The weather was set to be warm and sunny and I had Monday off work, so it was a spur of the moment decision to go to Vienna for the weekend.
We left Saturday morning for the 4 hour drive, stopping along the way near a lovely lake for a picnic. There were swans on the lake, taking flight and chasing each other, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before, their wings are so loud! Amazing to watch. Amelia and Noah chased each other between the trees and played hide and seek and weren’t the least bit interested in the food after I’d spent a whole afternoon and the best part of the morning preparing it to use up what was in the fridge! It was great to be travelling again with Karen on the Sat Nav guiding us, the car packed up, passing snacks and drinks to the monsters in the back! Brought back memories of our trip. And it was nice to leave the snow behind, heading into regions where there was no snow left at all and we were excited to see grass! We needed no thermals or puffy jackets, and it was great to wear normal shoes and a light cardigan instead of having to rug up so much. There was much excitement about going to ‘the city’ and Amelia was telling Noah all about how we were going to ‘live’ in a hotel for two days!
We arrived about 4pm. We chose the hotel for its proximity to the city centre and it was a great location but looked dodgy enough for the price. The hotel was set on the 8th and top floor of an apartment block and this is where the reception, breakfast room, and single and double rooms were located. As we had booked the family room, this was on the 1st floor opposite a rickety old lift big enough for one man and his suitcase and surrounded by other apartments belonging to God knows who! It was old, with one of those annoying showers that’s not a real shower but a shower head attached to a tube attached to the tap with water taking turns being extremely hot and freezing cold. Also there was no heating, until we enquired about it on the first morning after a freezing night and they fixed it for us. But it was spacious and the beds were comfortable and it was clean, so no problems really. Maciek was pleased as the T.V had Eurosport in English! Not that he had chance to watch it.
We went out straight away to catch the last of the light and splashed out for the first time ever on a horse and carriage ride, and what a city to do it in! Vienna is beautiful. Brilliant architecture and museums galore. It gave us a good start to get our bearings of the layout of the city and where we could go the next day. And we finished off the evening with Nuggets and Chips at Old MacDonalds which is the only thing the kids were looking forward to about ‘going to the city!’ (And the whole time on the carriage this is all Amelia was talking about - typical!)
After breakfast the next morning (which was surprisingly relaxing and confirms our thoughts that we did our Europe trip one year too early as far as Noah goes!) we wandered back into the centre in luxurious sunshine and took in some of the sights we’d seen on the horsey ride in daylight and took our time. It was such an enjoyable morning, with 20 degrees and sunshine keeping us warm and smiling, window shopping, Amelia and Noah running around happily (bit too loud for some Sunday morning strollers but oh well). We felt like such country bumpkins! Being in the ‘big city!’ There were so many nationalities around. Weird and wonderful fashions. Hundreds of cafes and shops. Bums and beggars! Smells of a variety of national foods wafting from restaurtants. And we realized how we’d gotten used to ‘country life’, the quietness, no crowds, being able to leave your doors unlocked and return for a bag left behind after half hour and find it sitting where you left it, not watching your back incase of pickpockets, fresh mountain air (and tap water), no graffiti, no chewing gum gone black scattered over the pavement. We loved the contrast and it was quite invigorating to experience the difference. On the way back to the hotel Noah fell asleep on Daddy’s shoulders! And after a rest (Noah slept and Amelia watched a DVD which gave us some rare time to chat, and eat cake, which was nice!) we caught the tube (WOW, the city has a train that goes UNDERTHEGROUND!) to Praters which is a big park with a fun fair.
Didn’t think it was going to be so big! It was unexpected in a city like Vienna, when you think of Mozart and the like, but it was a full on loud busy smelly fair like the Royal Show! There was even a carousel featuring real horses, or ponies, which was weird, and quite cruel. Not a big fan of that. Is that even allowed? Amelia and Noah enjoyed a couple of rides, and so did Maciek up on the giant swing, and we looked everywhere for that ‘turning head clown game’ as Amelia really wanted to win a prize, but we could only find crap ones where it’s near impossible to win like bursting a balloon with a dart, shooting the bullseye, or throwing rolled up balls of socks into a pyramid of tin cans, which is the one Maciek tried, so Amelia ended up with the booby prize of a fluffy heart on a keyring; she wasn’t impressed! We ended the evening with coffee and cake in the main square next to the Catherdral, where we were surrounded on all three sides by Russians!
We left next morning so we could get back to ‘the country’ at a reasonable hour and also to have enough time to stop in at Schonbrunn Palace and Grounds on the way. We didn’t go inside the Palace (for two little reasons!) but Maciek suggested trying to sneak in on the Japanese tour group until we realized we might not blend in as the Japanese have quite a unique fashion sense (he he!). We walked the grounds which were extensive and you could imagine how stunning they would look in the full bloom of summer. The highlight of the morning was walking the path through a wooded area to see squirrels scurrying about and one that came straight up to Noah and sat up on its hind legs looking straight at him! “I saw his eyes!”exclaimed Noah, and Amelia thought it was so great that when we finally arrived home she drew a picture of the event which I have proudly displayed on the wall in the hallway!
It was a fantastic little getaway. Amelia and Noah were so good despite the mileage their poor little legs did! Don’t really know what all the buildings and statues are called, or the history behind anything we saw like I usually would, but we didn’t have too much time to read up about it with kinder in tow, but enjoy the photos anyway! And if anyone knows why Japanese peoples always do the ‘peace’ sign everytime they have their photo taken when touring the world, please enlighten me….?
P.S Photos to come......
Having said that it’s beginning to warm up. It’s been around 10 degrees some days. Woohoo, t-shirts and shorts weather! It’s amazing how warm it does feel after experiencing – 20’s. The snow is beginning to melt too, and it sounds like it’s raining all the time as the snow is melting into the gutters and running onto the ground. We can see patches of grass and bits of fence starting to make and appearance and it might sound funny but after everything being covered in so much snow for so long it’s really weird to see it. The walls of ice are melting too, and driving around we can point things out that we haven’t seen for months, like the farmhouse, and the phone box, having been hidden behind the ice wall and not visible from the road. 
And last but not least, Maciek’s days of a Lederhosen wearing non-German speaking waiter in an Austrian hotel are at an end. Boo hoo and toodle oo! No more on-the-house-wink-wink-nudge-nudge Milka chocolates that he nicked and stuffed in his jacket pockets on his way out at the end of his shift everyday!
