Vienna - end of summer

Well....with one month until we arrive back home....I think our northern hemisphere 'summer' has come to an end. 

Whilst Vienna today was bathed in glorious sunshine - the chill of the wind held the prelude to what is ahead for all of europe.....winter.

We took a stroll through the 'old city' this morning, which is literally just outside our front door. Our accommodation in Vienna is in a prime position for all things (shopping, site seeing, Shane's course) however it has to be the ugliest building in Vienna....it does have a bit of a 'housing commission' tone to it.....although you wouldn't think it once you got in the front door of the apartment....

Anyway - we wandered out the front door, crossed the bridge and were in the old town. Poor Eloise struggled with the cold wind (I think it was about 10 degrees at this point) so our first stop was to find a beanie for Eloise's cold head.

Neve got in the spirit of things and tried this ensemble on....very chic I say.

Eloise's new hat - pink of course

With matching gloves....

To celebrate Eloise's warm head and hands, we stopped off for a coffee and hot chocolate - this time I made sure we got some without the mountain of cream on top - you can have too much of a good thing!

Looking so pleased...and warm!

Vienna is lovely...the old town has beautiful streets that seem custom made for strolling...with beautiful buildings everywhere you turn.

St Stephen's church...one of the most famous in Vienna. I think they have only gotten around to cleaning the front side of the church.

Notice this statue has a net draped over it....I assume it's to stop all the pigeons pooing all over it....

Michaeler Platz (or square)

State apartments and treasuries building....

At lunchtime, Shane had to leave to start his course (we are here to work after all!) so the girls and I had a lazy afternoon in the apartment, watching TV (mostly in German) and playing games. 

In the evening when Shane came back, we took another walk into the old town...getting our first bratwurst for the trip. This was Neve's second bratwurst experience (her first being when she was in Switzerland when she was 18 months old..so not sure that counts) and Eloise's first...I have to say they enjoyed it much more than the usual sausage sandwiches that we get outside Bunnings on a weekend!!

Bratwurst buddies

Eloise trying to get her mouth around the bratwurst!!

Just like in the daylight, Vienna is lovely to walk around in the night...we found a shop that sells traditional clothing for children....and another pink scooter (this time a true vespa - Shane has promised Neve she can have one for her 21st if she can actually learn to ride one!).

The moon over the streets of Vienna

St Stephens church at night

Traditional children's costumes...

Neve with her future mode of transport....

After the walk it was time for bed for the kids. It is a novelty to be in a place where the sunset isn't so late that you can't go out of a night with the children.....I can finally get to see a city all lit up of an evening.

Tomorrow Shane is working all day so we will see what adventures us girls can come up with - probably shopping for a pink scarf for Eloise!!!

Graz - Vienna (Austria)

Good evening. It is cold (12 degrees) and wet and the beaches of Sardinia seem like a million miles (and a lifetime) away....

Today we left Graz (well....we never actually went to Graz - just stayed in a nearby town that wasn't particularly interesting apart from the liederhosen in the hardware store and the cool car-trolley thingys).....and drove the 2+ hours to Vienna.

When we got here we had to wait for an hour or so for our apartment to be ready....so we walked around the corner and got coffees/hot chocolates/waffles/brownie (basically anything sugar related). My hot chocolate was delicious but I could feel my arteries clogging up after working my way through half-a-mug full of chocolate whipped cream (which was utterly delicious though!!). We were just in time because whilst we were sitting there the heavens opened and the rain came down.

We dashed across the road to some sort of new design (invention) shopping centre that had some really cool stuff (like maps of all the big cities of the world that were printed on some sort of fabric so you could just scrunch them up and shove them in your bag and they wouldn't rip).....

Anyway - it passed the time until we were allowed in our apartment. Great location - right on the Danube (although no view unfortunately) and across the bridge from the old city. The girls were VERY excited about the bunk beds in their room but not sure either of them will be safe enough to sleep up on the top bunk - paranoid parents perhaps??

My Mum was flying out this evening so she stayed to have a shower and change while we went to get groceries.

