Vienna 2025
It's been over a week now since we arrived, and it's been rather a busy time so far.
Arrival & Place
Flying out of Bristol again - because going to Heathrow is such a drag - we had to change in Amsterdam as there are no direct flights to Vienna. Having been stuck there twice before after missing connecting flights, once even overnight (and let me tell you, trying to sleep in an airport with two kids is not fun), I deliberately chose a fairly long connection time. KLM will offer a window as small as 50 minutes, but this time I went with about 90 minutes between arrival and departure. Keeping in mind that there's border control at Amsterdam thanks to Brexit, I thought that was where the pinch point might be.
Well, it wasn't that - it was the long delay getting out of Bristol this time, which caused us to miss our flight again. That's three out of the four times we've gone through Amsterdam... so although annoyed, I was fairly relaxed as I already knew what to do. Sorted our changed connection and then we had several hours to wait, which meant we'd arrive at our Vienna flat around midnight. Like we did last year. Let's just say, next time it's definitely Heathrow!
This year, our accommodation is not an Airbnb but a private home. This has been such provision after much upheaval and prayer - initially, the plan had been to stay at my aunt's place in Vienna, which she offered us last summer. That would have been a free stay, which would of course have been welcome. But in March, she texted me saying we now couldn't stay there because there were renovations at her other flat so she needed the Vienna one herself. That was fairly late in the day, given that we needed six weeks of continuous accommodation and if even one weekend of those six weeks is taken, we obviously can't book that place. So there was already a dearth of options, but I did find something viable on Airbnb that looked great - until that person messaged me at Easter, asking me to cancel it because she'd had a family emergency.
Now we were really stuck. Places on Airbnb were by now rare, expensive, and horrible... there was literally nothing I felt we could book. I went all over the Internet, VRBO, booking.com, local pages for short lets... nothing. In the end I was desperate enough to look at Facebook, a few 'short lets' groups which were clearly filled with scammers. And then - provision! I found on one of them, one single post that looked like it came from a real person, which was posted 11 hours before. I checked his profile, which looked genuine, and contacted him. He got back to me saying he'd had nothing but scams until I got in touch! So we had a video call where he showed me the flat (so I'd know it really existed!) and then I sent my sister to meet him and view it, and it was all good. No safety net here, just a personal connection and trust... and it's wonderful. Perfectly connected, large and homely - I couldn't ask for more. I get to work on the balcony!
Week 1: Camp
As every year, the kids started our time here with a week-long holiday camp. This is deliberate, a holiday camp where they're surrounded by German speakers and have to muddle through - full immersion! After that, they're always reasonably fluent again.
In previous years, they went to the same camp every year, a dance and sports focused one which was lovely, but quite far away from where we are based this year. Plus, the heat we usually experience (Vienna summers can get up to 40 degrees) meant that the kids often found it hard to do sports outside. So this year I booked them into a swimming focused camp near to our place.
Swimming didn't go too well. They can swim, but found the teacher too strict and didn't enjoy the structured approach. So after the first day, we swapped - this particular camp ran different groups focusing on various activities, so the kids were able to choose alternatives; D(9) went with Street Art, which took him all over the city to legal graffiti walls, while N(10) chose Cheerleading, which she also enjoyed. So in the end, both kids had a great time at camp.
I worked most days, but also enjoyed some alone time - coffee at my favourite roof terrace for example - and we also met up with my sister at our traditional ice cream place, Tichy.
The heat hasn't been too stifling actually, it was definitely nice enough to get in the water but the kids weren't suffering as much as they usually did. It's never been beyond the mid-30's so far.
Week 2
How different this summer is to our previous ones! 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021... while there were a few rare cooler days in some of those years (though not a single one last year) it was generally stifling, 30+ degrees every day, we've had balmy mid-20's almost the entire time now. The first week was hot, but it has since cooled down and this has enabled us to do lots of things we just couldn't face in the heat of previous years!
Museums
On the weekend, we visited the Vienna City Museum and learned about the city's roots in antiquity, as well as noting quite a few artefacts I remember from my own youth - such as the metal whale, which had been outside a well known restaurant called 'The Whalefish' when I was a kid... I remember finding it quite fascinating, and my kids did too, seeing it in the museum!
