Not having seen my family in two and a half months (yet another Year Abroad record), I was naturally happy to see them when they arrived in Vienna in mid-April. Perhaps I would have been happier had I not had to walk to their hotel in the pouring rain to meet them, but I was happy nonetheless. And with the help of Charlotte's welcome schnapps I was happier still.
The next day was my day off so I took my family on a not quite whistle-stop tour of Vienna, starting with the Spanish Riding School. The last time that I was there the horses weren't, so it felt slightly more authentic to see them doing their morning exercises, although it did mean subjecting myself to a lot of Strauss. As it turns out, living in two of the cultural capitals of the world has failed to turn me into a classical music aficionado, and each waltz just sounded like all the other waltzes that had gone before. Is it shameful to admit that the highlight for my brother and I was giggling at the boy with the shovel who collected the horse manure?
After the Spanish Riding School, and a tour of the catacombs below the Stephansdom (used to store the hearts of the Kaisers in copper jars as well as the neatly-stacked bones of many, many commoners), we went somewhere a little more suited to our emotional maturity level - the Prater! We saw the whole of Vienna from the top of the Riesenrad (a huge and slightly ancient and creaky ferris wheel), and then Andrew and I risked our lives on Austrian rollercoasters which gave us sideways whiplash (yes, such a thing does exist)!
The next day I had to work, but the day after we went on a spontaneous trip to Dürnstein. Dürnstein is a little town on the Danube, which was once the home of Richard the Lionheart (if by home you read place where he was held hostage), so we hiked up to the castle. It was a ruin, and health and safety rules were non-existent so we got to clamber all over it before getting lunch and catching the train back to Vienna. That was the last bit of sightseeing that I did with the family, as I spent Sunday drinking wine in the Heuriger/all the alcohol in my flat with Christina and Milan, who was visiting from Prague. And the next day I flew home for a week of food, friends, and even more family time.
The next day was my day off so I took my family on a not quite whistle-stop tour of Vienna, starting with the Spanish Riding School. The last time that I was there the horses weren't, so it felt slightly more authentic to see them doing their morning exercises, although it did mean subjecting myself to a lot of Strauss. As it turns out, living in two of the cultural capitals of the world has failed to turn me into a classical music aficionado, and each waltz just sounded like all the other waltzes that had gone before. Is it shameful to admit that the highlight for my brother and I was giggling at the boy with the shovel who collected the horse manure?
After the Spanish Riding School, and a tour of the catacombs below the Stephansdom (used to store the hearts of the Kaisers in copper jars as well as the neatly-stacked bones of many, many commoners), we went somewhere a little more suited to our emotional maturity level - the Prater! We saw the whole of Vienna from the top of the Riesenrad (a huge and slightly ancient and creaky ferris wheel), and then Andrew and I risked our lives on Austrian rollercoasters which gave us sideways whiplash (yes, such a thing does exist)!
The next day I had to work, but the day after we went on a spontaneous trip to Dürnstein. Dürnstein is a little town on the Danube, which was once the home of Richard the Lionheart (if by home you read place where he was held hostage), so we hiked up to the castle. It was a ruin, and health and safety rules were non-existent so we got to clamber all over it before getting lunch and catching the train back to Vienna. That was the last bit of sightseeing that I did with the family, as I spent Sunday drinking wine in the Heuriger/all the alcohol in my flat with Christina and Milan, who was visiting from Prague. And the next day I flew home for a week of food, friends, and even more family time.
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