We had parked somewhat illegally I think so after we dropped Mum at the airport and the girls had stopped crying...."I miss Nanny" - which led onto "I miss Sophie the dog", "I miss school", "I miss my toys", "I miss Poppy", "I miss my friends"....etc...we took the car to a 'park and ride' where we can leave the car for the whole week for less than 16 euro!! We had to catch the train (or U-Bahn) back to our apartment which was always exciting for the kids. I haven't taken a photo but Neve thought it was a cross between the New York subway and the Dublin dart...

Tonight the girls had a 'home cooked' meal (which wasn't pasta)...the first one they had really had since leaving Dublin. They were so excited by the novelty of vegetables that they ate them all with barely room for any of the meat!

When I sat down to write this blog...I realised I had not taken any photos today...it isn't that we didn't see cool stuff...and I hate to think that I am becoming accustomed to seeing interesting things....but today was really just about getting to our next home base (we are in Vienna for a week).

Actually, I DID take a few shots....just of the inside of our apartment...if anyone is interested...

Kitchen....

Kids room....




























 Lounge/dining

Our bedroom...of course there is also a bathroom but didn't think anyone would need to see that - although the kids are very interested in the 'inspection shelf' that forms part of the toilet bowl....!?!













I also took two of the girls in the car. Our rental car has tray tables for the backseats which the kids were very excited to use during the drive...they liked to pretend they were on an aeroplane and having an 'in-flight- meal!!!

Tomorrow Shane starts a course for a few days so the girls and I might have a quiet day, catching up on school work and wandering through the old city of Vienna.....perhaps another hot chocolate might be necessary to ward off the cold weather!! :)

Lake Bled (Slovenia) - Graz (Austria)

Lake Bled is gorgeous....I cannot say anything else that can describe it.....it is a little gem of a place that feels very special.

We woke to a crisp but sunny morning, looking forward to exploring more of this place that looked so promising even in the dark last night. 

Fuelled by a hotel breakfast (a hotel breakfast buffet is such a treat for the kids - even though they hardly eat anything...they seem to love it - when we got to the hotel last night Eloise spotted the breakfast room as instantly grabbed me and said "Look at that Mummy.....guess what that is?........Breakfast!!!") we set off to the lake to take a look.

And what a look it is. The tiny island in the lake, with one of those picture perfect churches perched on the middle of it, bells ringing across the water.....the castle high up on a hill above the town....the other picture perfect church positioned on the waters' edge.....all against a backdrop of mountains with just a hint of snow.....

We walked down and found some boats that took people over to the tiny island on the lake - so we jumped on board and were rowed by a man across to the island.

On the boat....

The island houses a church, a small shop and a cafe....we were given half an hour to explore the island before the boat took us back to the lake edge. This was just long enough to see the church and do a quick lap around the island to make sure we took in every angle on the view surrounding us..

 

Coming up towards the island

The church on the island

The Dempseys....

My Mum and Neve looking out over the lake to the castle

My 2 global travellers.....

The castle and the other gorgeous church....plus a few hints of snow on the mountains behind. This was the girls first real sighting of snow so they were very excited and are now keen to make snowmen.....all of this about 24 hours after leaving the beach in Sardinia!!!!!

After our boat trip we wandered along the lake's edge...stopping off for the obligatory 'local' cream cake (it is important to respect local culture after all!).

This was probably a blessing because we then had to walk up the mountain to reach the castle above....I didn't count the number of steps but it would have been up in the hundreds! Neve walked the whole lot (and back down)....she said her legs were very wobbly once we got back!!

The castle was lovely and gave a super view across the lake....

The view from the top of the castle

Shane's new Facebook profile....

The girls thought they might see Rapunzel in the castle tower and it took some convincing of Eloise that she wasn't at home today!!

Back down from the castle and another slow walk around the lake until we stopped for lunch. After lunch we were back in the car for the drive "through" the Slovenian alps - I say "through" because we literally drove through an 8km tunnel that went straight through the mountains....so I can't say the view was anything amazing....

The scenic drive through the alps....

