These holidays, we set out on our most ambitious trip ever. 48 days of fun and relaxation through 9 countries. If that sounds like more time than the actual holidays that's because it was. We (well me really) actually made a mistake with the day we needed to return and actually returned on the morning that school started. Oops. Nothing like rocking in to a staff meeting 15 minutes late and subsequently nodding off.
So the nine countries were Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and The Vatican City. The kids got to achieve the goal of visiting more countries than their age (23), and Ruth felt disappointed that they have almost been to as many countries as she has. That sounds like a lot but we only visited one or two places in each country. The trick was to have some good restful periods - sitting around and relaxing. |
Salzburg is such a lovely town - very touristy but with good reason. Lots of old buildings and cute laneways. We got to breath fresh Austrian air and start to relax after our long year.
Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and the home of "The Sound of Music". Charlie and Ruth checked out Mozart's home but after attempting (and failing) to watch "The Sound of Music" on at least 5 times, I couldn't bring myself to go on "The Sound of Music" tour. Salzburg, of course, is the home of "Mozart's Balls". What else does a town need. |
"Best Day Ever." Mark 1.Taking a segway to check out a city is awesome. Especially when you're 9 and 10. Both the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. There is a feeling that we definitely need to buy one (or two). With a cost of a segway at $6500, it's probably not going to happen any time soon.
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Budapest, Hungary |
A lovely, historic town, by the time we reached Budapest we were longing to get to a place to rest and for the kids, a place with friends. Nonetheless, we hopped on a Big Bus (with 3 or 4 different Big Buses companies, it was hard to work out which one we should go on, so we accidentally switched a couple of times during the day. Oops.) and checked out Buda and Pest. A visit to a Synagogue, a market and some nice walks around old buildings and the Danube were a nice introduction to the city. Visiting the most beautiful cafe in the world "New York Cafe" was an (expensive) experience and a visit to our friends, Brendan and Tina and family in the hills of Buda to check out the views and eat salami, cheese and bread were a welcome distraction from the 'tourist thing'.
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Beautiful Slovenia was such a highlight of our trip. We based ourselves in Lake Bled and planned to travel around the country with a hire car. However we got in the groove of relaxing so it was hard to get going. Lucy, Gary and the fam joined us. We were staying in 2 different AIrBNB's about 40m apart. So it was easy to relax at their house eating cheeses, breads and salami (and drink a little bit of wine too). We spent out time walking around the lake, swimming in the lake and hiring a car and driving through Triglav National Park to see the Julian Alps and Soca Valley.
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High up on Ruth's choice of 'must-see' countries, Croatia was always going to be a part of our trip. Originally we planned a stay in Split but a music festival being held at the same time as our intended stay put us off, indicating how old we actually are. (The fact that the price of accommodation went from 100Euros for a night to 800Euros for the night might have added to the disinterest we had for the place). Subsequently, a quick look on a map and a random google search had us choose Korcula as the replacement venue. We drove from Bled to Ljubljana (to pick up Lucy, Gary and Fam) to Split and then took a ferry to Korcula. Noisy for the first leg, the ferry stopped at the party island of Hvar where hundreds of ferry passengers disembarked including a scantily dressed young man in a cheer-leader's outfit and a man dressed as the captain (hope it wasn't the real captain). The 2nd leg of the trip was less eventful.
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