The holiday is over!

As we sit at Vienna airport, waiting to board our flight home, we are both sad and happy.

We have been so lucky to have had such an amazing holiday, with fantastic experiences, food, wine, ice cream and family time. It will be sad to leave.

But we are also happy to be coming home to see all our friends and family and to tell them about our wonderful adventures.

Here is what we are all looking forward to:

Ella - seeing her friends, her own bed and pillow and going back to school.

Angus - seeing his friends, his own bed and pillow and being back in our own house with all his toys.

Clint - meals at home, an Australian red wine in the cold weather and a family movie night snuggled on the couch.

Mel - good coffee (European coffee is terrible!), my own pillow and no smoking everywhere!

See you in 24 hours Melbourne!

Last day in Vienna

Our last day in Vienna was a relatively quiet one. After a busy 2 weeks, we wanted to take things easy and just do whatever we felt like.

Today was actually the hottest day we've had, and at 33 degrees it was rather warm.

This morning we decided we'd have some more traditional Viennese cakes, so we headed to the beautiful Cafe Landtmann, close to the Votive church. Here we had Sacher torte, Mozart torte, Landtmann Kugel, a chocolate Truffle, and a Landtmann Feinne, a layered sponge, marzipan and jam cake. They were all delicious! A cheeky cocktail may have been had by Clint and I too!

Afterwards we did a bit more shopping and I ended up with some more shoes (!) and Clint and I with aftershave and perfume.

By then, we were hot and tired. So we stopped for a quick currywurst for lunch and then headed home. Angus was desperate for the park, but it really was too hot. Hopefully we'll have time for a quick visit in the morning before we go to the airport.

A quiet afternoon at the apartment and a cool shower to freshen up and we were ready for our last fancy dinner in Vienna.

We went to a restaurant called Mast, which was fantastic. Such wonderful food and wine, and Ella and Angus enjoyed the 6 course chef's menu with us. The perfect way to end our amazing holiday!

We're now more or less packed and ready to head home. What an amazing adventure it's been!

The Schonbrunn Palace

Today was our big day at the Schonbrunn Palace, which we'd booked tickets for well before we came to Vienna.

The Schonbrunn Palace was originally the summer residence of the Imperial family, but was rebuilt by Maria Theresa in 1749. It has amazing decorations in the Rococo style and is incredibly ornate and opulent.

We booked tickets for the audio guide tour of the palace, the Gloriette (a building at the top of the hill overlooking the palace and gardens), the maze, the Children's museum, the Orangerie and the Privy Garden.

Unfortunately you can't take photos in the palace, but it was amazing. The amount of gold, expensive artworks and rare wood paneling was just phenomenal. You really can't imagine living in that sort of wealth.

Emporer Franz Joseph lived in one wing and worked in this space, whilst Empress Elizabeth lived in another. They had 16 children, of whom only 11 survived.

Life was certainly very different for them, despite not really being that long ago.

After the tour through the palace, we headed outside to the gardens. What beautiful landscaping. The 400 hectares of land has been planted to lawns, flowers, a maze, a zoo and lovely walkways with lots of trees. Just spectacular.

Ella and Angus loved the playground and exploring the two mazes. They did much better than Clint and I in finding the way!

Our next trek was to the Gloriette which sat at the top of the hill at the back if the palace. It was a hot climb in the sun, but the view was definitely worth it. After admiring it from the rooftop, we ate our picnic lunch in the shade of the trees.

The walk down was much easier, so we decided to quickly explore the Orangarie and the Privy garden. Ella and Angus weren't so interested in these gardens, and admittedly neither were Clint and I. The Children's museum was calling, after all!

The Children's museum was a very hands on experience of life in the palace during this time. There were dress ups and lots of interactive displays of the hair styles, hygiene, toys, food and servants of the era. Ella and Angus loved it and we all got dressed up and had fun

After a good 6 hours of history, we were exhausted! A cool drink and an ice cream gave us the energy to catch the train and walk back home. Luckily there were enough leftovers for dinner, as we were too tired to bother with anything more fancy.

