VIENNA, AUSTRIA | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

Oh Vienna! We both loved Vienna; it was beautiful but gritty, our accommodation was amazing and finally we were out of Switzerland and back in a country with normal prices.. We stayed in Vienna for two nights, in a rooftop room that overlooked the city and the Naschmarkt, which is a huge area for food and market stalls.

We arrived mid-afternoon after spending the morning in Bratislava, checked in, and went straight back out to explore. We looked around the flea markets, and then headed further into the centre for a few hours to hunt out one of the Easter markets I'd read about.

The Easter markets are similar in set up to the Austrian and German Christmas markets, there are goods, food and drink stalls, some entertainment.. but for the Easter market there are also thousands (literally thousands) of hand-painted Easter eggs for sale. In Europe we noticed that people decorate with an Easter tree, and hang eggs off the branches. The eggs above are all real empty egg shells (as Vivienne discovered when she squeezed one..) but we picked up a few painted wooden ones as souvenirs too. 

We grabbed some foot at the market including a caramel and custard waffle for Vivienne, I had a few glasses of wine and it really felt like Spring had arrived. We walked back as the light was disappearing to our accommodation, which was hosting a party to celebrate their 7-year anniversary. There was a band on in the bar, which also had games and pool tables, and we lay on a day bed under the stairs hanging out for a while before heading up to bed. 

Next next day - our only full day in Vienna - was Easter Sunday! We got up early and headed out to Prater - a permanent fairground a little outside of the centre. We started by going on the huge ferris wheel which overlooks the entire city, then a rollercoaster (Viv's eyes were tightly shut the whole time!), looked around, then wandered back to the centre. We explored a little more before stopping for lunch. Viv and I had a deal that she would try some new foods while we were away, so she and I shared Goulash, Schnitzel and Sacher torte for lunch. We weren't far from the Easter markets ad couldn't resist popping back, Vivienne had some crazy chocolate-covered marshmallow thing, before hanging out and resting for a little while playing cards because it was getting pretty windy out there.

We also headed up to the museum quarter that day, but I think the past week or so and never really stopping was beginning to catch up with us and we were starting to flag.. At the same time everything around us started shutting early because it was Easter Sunday evening, and we were both happy to head back, play pool and have a bit of an earlier night (joking.. we watched more Fresh Prince..) Viv was pretty excited to be heading to Budapest the next day and finally see David and Sylvie again..

We had a few hours before we were due to get the train to Budapest the next day, so got a quick taxi over to Hunderwasser House and village - an area designed to promote living in sync with nature. You have to apply to live there, and can't live there for long. The idea is that you embrace it then move away to spread the gospel about living together with our natural environment.. We'd left suitcases at our accommodation, so slowly walked back, grabbed some brunch, and got ready to catch the train to Budapest!

  You can see a different variety of photographs from our time in Vienna over on my photography blog here.

NEXT STOP - BUDAPEST!

MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

Montreux is just so bloody beautiful. It's a small town at the other end of Lake Geneva to Geneva itself. Later afternoon/early evening Vivienne and I collected our bags after exploring Geneva for the day, and took the train for just over an hour around the lake to Montreux. We went wandering out on the evening before finding somewhere to eat, and unfortunately couldn't see much because of the visibility, but the town lights sparkling on the water were  still pretty beautiful. We found an Italian place and ate dinner (bloody pricey but I guess it's Switzerland..), before heading back to our room and watching Netflix in bed before falling asleep.

In the morning, we dumped our bags at the hotel reception and, I swear, I think I ran to the water's edge to fully see the mountains that were now visible on the other side of the lake. SO beautiful. We wandered and saw the Freddie Mercury Statue and a sculpture piece dedicated to him, and stood on the viewing platform that jutted out into the lake to fully see the amazing view up into the Alps. We grabbed some breakfast on the go, and walked for about an hour around the lake towards Chillon Castle, stopping to take photos and look at the view.

Chillon Castle was quite interesting - very Game of Thrones-esque. We definitely could have spent more time wandering around it; I think Vivienne enjoyed it more than me and there was a kid's guide book that she worked through - definitely worth a visit for a few hours. 

Mid-afternoon, after catching the bus back to the centre to save a little time, we trundled back up the hill towards the train station; stopping, again, for snacks from the Coop for our journey and for picnic-ing in bed later. 
 

We were both so, so excited to get up to Zermatt and have a look around before skiing the next day. The journey took a few hours from Montreux up into the mountains, which left plenty of time for writing in travel diaries and playing Rummikub..

You can see a different selection of photos from our time in Montreux over on my photography blog here.

NEXT STOP - ZERMATT!

A SHORT FILM | TRAVELLING AND INTERRAILING WITH KIDS

So! We're back from our Interrailing trip and we've been home for a few weeks now; the Easter holidays are over we're getting back into the swing of the normal routine. 

It was *so* good. It took a lot of planning and going over and over details and checking the logistics of everything, but it went so smoothly and it was one of the most special things I've ever done with Vivienne. I'm working to put together some blog posts and organise the photos I took along the way, I'm going to be breaking the trip down into places to really go into detail about what we did in each place; but, for now, here is a short film I made of our travels. It was put together on my phone, and it's a little rough but it shows snippets of our travels and I hope you enjoy it!