Finally a post about the farmhouse

Late but definitely not forgotten, we got to spend Easter weekend with our good friends, Ken, Noemi and Minu Linnau at their weekend place an hour outside of Vienna. They have an old farmhouse that they are redoing themselves, and we had so much fun! Where the farmhouse is situated, it's so remote that if 3 cars pass by during the day, then that's a lot of traffic. It was incredibly relaxing! The first day, we visited a castle not far from the farmhouse - in Austria families used to own castles and rule their land from there, so there is a castle every few miles, and they are gorgeous! That night, we made a big fire and John cooked burgers on the grill - yummy! John, Jen and Chloe spent the night at a family pension around the corner where they had a really nice playground for the girls. Of course, Burton loved roaming around all over the place.

The next day, John and I went for a run through farmland and forests. We really love Austria - it is beautiful beyond words. And the girls had so much fun playing and splashing around:



We then shared a wonderful paella that Ken cooked on the outdoor grill. It was delicious! Minu and Chloe loved it. We ended our trip by stopping at the spa town not far from the farmhouse where the Viennese escape for the weekend to get massages and facials and enjoy the gardens and peaceful atmosphere. The town was so cute, with a river running through it and yummy ice cream. And, Chloe made friends with the ducks while the adults made plans to visit again!

You can see all of our photos from this weekend at http://albums.phanfare.com/4830992/2009/

We're in Moscow!

I never thought I'd say it, but we're really in Moscow! Wow, it seems surreal. We arrived on Sunday afternoon after almost missing our flight because our car service didn't show up. Thanks to a speedy driver, we did make it, and immediately headed to Red Square. We only spent a little time there, planning to go back another day to visit Lenin's Tomb and see it all lit up at night. What struck us the most was St. Basil's Church which is at one end. It is beautiful with so many colors and textures and those funky onion domes! Also, along one side of the square is GUM, a building that used to house an old communist market. They have transformed it into the most beautiful and upscale mall either of us has ever seen. It is gorgeous, a rectangle four story building that is open in the middle with arched bridges to get from one side to the other and has every couture shop you can name.

John is in training all week, so Chloe and I are on our own during the days. Yesterday, we visited Gorky Park, and Chloe went on her first carousel ride. It seems like she liked it although I think her favorite thing so far was swimming in the jacuzzi at the hotel =). Moscow is HUGE! It's definitely not a walking city, and the metro is really hard to navigate due to the fact that the Russian letters are completely foreign and nothing is in English as well as the fact that it's not so stroller friendly. Hopefully, I'll get better at it. We're headed out to explore an artsy/wealthy area this afternoon after Chloe's nap, and we're going to the zoo tomorrow. Thankfully, the weather has been really nice. Stay tuned for more on our Russian adventures......