I have to say we were all more than a little sad to leave Bled so soon. It was a peaceful, beautiful and the kind of place you could easily stay a week doing activities.....

But onwards we went and we passed the border into Austria. Our accommodation tonight is in a village FAR less scenic than Bled (more of a stop on the highway really) - but we did find a Bunnings-type store that also strangely sold liederhosen and Austrian national dress....

Shane testing out the Austrian clothing.......the pants themselves were 99.99 euro so no impulse buying from us!

We also found they had the best supermarket trolleys in the world.......Eloise was devastated that we couldn't actually buy one to do our grocery shopping when we get home!!!

So here ends another day. Tomorrow we make our way into Vienna (about 2 hours drive away) and also say goodbye to my Mum who has travelled along with us now for just over 2 weeks.....she has been very tolerant of my crazy kids and I hope she has had a good time. I know my girls will miss her terribly (as will Shane and I as there will be no one else to take over the kid-minding reigns!!!).

Villasimius - Lake Bled (Slovenia)

Today we let glorious Sardinia...in glorious sunshine and crystal clear water....and headed back to mainland Italy and then travelled into Slovenia and ended up up at Lake Bled.

It was a big day of travel. We left the resort in Sardinia at around 10ish and didn't arrive in Lake Bled until 7pm. Lots of hanging around airports and driving (1 hour from Villasimius to Cagliari airport and 2 hours from Trieste airport to Lake Bled). The kids were pretty well behaved (as far as a 4 and 6 year old could be I guess....although there were still moments I could have strangled them)

It is amazing how different the scenery can be in just one day of travel. We left rocky, pretty barren (the only things we have seen growing on the hills of Sardinia are prickly pear bushes and 'goats with bells') and hot weather....and are now staying at the foothills of the alps....certainly not freezing cold but definitely not worried about sunburn!!!!

We drove through the Slovenian- Italian border without a hitch









And what a surprise package Slovenia is!!! Is it beautiful! Suddenly the world turned green and the mountains and alps started looming closer and closer. I have never seen so many churches on mountain tops either....it was as if any accessible mountain top (and even those that look inaccessible), sat with a church perched on top of it. It was hard to get a photo from the moving car....but trust me....they looked fabulous.

Sunset behind a church as we whizzed past at 120km/hr.

We arrived in Lake Bled an found our hotel before wandering down the street for dinner. It was a refreshing change from pizza and pasta and the food tasted devine after such a long days travel. We even sat next to an Australian/Danish couple....it was interesting to hear an Australian accent after what seemed like ages.....can't remember the last one we heard....possibly back in Dubllin?

After dinner we walked down to the lake and saw the 'castle' which is high up on a hill...along with another beautiful church (this time not on a hill) and the island in the middle of the lake which houses another castle or a church (can't remember which one).

Without a doubt one of the most picturesque places we have been ......can't wait to see it in the morning light.

We were also harassed by a few local swans looking for food....or perhaps they were friends of Mrs Thornton the bird!!!






After a look at the lake we headed back to bed....not before another gelato (or is it ice cream now?) experience......cinnamon......my new favourite!!!!

Cinnamon....this could possibly be the ultimate champion!!!























Tomorrow we spend the day exploring Lake Bled....maybe catch a boat to the island....maybe go up and see the castle.....whatever we do....this little place will be something special!!!

Villasimius - Villa silly us

OK...another excerpt from Shane's facebook.....

"Each morning since being in Sardinia, I have swum out to a boy (buoy) off the shore. While I estimate 1- 1.5kms, Claire thinks more likely 300mts, but never-the-less, today it ended in a fight for life. On my return swim I was attacked by a Medusa (jelly fish). Its long poisonous tentacles wrapped around my neck and shoulders and a battle ensued. It dragged me 30-40-50 mts below water and we battled life and death. Fists and tentacles were thrown. Ultimately it let go, I surfaced, scarred but alive. I swum to shore ultimately giving it a 50% of a blue bottle sting, to see Italians weeping and putting ice on their hands where it had got them and fleeing the beach. Seriously. It was no bluey. No wonder they dive in world cup football quarter finals."