Amusement parks and shopping

We decided that today would be a relatively quiet day with no particular places to go.
 We all had a sleep in and then Ella and Angus got up to date with their journal writing. After a busy few days, they were a little bit behind.

When we asked Ella and Angus what they would like to do, they both suggested that they'd like to go back to the Prater amusement park. They loved the rollercoaster on our first visit on the day we arrived, so it was only fair to take them back again.

To get to the Prater, we walked along the Danube Cannal, an off-shoot of the main river, which was lovely and peaceful. Nice to have some greenery amongst the busy city.

When we got to the Prater, we walked around to work out which rides we wanted to go on. The winners were the dodgem cars, dizzy mouse and the flying carousel. Ella and Angus loved them all. By default, Clint and I did too!

After some fun, it was time for lunch. We thought that a progressive lunch through the the city could be fun. First up, a kaiserwurst, a cheese and pork sausage in a roll with sauce. Ella gave it the thumbs up!

I was keen to try some horse meat, so googled where I could find it. Next stop, the pfeft leberkase, essentially meat loaf in a roll with mustard. Absolutely delicious!

Full of yummy food, we then went shopping and bought some clothes for ourselves. No presents this time.

Along the way, we walked past the Palais Coburg, a very expensive hotel that was originally a palace owned by various kings of Austria, Germany and Hungary. It was amazing and certainly much more fancy than anything in our neck of Coburg.

After all the shopping, we stopped at the park on the way home for a play and a cold drink.

Tonight we decided to go out for dinner to another local Viennese restaurant. The schnitzel was huge, but delicious. And so was the beef goulash, chicken salad and meat pancakes. We couldn't finish everything, so tomorrow night's dinner is sorted!

Cake and castles

Today was the day for cake and castles! We wanted to have some Sachertorte and other yummy Viennese treats. The other place on our list was the Naschmarkt, Vienna's biggest open air food market.

On another beautiful sunny day, we walked into the main part of the city and came across a cafe selling all sorts of beautiful cakes. Sacher torte, the traditional Austrian chocolate and apricot cake, was definitely on the cards, even if it was a Works Cup themed version.  Angus chose a cheesecake with strawberry sauce, Ella a raspberry jelly cake and Clint a layered chocolate mousse cake. They were all delicious!

Fueled by cake, we wandered the Naschmarkt and bought some falafel, dip, cured wild boar and venison salami for our lunch. There were so many other delicious cheeses, bread, meat, fish, fruit and vegetables we could have tried.

The train ride to Burg Liechtenstein took about 20 minutes and we then walked about 3km to get there. As we came through the forest, what a sight there was. Rising above the trees was the tower of the castle.

Built in the early 1100's, the chapel was built first and then the remaining castle around it. Originally it was built in the Romanesque style and was the main residence of the Liechtenstein dynasty until 1295. Interestingly, we learned that Liechtenstein means 'of light-coloured stone' and the stone of this castle gave the noble family their historical name.

Over 500 years there were 3 attacks on the castle, the last about 350 years ago by the King of Hungary.  The most recent remodeling was 200 years ago, when the upper level, roof and wooden floors were rebuilt. Some of these pieces came from the current owners other palaces in Venice and other parts of Europe!

Ella and Angus were quite enthralled by the castle and loved walking around in a building that was so old.

They were also quite excited by the ice creams they has afterwards. A watermelon flavoured one for Ella and a bubblegum flavoured 'bum bum' for Angus! Angus assumed we wouldn't let him buy something with clearly such a rude name and had already chosen his other option. But we saw the fun in the name and encouraged him to buy it, since we were never likely to see it back in Australia.

After another long walk back to the station, we caught the train back to Vienna city. We had a short walk through the gardens of the Belvedere Palace before heading home.

I love cooking with local ingredients, so made a delicious pasta with chanterelle mushrooms and the cured wild boar we'd bought at the market.

After just over 20km of walking, we were ready for an early night!