Vienna - the big wheel

Today Shane was at his work course all day...so it was 'girls adventure day'.

We walked the few km along the Danube canal - I have learnt that the main river that runs beside the old town in Vienna isn't actually the Danube, but a small canal running off from the Danube, which they call the "Danaukanal" - we have yet to really see the 'real' Danube.

Anyway - we wandered along the Danaukanal and then found the Prater, which is like a giant park that houses a planetarium, a big amusement centre and other things as well as park grounds....

Autumn officially starts tomorrow in the northern hemisphere (they go by the phases of the moon/sun rather than just the months like we do) and already you could see that the leaves had started changing colour.

We also saw a few of these incredibly hard nuts that were falling from the trees - could cause quite a headache if it landed on your head!!
















The highlight of the Prater park has to be the ferris wheel....this is the worlds oldest ferris wheel and also the only one with wooden carriages. So of course we had to give it a go.

The "Wiener Riesenrad" (or Vienna Ferris Wheel)

The wooden carriages. They look like little houses!























Before you go on the ferris wheel, there is a little display room which houses some of the cabins that were previously used on the ferris wheel ( I think in the past they had twice as many cabins as they do now)....the cabins were now filled with small dioramas that show the history of Vienna and the ferris wheel.

You can see in this one how there were far more cabins on the wheel then there is today.

This one is about the war and how in world war II the park was basically destroyed, but the ferris wheel was almost immediately rebuilt to symbolise the reconstruction of Vienna.






















Once we had looked at all the displays we jumped into one of the cabins and had our turn on the real thing. We were very lucky because today the entire place was practically deserted and we walked straight on the ferris wheel with no queue at all!

On the trip over, we got a great view of the whole of Vienna, along with the amusement park that lay below us.

Approaching the top of the wheel....

The amusement park



















After we got off the ferris wheel, we took a walk around the amusement park....although half of the rides were closed and most of them were too big for the girls to go on....they did find one ride they liked........

My girls the 'thrill-seekers'.......











After the excitement, we walked back along the Danaukanal to our apartment. On the canal, they have 'beaches' set up, complete with sand and beach chairs......but it just isn't Sardinia really!!!

The Viennese 'beach'

Our apartment block (the one in the middle above the blue truck).....told you it was the ugliest building in Vienna!!!!




















After a rest, we were out again strolling through the shops of the old town, where we met up with Shane (who had finished for the day) and enjoyed a drink in the setting sun by the side of St Stephens church.

A pretty great adventure day I must say.

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!!!).