The next day, we visited Schönbrunn Palace - not the main Palace part, which I thought would be too dry for the kids, but the children's museum and labyrinth. Dressing up was much enjoyed, and it was interesting seeing their reactions to how princes and princesses would have lived at that time: D wasn't sure about learning to fight, as boys would have done, and N thought sewing would be rather boring.
Finally, we decided to have a look at the 'Gaming Museum' where we ended up spending four hours! I was really taken back to my misspent youth there.... Tetris, Gameboys (Dr. Mario!), Bubble Shooters, and I even Tric-O-Tronics which I hadn't even thought about in 30-odd years. My goodness I'm old.
At the Water
We didn't avoid the water entirely: while it's not stifling hot, it is still balmy and that actually meant less crowded prime spots. There was also a 'nature detectives' session where the kids got to catch various water creatures and examine them.
Outdoor Exploits
We spent quite a bit of time at playgrounds, and went on a walk through the Vienna vineyards (it's the only city in Europe that has vineyards within city limits) with my aunt and my sister's dog. Got caught in torrential rain again halfway through, but not before we found the most ginormous spider ever!
The Military
Finally, our by-now annual special kids day with the military happened in beautiful sunshine but manageable temperatures. A perfect day for it, and much fun was had.
Week 3-4
It just so happened that we had two trips into the country in just this past week - so here are lots of photos, as we've had a great time!
With the Freelearners
On Facebook, I connected with a fellow free learning family in Austria. There are a few of them, much fewer than in the UK but it is a legal choice to home educate; although there are exams at the end of every school year. Which is fine through primary, but makes a child led education all but impossible in the secondary years as all subjects have to be covered. I learned a lot about the legal situation here and how families cope... and we all had a fantastic time at this family's organic milk farm. The kids loved that there was a pond to float on, a tractor to ride, fruit to pick, cows to milk and cats to pet - as well as three lovely kids to play with who are clearly having the best childhood ever!
Seeing old friends
Since we did the same kids' camp every year until this year, we had made some lovely friends there that the kids saw at camp annually. This year, we missed them, but having each other's number meant we could work out a meeting. These guys have a lovely weekend home in the country, a very traditional vineyard farm, which they invited us to for the entire weekend - the kids had a lovely, simple time playing with the water hose and running around. A great, relaxing weekend.
Next week it's camp time again, and finally Mr. arrives on Wednesday!
Reunited
So Mr. arrived in Vienna, actually having caught his connection in Amsterdam - only just, he had to sprint as the connecting flight was showing as 'closed' when he arrived! We're definitely not doing that again, Heathrow it is from now on. Or trains, if I can afford them.
Anyway, we were glad to have Mr. with us at last, and got busy doing lots of stuff with him! Starting with lunch with my mum's best friend, Hermi - here's a picture of all of us together, and then a photo of her with my mum: doing what they both loved best, playing the accordion. Hermi still plays, and even has her own Youtube channel!
Mr. set about having a great holiday and doing some relaxing. Because the kids were at the monastery camp during the week Mr. arrived, we actually had a few lovely, calm days to just be a couple - a very different experience for us, and wonderful to have.
When camp was finished, we had friends from Bristol visiting and did a bit of sightseeing as well as the public transport museum which is a highlight every time with its simulators!
After weeks of cool weather, Mr.'s arrival brought a real heatwave again and we used it as much as we could to get wet! Lots of fun was had.
Well, it's nearly home time again. The kids are counting down now to seeing their friends again, and I'm ready to enter a new 'school year' with lots of plans and ideas. These six weeks really are a complete change of pace for us all, a thorough break, and while it's been brilliant we are quite ready to re-enter our regular lives again. Because regular life is pretty fantastic, too.
But, here's what we did towards the end of our time in Vienna! Weather wasn't the best, but we figured the time's nearly up so we better fit the obligatory zoo visit in while we could.
On our last day we enjoyed a morning at the butterfly house... coming to the conclusion that the one in Benalmadena (Spain) is bigger and better!
And then it was all over and we went home! No delays this time, thankfully - I've come to the conclusion that the problem is Bristol airport, as every time we've missed a connection in Amsterdam it was because we left Bristol late.