Yes, we booked a trip to Austria in January, which is a bit strange. But ball season in Jan/Feb and Vienna is lovely without the crowds, so it's actually a great idea.
I even remembered to check my passport expiry date and get myself to the passport office over a week before departure (instead of the day before departure like last time)!
We left the night of the 24th and arrived late on the 25th very confused about what day it was. Jetlag hit us hard on this trip. Small price to pay, I think but it definitely hits us harder as we get older.
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| Central Cafe, our fave. |
Our hotel was lovely (it had a bed, which after 11 hours of travel is a wonderful thing). Vienna was warm. We spent our first day in a cafe near the hotel, because one of the primary objectives of the trip was: "sit in cafes". Vienna cafe culture is really really wonderful.
We went to the Tech Museum and looked at old things and enormous industrial things, and waited for kids to get out of our way so we could play with the displays. There was a cool automated writing machine from 1760 - amazing.
The next day my sister and her partner Nathan arrived! Yay! I'm so glad they were able to pop over from London to meet us.
We walked the pedestrian street downtown and Michelle and I recalled when we were in Vienna together in the summer of 2004!
Going to the ball was different this time because we had a better idea of what to expect, so we could relax about the details. We walked to the palace in our finery and had a lovely evening. Peter and I did better on the dance floor this time (still a challenge to do a Viennese waltz).
I'll do a separate post about the ball shortly.
I now totally understand Jane Austen books when people get excited about private balls - because public balls are so insanely crowded, it must have been such a relief to go to a private ball where you had space and a hope of dancing!
The day after the ball was recovery (we got to the hotel at 4:30am). Sadly Peter's grandfather in Poland passed away a few days previously so Peter and I went to the train station to change tickets. He would be heading to Poland to join his family while he insisted I go to Innsbruck as planned.
That evening there was a huge police presence around our hotel and the palace - apparently the year before there had been a large protest of a ball by the far right held at the palace and it resulted in riots and damage so they were preparing for that again (fortunately the protest was peaceful this year) - thousands of police were there to enforce a state of emergency and the area around the palace was declared a high security zone. Our hotel even gave us official cards to prove we were guests there so the police would less us pass. It was tense.
So, glad I didn't accidentally get us tickets to the Academics Ball; I recommend skipping that one!
The next day we went ice skating at City Hall. They have the most elaborate skating rink set up I've ever seen. It's actually two rinks joined by paths that wind through the trees. The paths and one rink are also on a slight slope, my first time ever skating on something that was not flat! We did okay for a bunch of people who ice skate every 2 or 3 years. It's way more interesting to skate when there is something to do other than go in circles. We visited Cafe Central afterwards, our favourite place.
Michelle and Nathan had to leave that evening. Peter and I went to the train station the next day and went our separate ways. He had a long trip to Berlin to meet his family and then continue on to Poland. I had a short train ride to Innsbruck where I learned that you should really reserve a seat when travelling on a weekend.
Innsbruck was a nice place with a cute (but touristy) old town and a nice river and beautiful mountains all around. Very scenic. I did a lot of walking, visited some cafes, read a lot. Traveling alone is not my strength.
I now totally understand Jane Austen books when people get excited about private balls - because public balls are so insanely crowded, it must have been such a relief to go to a private ball where you had space and a hope of dancing!
The day after the ball was recovery (we got to the hotel at 4:30am). Sadly Peter's grandfather in Poland passed away a few days previously so Peter and I went to the train station to change tickets. He would be heading to Poland to join his family while he insisted I go to Innsbruck as planned.
That evening there was a huge police presence around our hotel and the palace - apparently the year before there had been a large protest of a ball by the far right held at the palace and it resulted in riots and damage so they were preparing for that again (fortunately the protest was peaceful this year) - thousands of police were there to enforce a state of emergency and the area around the palace was declared a high security zone. Our hotel even gave us official cards to prove we were guests there so the police would less us pass. It was tense.
So, glad I didn't accidentally get us tickets to the Academics Ball; I recommend skipping that one!
The next day we went ice skating at City Hall. They have the most elaborate skating rink set up I've ever seen. It's actually two rinks joined by paths that wind through the trees. The paths and one rink are also on a slight slope, my first time ever skating on something that was not flat! We did okay for a bunch of people who ice skate every 2 or 3 years. It's way more interesting to skate when there is something to do other than go in circles. We visited Cafe Central afterwards, our favourite place.Michelle and Nathan had to leave that evening. Peter and I went to the train station the next day and went our separate ways. He had a long trip to Berlin to meet his family and then continue on to Poland. I had a short train ride to Innsbruck where I learned that you should really reserve a seat when travelling on a weekend.
Innsbruck was a nice place with a cute (but touristy) old town and a nice river and beautiful mountains all around. Very scenic. I did a lot of walking, visited some cafes, read a lot. Traveling alone is not my strength.
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| Gotzens/Mutters ski area |
Peter made it to the funeral and visited with family, then got norovirus, then had a delayed flight but eventually made it to Innsbruck a few days after me. We took a bus to a local ski hill where he picked up the gear he had rented in advance and we gondola'ed up a mountain. I hung out in the restaurant at the top enjoying the view while he got in some runs. Snow conditions weren't awesome, but okay. It was nice to get out to the mountains.
We headed back to Vienna and enjoyed some more time in cafes, then it was time to leave.
We have a history of our flights getting buggered up. Most famously when we returned from a trip to Scotland specifically to catch a flight to Ottawa for my convocation (undergrad). And got stuck in Chicago where our flight to Ottawa was cancelled - so my mom and grandmother went to my convocation without me. Bummer. Which is all to say we generally expect to get delayed at some point.
This time our flight to London never left Vienna. We all sat on it for 2.5 hrs but it never left the gate. They let us off and Peter and I made a b-line for the check in counter (which meant going back through passport control) and each got in a line to try and figure out if there was any way to get to London for our flight. By the time we got to the counter it was too late for that so we had them book us on the same stuff the next day and they put us up in the airport hotel.
Fortunately, we had booked to come home early so being delayed a day caused no grief other than missing the cats. We spent the afternoon in Museum Cafe and enjoyed a free dinner at the hotel. We did feel bad for everyone in the airport line behind us (we were at the very front of the line and it took 25min to get us sorted out; the poor people at the end of the line!).
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| Bonus day in Vienna? Okay. (Cafe Museum) |
Sadly, our checked bags did not.
And I had stupidly put our house keys in the checked bag.
So, after a side trip to our cat-sitter (thank god she was home) to pick up spare keys, we were home. Home is so glorious after a long trip. It's comfortable and has all the stuff you need, and cuddly cats who are glad to see you.
Vacations are nice. Coming home is also nice.
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| By the canal at night. |
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