The first time we were in Copenhagen was in November. Tony was off at site and I had planned to just hang around the hotel and read. The sun came out, though, and the day looked too beautiful to stay inside. I bundled up, laced up my shoes, turned on my maps...and got lost! (Just me, isn't it?) Only this time it was a wonderful adventure through Kastellet, Copenhagen's military fort. Apparently the Kastellet is free to visit, but I was a little worried at the time as I was the only one in the area besides the guys in camouflage holding guns.

He seemed friendly!

This beautiful church greeted me as I exited the gates!

The entire area was absolutely stunning!

Fast forward to when we were there for work last week. I laced up my shoes again and hit the streets. What I have found is that if you bundle up enough and keep moving, the cold isn't so bad! I made my way back to the park near the Kastellet to see The Little Mermaid statue. I didn't even know she was there on my last visit.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale,

she was donated to the city in 1913.

From there, I walked over to the Amalienborg Palace (Danish Royal Residences).

I didn't get a good picture of the entire area,

but here you can see the Danish flag flying meaning one of the Royals was at home!

Just outside of that area is the Marble Church. Funny enough, it isn't made out of marble. Construction began in 1749, but there were many bumps along the way. The church finally opened its doors in 1894. I guess marble had gotten expensive after the 145 year pause, so they switched it out for limestone.

I eventually made my way to Nyhavn.

Hans Christian Andersen lived and wrote

several of his fairytales in this area.

The other thing I love about Copenhagen is that one of my first and dearest friends from our Australia days lives about 20 minutes outside of the city. She has been my wonderful tour guide these last two visits! This time she took me on a boat tour. It was a bit dreary this day, so my photos didn't turn out great, but I did get a few.

The Royal Danish Opera House

Our tour guide said the top is the size of three football fields.

I don't know what they were filming,

but I do know it was freezing!

I don't know how the boat captain managed going under

this bridge without scraping the sides!

After our boat tour, Joy took me to some places around town that I would have never found on my own. She also introduced me to some traditional Danish food.

Fastelavn is their equivalent to Mardi Gras...

only it sounds much more family friendly.

The fastelavnsbolle is a bun filled with cream or jelly.

You can only find them this time of year around Fastelavn.