Visiting the Dodo Bird at Vienna's Naturhistorisches Museum

One of the most memorable stops in our trip was our afternoon visit to Vienna's Naturhistorisches Museum. As a child, I was a HUGE fan of books containing pages full of photos of the different animal species. A particular interest of mine was this book showcasing all the extinct animals with the various reasons for their extinction. I had no idea that I was gonna see all of my childhood favorites that afternoon.

* Opened in 1889, the Naturhistorisches Museum stands on the grounds of the Maria-Theresien-Platz, across its identical twin building, the Kunsthistorisches, Vienna's Museum of Fine Arts.

* The two museums were commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I to house the Habsburg's sprawling collection of artworks, fossils, and preserved animal displays.

* Check out this crab whose head is bigger than my wife's!

* Octopuses? Octopi? Octopodes?

* Eat all you can Seafood Buffet!

* A collection of creepy crawlies.

* An armadillo devouring an ant hill.

* A swarm of butterflies, with a grinning alligator.

* Predators of the deep blue.

* With their Lord, the Great White Shark.

* Gigantic Arapaima, one of the largest freshwater fish in the world.

* A bunch of fossilized fish wearing their Halloween costumes.

* A sneaky one trying to steal a kiss from the missus.

* A very chill looking fish-eel with a fancy haircut.

* We had a ball checking out these cheerful looking fish. They look like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon.

* And our two favorites! Parrot-beaked Peter and Pessimistic Paul.

* A hallway my mother would love. (She hates snakes.)

* All hail the King Cobra!

* Anaconda looking for a J.Lo reunion movie.

* The rattlesnake, which freaked me out more than I was expecting!

* Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello

* Which one among you guys was Captain Hook's nemesis?

* The one on the left is rumored to be the biggest gossiper among the gals.

* The awe-inspiring Komodo Dragon. It's HUGE!

* These two are on vacation from Hogwarts.

* The Philippine Eagle (or Monkey Eating Eagle), which ironically I saw for the first time in Vienna!

* 10 year old Dane and Monicca were VERY happy!

* Different shades of Happy Feet.

* Oscar the Ostrich standing elegantly.

* These fellas don't wanna get left out!

* The Vulture, just as I remembered from the Jungle Book cartoon!

* Hipster Bird with the most epic of beards.

* The famous Dodo Bird! My favorite out of all the extinct animals is a lot bigger than I was expecting it to be. 

* A multitude of colors and name plates.

* The Tasmanian Tiger, chillin under the spotlight.

* Ant lovers waiting for the buffet to open.

* The Southern Elephant Seal, happily greeting us with an Italian accent.

* The one on the left took her diet too far!

* The Hungry Hippo looking very pleased.

* Gary the Giraffe with the unscratchable itch behind his neck.

* The Okapi wearing designer-label skinny jeans.

* Pumbaa missing Timon, dearly.

* A tale of Camels and Llamas.

* The Chimpanzees played around with my sunblock lotion again!

* Retirement home for Santa's loyal helpers.

* Wally the Walrus enjoying his Cal-King bed.

* All the Bears we could bear...

* A pack of canines; tough together, adorable apart.

* The Orangutan still raving about his performance in Planet of the Apes.

* The museum currently houses around 30 million objects, cared for and studied by over 60 scientists.

* Aside from the collection, the architecture and design of the building is also worth noting.

* Magnificent! This place could double as one of the French / Austrian Palaces.

* While the first floor is dedicated to animals, the second floor is full of precious stones, minerals, and meteorites.

* A humongous slab of Amethyst, which was believed by the Ancient Greeks to prevent alcohol intoxication. Sign me up for one of these!

* A geologist's dream!

* Brushing his teeth must have been a chore!

* One of those rare fossilized ancient fish from our childhood text books!

* The climax of any museum is most definitely its dinosaur exhibit!

* How Jurassic Park's Velociraptor actually looked like! She fancy!

* One of the museum's prized collections is this complete Diplodocus skeleton from Andrew Carnegie, steel baron and one of the richest Americans in history.

* An equally impressive exhibit is this one of man's various ancestors, with skulls trying to complete the link from ape to man.

* This computer simulation of how one would look as a Neanderthal was a big hit among museum-goers! Not too shabby indeed.

* A pleasure meeting fellow Honeymooners on this trip! These two look like they're gonna make it for the long haul.

* An afternoon well spent, satisfying the inner children in us.