Colonial Williamsburg has to be America’s quintessential educational family travel destination. It’s like Disney for the NPR-crowd. Kids have fun and think they are on vacation. Almost accidentally, they learn about American history by watching and interacting with characters in costume. We had a great time but found it challenging to get our arms around the entire experience. There is too much to do in a short visit and yet I’m not sure parents or kids are likely to enjoy more than a few days at a time. Based on our recent visit, here are a few insider tips to help your family have a blast.
Colonial Williamsburg might also be one of the most photogenic places on Earth. We hope you enjoy a small sample of the five zillion photos we took while visiting. Read more
“Low in a vale, by wood-crown’d heights o’erhung,
Everyone we’ve spoken to has asked what I don’t like. So far there are only three things. One is ordering in restaurants with our kids. There just aren’t always choices that make them happy and we’re getting a lot of sudden outbursts: “I hate hotdogs” or “I hate pizza” but this is getting easier every day. Last night, I gave in and made macaroni and cheese – they were very happy!! Then we watched Ratatouille after ice-skating at the Rathaus (town hall). The second is the toilets. The system of a WC and a sink in a separate room is fine but in old buildings (such as my office), it means that there are often only 3-4 
Life is great. I know this is the least interesting part for everyone else. Who really wants to get a postcard from Hawaii saying ‘It’s beautiful here!” I should begin anyway with what a big success our Austrian Adventure has been so far. We’ve seen opera and ballet, visited Eastern European countries, gone skiing in the Alps, and eaten an enormous number of pastries. An unexpected bonus has been the family time. Since we are somewhat isolated here, we spend a lot of time just the four of us and this is wonderful. We have some new family traditions now – heading to a “heurigan” (wine house) after school on Fridays if we are in town or taking the tram whichever direction comes first. We’ve maintained the weekend pancake tradition but it has metamorphosed into Swedish pancake/crepes with Nutella and “schlag”(whipped cream). The girls are growing and learning so fast it’s hard to keep up. Logan goes on exciting field trips for school, is loving piano lessons, and can say “fart” in several languages (I know I know). She plans to be reading before we leave Austria. Zoey can ride the public bus, transfer to the 
We’ve been in Vienna just about a month. We arrived to a terrific apartment. We are lucky to have met a friend in Seattle with an apartment to rent for exactly these 6 months (while they are in Seattle working for Microsoft). It’s near an old village, Grinzing, which has now been somewhat absorbed by the city as it bumps into the foothills that surround Vienna. We can jog into the city or up into the vineyards. Of course, the Viennese have strategically placed a wine house on the top of every hill with a good view. There are also lots of local wine houses, heurigans, in our part of town. Some are pretty touristy but we are slowly discovering the more authentic and cozy places. 
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