I guess that title is a little on the nose, since, of course, we went with a baby. We did consider leaving him home for the weekend; I mean, he is a big 7-month-old baby now. But, since he still can’t manage to prepare his own bottles or change his own diaper, we decided it was a bit too early.
Anyway.
We went to Vienna!
Originally, we planned to go to Vienna for the marathon. Shane ran the Füssen marathon in July 2025, liked it, and was ready to keep up the challenge! My one stipulation to him running more marathons was that he needed to pick races in places we’ve never been. If he was going to commandeer our Saturday mornings with training, then I should at least get a city trip out of it, right? So, he picked Vienna because we’ve never been and because it was quite a large race, ~45,000 runners across all events; the opposite experience of Füssen’s ~800 participants.
Unfortunately, Shane ended up with an injury and decided not to run the marathon. But the car and Airbnb were already booked, so we decided to go regardless. And I’m so glad we did. Not only is Vienna a cool city, but it was a real confidence boost in terms of travel with Nolen.
Slight side note, we decided to drive to Vienna since Shane originally planned to run the marathon. Between the running/recovery gear and Nolen’s things, the train felt unmanageable. So, we took this opportunity not only to drive, but to rent an electric car for the first time.
I think a big hesitation about EVs, at least for us, was the long-distance range and how long you would need to stop and charge. And I had literally zero clue as to how expensive (or not) it would be to charge. Sure, I can read that it’s X cents per kWh, but what does that actually MEANNN, ya know? Given that we would need to stop for Nolen anyway (that darn baby wants to eat!), what better time to test it out?!
Long story short, I’d certainly rent an EV again. We maaayy have been spoiled (ok, we were absolutely spoiled) because they gave us an 2025 Audi Q6 e-tron. So, I’d venture to guess that the luxury vehicle biased our opinion. Regardless, the experience was positive. Charging stations were everywhere, and fast charging from ~20% to 80% only took ~20 minutes.
As for cost, the price per kWh depended on where you were and how fast you charge. For example, fast-charging off the highway (generally at a gas station) was 0.49 cents/kWh, whereas in the city (in both Munich and Vienna) it was 0.79 cents/kWh. But, all the charging stations had an associated app, so if you downloaded the app and made an account (which we didn’t bother to do), you automatically got cheaper rates. In total, we needed 4 charges (a halfway stop and a charge when we arrived at the destination) and paid ~€135 (~$160). The internet tells me that gas costs in a comparable vehicle (Audi Q5) would be between €115-150. So, we didn’t pay considerably less than we would have with a gas car, but we were emission-free! All in all, we had a positive experience.
Now, back to Vienna!
The plus side to Shane not running the marathon is that we got to see more of the city than we would have otherwise. So, what did we do first? A walking tour, of course!
Nolen did surprisingly well. We weren’t sure how he would do in terms of noisiness. We’re in the babbling/raspberry blowing stage and didn’t want him to impede others from hearing what was going on, but he did great! I think having other people to look at and moving from place to place kept him entertained enough.
We also changed our tourism strategy. Pre-kid Shane and Whitney would be out the door first thing in the morning and come back sometime after dinner. Obviously, that’s a long day for a 7-month-old. So, we slowed things down, which worked really well. We went out after his first (long) morning nap at ~10-10:30 and stayed out until ~5:30 pm, which gave us plenty of time to play tourist and Nolen some decompression/roll around time before bed. And honestly, it saved money too, since we planned for 2 meals in the Airbnb.
Despite our abbreviated day, we still managed to see the city center highlights (e.g., St. Stephen’s Cathedral), go to a museum (Nolen’s first natural history museum!), and see one of the many palaces (Schönbrunn Palace), including it’s associated zoo (the oldest in Europe)!
We also saw the State Hall of the Austrian National Library, which was super cool! Nolen thought so, too. He blew ALL the raspberries and gave little screams of happiness, which just echoed in this quiet, open space. Luckily, people thought it was funny; nonetheless, we didn’t linger. 🤪
Overall, it was a really good trip. A few people asked what my favorite part of Vienna was, and honestly, I think my favorite part was the confidence boost that we CAN still travel and do the things we enjoy with a baby in tow. Of course, no two trips will ever be the same since he will be a whole new person by the time we take our next one. Nonetheless, we started off on a positive note! And the idea of showing him new places in the future is an exciting one.
Our next big trip isn’t until September, for our 10-year wedding anniversary and Nolen’s first birthday! So, until then, we will be soaking in summertime in Munich. Shane’s contract ends in August, and he has lots of holiday time to use. Plus, it’s biergarten season! So, we’ve made it a goal take advantage of what’s nearby.
So, until the next one!
Tschüss!
The Shwits 