Vienna 2023
And here we are again - Vienna, my hometown, all summer long. This time we flew from Heathrow... I would choose the train again, as would the kids, but it's three times the cost for a single journey than it is to fly there and back. I just can't do that.
Week 1
We arrived at nearly midnight and my sister was there to let us into the flat. The next morning was Sunday, and I had already scoped out the nearest parish church, St Florian: rebuilt after the war in a modern style that I really like, though I'm not fond of the Tabernacle being placed in a random spot at the side of where the congregation sits - it's hard to know where to bow to!
Monday morning was off to dance camp - the jump-right-in experience where the kids spent every day 8-5 doing dance, sports, swimming... amongst other Austrian kids, where they had to get on with their German. And they did. And they loved it. Every night they came home so tired and happy, it was a brilliant week!
The camp is at the very northern edge of the city. Last year we stayed nearby, which meant we could walk to the camp but then had to commute into the city for everything else in the weeks following. This time I booked us into a more central place, but it did mean quite a commute in the morning to the camp this week.
And what did I do, you ask? I didn't have a week off, I realised I had scheduled myself some work each and every one of those five days! Not on purpose, but hey - it meant I had something to do each day, but still enough time to get to grocery shops and relax. And an income, which is never a bad thing.
On Friday afternoon, the dance camp celebrates its great finish with a show for the parents. Such fun! First, the kids get their prizes for the previous day's 'Olympic Games' (involving eating gummy worms, jumping through hoops and similar...) D(7) scored 3rd in his age group, and N(8) 4th!
Of course, both kids have decided they'll absolutely do this again next year. What a blast.
After this full on week though, we thought we'd take it easy and spend our Saturday by the Danube. 35 degrees, that seemed the best thing to do. Restful it wasn't though, at least not for them - of course they found kids to play with again and while I spent most of the day reading in the shade, they were out there the entire time except a few half hours I made them spend in the shade for a break. We all fell in our beds - what a week. Tired but happy.
Week 2
We thought last week was pretty good, dance camp and everything. But now we're doing things together, and we filled our time with highlight after highlight! We're truly spoiled for choice in terms of things to do here, you'd think six weeks is plenty of time but there's just so much on offer.
Swimming
It's hot, of course. We went swimming - to a pool this time, rather than the danube - and the kids loved the slide there. Up and down, up and down, more times than I could possibly count... they also got to make art there.
Natural History Museum
D(7) has a special relationship with the moving robot Allosaurus at the NHM. The first year we came, terror definitely outweighed the fascination; but both were present, and over the years, fascination has taken over. Every year he insists we come visit the moving dinosaur. The museum actually ran a special kids activity where they learned about the Earth's core and various habitats...
Rescue Services and Graffiti
All in one day, we visited an 'Open Rescues' day where we got to meet police, ambulance, fire service, Vienna City Transport (where we were able to pull the emergency stop thing that's in trains, and were shocked by the deafening siren!)... highlights included spraying a fire hose - N(8) sprayed D by accident and that thing has some pressure! He took it in good humour though, and certainly enjoyed a bit of cooling down.
Family
One of our big highlights each year is seeing my cousin, who has a daughter roughly N's age. We went to a local museum that had a special kids' exhibit on the body, where they got to go in through the mouth, climb up on the tongue, slide down the oesophagus and go through the entire digestive system to come out... well, the other end. They loved that.
Week 3
As I write this, we're awaiting Mr's arrival late in the night - three weeks on our own are done, and the next three weeks will be a whole-family affair! Cody the dog is at his friend's, and our housesitters are arriving tomorrow to hopefully have a lovely time in Bristol.
So this is what we've been up to this week. First of all, Sunday was the one of the kids' biggest highlights to date: a Bernhard Fibich concert! This is a children's song maker and performer whom we randomly discovered last year when he gave a free concert in a park. The kids enjoyed the concert and I bought two of his CD's there... and those have been playing in the car ever since. They know every word. And so seeing him in person again, getting to be on stage and even sing - absolute highlight!
Since that concert was at the House of Music, we also went in there to explore and found some really fun ways to interact with music - from virtually creating our own sound 'blob' to conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra...
A very interesting day was put on for kids by the Austrian Army, which I really hadn't known much about previously. Other than knowing they basically only see action when there's a disaster (since we're a neutral nation)... but seeing that D(7), being an Austrian citizen, would have to serve if he moves to Austria before he turns 35, I thought it might be interesting to have a look. After all, once he turns 18 he might want to do it for the experience - others pay for gap years...!
And lastly, the big excitement of the week was finding a young hedgehog that seemed utterly lost, was running around in circles by the playground and squeaking its little heart out. I caught it easily - it seemed desperate for some help, and not at all afraid of me - and we took it home, kept it overnight, and delivered it to an animal rescue station the next day. Turns out he was a male (we called him Igor, the Igel [hedgehog]) and will be absolutely fine.
Week 4: reunited
Three weeks of glorious sunshine. 30+ degree heat. All came to an end with Mr's arrival from the UK - this week has been mostly rainy and at times pretty cold! We did manage to catch one sunny day and made the most of that by the water, but otherwise the weather really let us down... we didn't let that stop us though: we still managed to pack in quite a lot of fun.
We hired a car to visit my sister's old friends who have opened a farm cafe - this finally got us out of Vienna proper and into the countryside for a day. N(8) even got to help with waitressing, which she greatly enjoyed!
Last but definitely not least, we visited yet another Bernhard Fibich concert - our third this summer - where he played to a big crowd in a park and as he already knew my kids, he actually let them sing! This was a huge highlight for them, the rush of their 15 minutes of fame...
Week 5: more bad weather
Poor Mr. - Vienna greeted him with nearly two solid weeks of rainy weather! I didn't bring any jackets, either, so we stayed indoors as much as we could.
First, we visited the Public Transport Museum (Remise), and the next day we joined what felt like half of Vienna at the indoor playground - it's called Monki Park and it was exactly that, an absolute monkey cage!
A very interesting morning was spent at the local water purification plant, where we learned a lot but weren't allowed to take photos!
Afterwards we spent time with my sister and aunt - looking through old photos, talking about the past. A healing and bonding time.
Then, despite a mixed forecast, we decided to spend a day at the little Prater - cold and rainy mostly, but that meant it wasn't crowded! We also met up with my mum's best friend, Hermi.
And finally, at long last, the weather began to look up! It wasn't too hot yet so we decided to visit the zoo.
Even though the weather is now hot again - and is forecast to remain hot for as long as we're staying, hooray! - we had booked a magic workshop and decided to go. And it was great fun! We learned five tricks which we'll be able to bring back and show off.
The forecast is for 30+ degrees throughout the week to come - swimming week, here we come, to finish!
Week 6
Finally, the sunshine came back! For our last week, we enjoyed 30+ degrees every day: that holiday feeling, together as a family, at last. We made the most of it by plenty of time by the water, but also decided to cram in some last minute sightseeing when our Kenyan friends from Bristol arrived - we did our best to show off the city's beauty, but we definitely introduced them to the joys of swimming in the Danube on hot days as well!
And a mostly-in-the-shade hike in the Vienna woods - this one without myself or N(8) as she was poorly with a cold. Luckily, both my sister and aunt love a hike and gave Mr. and D(7) a brilliant day out!
Finally, some wonderful quality family times to finish. What a time we've had!