Where we've been . . .

In case you wondered if we dropped off the face of the earth the past three weeks, here's what we've been up to and where we've been:

In Vienna at Schönbrunn Palace

At Schönbrunn Palace, there is a wonderful Children's Museum about the lives of the Hapsburgs, the last ruling family of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Much of it is focused on the life of "Sissi", or Kaiserin Elisabeth, who was the next-to-last empress of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. A beautiful, but tragic figure, she was the Princess Diana of her day and is still a pop icon within the German-speaking world.

There is a costume section where the whole family can dress up like the kaisers. 

Here my daughter practices royal hair-dos with a mannequin of Sissi in the background. 

The Royal Siblings 

My son wasn't too crazy about the princess stuff and preferred
the zoo at Schönbrunn. He also loved the Prater,
an amusement park, in north Vienna. 

At a castle in Hungary

From Vienna we moved on to Hungary where Mom and Dad attended a very fun and refreshing conference while the kids played, swam and made new friends.

We watched Hungarian folk dances and held a live falcon
at a castle near Lake Balaton.

Celebrating a Dino-riffic Birthday

My son turned eight the day after we returned from Hungary and we celebrated his birthday at the the Naturkunde Museum (Natural History Museum) here in Berlin.

The children got to visit a pile of fossils that the paleontology students at
Humboldt University had inspected and thrown away.
Each child got to pick out 2 fossils to take home.

As part of the birthday package, the museum prepares a huge box
full of sand and bones for the kids to "excavate".
They get to dress up like they are in the desert and then
discuss their finds with the dosent. 

Starting School

And then we started school!  Both I and my son have been so busy with our new classes, that I haven't been able to do much blogging.: ) As soon as I get back into the rhythm of things, I'll post a few more things.

This a traditional German "Schultüte" or School Cone that each
new first grader receives at a welcoming ceremony.
It is filled with school supplies, candy and toys!