American Mom in London: April 2014

When we found out we were moving to London in May of 2012, I created a list of all the travel I wanted to do during our time in Europe. Two of my "must-see" cities on this list were Vienna and Budapest. We finally made it to both cities over the Easter holiday weekend and were even able to add in a day trip to Bratislava as well. In the UK, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, so we took advantage of the long holiday weekend plus an additional vacation day to travel to Eastern Europe.

The first stop on our trip was Vienna. Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria. The city is known for its music (Beethoven and Motzart once called Vienna home), Parisian-like architecture, and cafes. After a quick lunch stop for some Viennese sausages, we started our trip with a visit to Hofburg Palace. Hofburg Palace was the principle winter residence of the Habsburgs, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The palace was impressive but most interesting was the museum related to the life of Empress Elisabeth who seemed to be a bit like the Princess Diana of her time. We found some time for an afternoon coffee break at one of Vienna's famous cafes and dined at a traditional Austrian restaurant that night. Needless to say, we did not go to bed hungry.

The next day, we took an easy one hour train ride to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The people of Bratislava have made a significant effort to rebuild the city after the fall of communism. The city has a bustling Old Town and made for a great day trip. We were able to easily walk around and see the city's sights including Old Town, Bratislava Castle, the "UFO" bridge, and the presidential palace as well as enjoy lunch before taking an early afternoon train back to Vienna. Upon returning to Vienna, we visited St. Stephen's Cathedral and walked around some of the Easter markets in the city before enjoying a piece of Vienna's famous Sacher-Torte. Sacher-Torte, the "world's classiest chocolate cake", consists of two layers of chocolate cake separated by apricot jam and covered with dark-chocolate icing. Yum!

On our final day in Vienna, we headed outside of the city to tour Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of the Habsburgs. Schonbrunn Palace rivals the grandeur of Versailles with luxurious royal apartments and spectacular gardens. After our time at Schonbrunn, we gathered our luggage at our hotel and headed to the train station for a three hour train ride to Budapest. After checking in to our hotel, we set out to explore Hungary's capital city.

Budapest is known for its amazing architecture, spectacular views and thermal baths. Unfortunately, due to me being pregnant and not able to deal with the heat, the thermal baths were not a part of our trip, but we loved seeing the rest of this amazing city. We started our trip out with a classic Budapest experience, a night-time cruise along the Danube to see the amazing architecture lit up by floodlights.

The next day, we saw many of Budapest's other sights including Castle Hill, Matthias Church, the Chain Bridge, Parliament, St. Istavan's Basilica, the Hungarian State Opera House, Heroes' Square, and City Park. We must have walked about 10 miles this day which caught up with this pregnant lady by the end of the day, but it was worth it. We finished the day with a traditional Hungarian meal. We all agreed that Hungarian food is much better than Austrian. Even Colin loved his Hungarian noodles (tiny dumplings). This was actually Easter day. Not a traditional Easter but one that will always be remembered.

We ended our trip the following day with breakfast at the grand New York Cafe. The New York Cafe is an extremely opulent coffeehouse that was originally built in 1894. After years of neglect (at one point it was a textile warehouse), it was reopened in 2006. Definitely the most amazing "cafe" I have ever been to.

Following our breakfast, we packed up our hotel room and headed to the airport. Another amazing European travel adventure. I posted some pictures of the highlights below. Our time left in London is limited (only a little over two months to go), but we still have a few more amazing trips to look forward to. Next stop, Switzerland!