I remember putting Vienna into our itinerary and sort of saying 'I heard it's lovely there! I bet there are things to do' and then just never coming back to do any micro-planning for the week. So...we found ourselves on the Flixbus from Munich to Vienna on a beautiful full-fall morning zipping through the countryside towards an unknown city with an unplanned agenda.

I'm pretty sure that bus stations are probably the most unfortunate places to create first impressions, Vienna was no exception. We hustled off the bus, stretched our legs and collected our packs. We phoned it in and called an uber rather than hoofing it to our flat, what luxury! Our hostess met us with a key and a smile and showed us where we'd be staying for the week. As soon as we opened the door we all let out audible sighs - there was space! Tall ceilings, a private toilet AND shower, and doors, so so many of them! We all quickly collapsed on our respective beds and just sat for a minute soaking it all in.

I can't sit still for long, however, so I proceeded with my normal routine. I broke down our backpacks and placed our clothes in the dressing area, the toiletries in the bathroom and hung our coats on our individual hooks. The quicker I do this the better the place we're staying at feels. Then, I snoop the pantry and hope that the previous guests have left us something good. There was coffee and cream and that was all that mattered :) We did a quick grocery shop across the street at the Spar, enough for dinner and breakfast. And then we just relaxed the rest of our travel day away in our sweet apartment. We cooked chicken and rice at home and just felt good to be eating at our own table. Even chopping the onions brought me joy. I really do miss cooking. And I know Jon misses access to our sharp knives for chopping - it's the little things!

We actually did end up getting out to explore this very cool city eventually. The weather was perfect all week, warm and sunny with gorgeous fall colors and crunchy leaves on the ground. We had a metro station just up the block from us. Not one time did I see anyone checking tickets that whole week - kind of felt like Portland. On the metros in Berlin we had to keep those tickets handy all the time there were so many checks!

The best parts of this lovely city were the open green spaces and the ability to just stroll in a somewhat condensed area and see so much.

I think I can speak for Harry when saying Vienna has the most epic playgrounds that we've seen yet. And so many of them everywhere! It was actually a bit of a dream week for Harrison. Not only did we do playgrounds daily but Jon found the most blissful pool/spa and we spent 3 hours playing there. I floated in a saltwater pool with music playing underwater. We piled on a three-seater tube and spiraled down slides several times. Harry jumped off a really high diving board (he is just so much braver than I am). And if that wasn't enough, there was an epic amusement park right around the corner from our flat. Yeesh. We rounded out the week riding a sky-high swing, scaring Harry's pants off in a too-scary pirate ride and eating at a rollercoaster restaurant where your order does loop-de-loops to your table.

We did all of this awesome stuff having not even known about it beforehand. They weren't on our list of activities (yes I do track them all on a page in my excel doc). I don't know that you could do that kind of unplanning in all cities, especially those that have huge lines to big time attractions, but I think it really worked for Vienna. It was the first city that I really regret not having stayed longer.