Hmmmm......SLIGHT exaggeration there from Shane....the REAL story is as follows:

Shane did his daily swim out to the buoy (which I still insist is 100-200 metres from shore) and seemed no different when he swam back to Neve and I - who were playing, neck-deep in the water. "I think I have been hit by a sting-ray?, he says. "Really?", I ask. "Where is it?".......never-the-less, Neve and I got out of the water. I had myself just swum out past the first markers, enjoying the magically clear water which was even clearer today than the other days - I could actually make out had badly my toenail polish was chipped even through the water (even without my contact lenses in) - that's how clear it was.....

A few minutes later we noticed a "crowd" (being off-season a crowd now constitutes 5 or more people) standing at the shore line looking at something. "Must be the sting-ray", said Shane.....until he walked down to find out what it was.....turns out to be a few jelly-fish, probably smaller than your fist in size....

So no, "battle" was fought....no torrent in the water....although to give him credit he was very brave and didn't required the ice packs that a few others were seen holding to various limbs.....and the welts that appeared half an hour or so later were pretty impressive...

Just a shame that on our last day in the resort and on the beach, the water (and it really was more beautiful today than ever before - if that is possible) was off-limits!!!

Neve - before "invasion"

Look at the water....it's terrifying!!!

And the beach looked SO inviting!!!!!










Not to be outdone by a bunch of jelly-fish...we moved to the pool area and continued our last morning in the sunshine and swimming....

Last night, at the "Baby Dance", we were treated to a 'spectacular' by Neve, Eloise and 2 other children, on stage, doing the Italian dance routines....

They had a great time - although I cannot understand why they need to have a "baby dance' that starts at 9:15pm!!! Italy is a crazy country where none of the restaurants open until 7:30pm and it doesn't seem like ANYONE (children included) go to bed before 11pm.....which is OK when you are on holiday and can sleep in until 9am (which I must admit our children have been getting close to...these late nights aren't doing them any favours)...but how do you sustain that long-term! I actually cannot remember the last time our girls were in bed at 7:30pm (their usual bed-time)....possibly a night or two in New York...maybe?

Anyway, yesterday was also the last day of the kids club. The girls had fallen in love with one of the staff, Cristina, who was so patient and lovely with the children and we owe her our sanity...
 





The girls with Cristina - who insists she will miss them as much as they (and we) will miss her....







Anyway...after lunch we decided on one last visit to our favourite gelato shop. 

Shane was excited to have FINALLY parked within the blue lines on the road....today the summer season officially ended so all parking restrictions were shut down...

Our favourite place..















The funny thing about Sardinia (and it might be all of Italy, but I have never noticed it in such an extreme example in other places I have been in Italy), is that EVERYTHING (besides our beloved gelato shop) shuts down for hours everyday. Nothing is open from about 1pm to 5 or even 6pm.....which I guess is good for the staff who get to go home and have lunch and siesta or a swim...but painful for us when this is the prime-time for getting out of the sun and spending some serious money shopping!).....

Villasimius main street at 2:30pm.....ghost town!









But thank goodness the gelato shop is open....Shane got his daily fix of watermelon gelato (and a bit of dark chocolate gelato on the side) and the kids got their favourites too...

Dark chocolate and watermelon gelato......made in heaven!!

The girls enjoying their gelato on a kid-size chair by their seagull friend....although I must admit we haven't spotted "Mrs Thornton" while in Sardinia....this must be the substitute!

The biggest jar of Nutella I have ever seen.....5kg of hazelnut/chocolate gold!!


























After our gelato it was time for one last swim (where the girls met up with one of their 'baby dance' friends)

A few last 'laps' of the pool and it was all over....finishing off the bread, proscuitto, vino, cheese and gelato...and then it is Arrievaderichi to Sardinia - we wish we had another week here...it is SO beautiful (apart from the man-eating jelly-fish!!!).

Tomorrow we get on another plane and fly back to Trieste...then drive through Slovenia to Lake Bled, where we spend the night....