Vienna

 Arriving in Austria

The train to Austria was difficult to get on, especially as just before the train arrived, Dad admitted that he had only booked 4 seats. So a plan was made. I was to wait by the dining car and sneak on through first class to get to the restaurant car, where there are big tables that you can sit at. When the train arrived, I snuck back to the dining car, squeezed passed the lady checking tickets, dodged through first class and lunged on to a table. I then put my bag on the other side and sat there waiting. While I idled away looking at the window, the chef came and asked me what I wanted. I awkwardly flicked through the menu, saying my parents would order something soon. I had to do that 5 times and ignore the ticket inspector before Dad finally arrived and said that they don’t need this table because they had managed to get an extra seat. 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️ To get the extra seat though, they politely asked if the single women already sitting with my family could move and take Gilbert’s seat, sitting with three single men. So we potentially started a relationship. In Austria, we got off the train and walked to our apartment. It was warm, so we were very hot and sweaty when we arrived at our apartment. We dumped our stuff and went out to explore. We got a yummy sushi dinner, at Lucky Noodles and then delicious 😋 ice-cream. 

On the 9th we went to a lovely market where people were trying to sell us stuff all over the place. This guy shoved yummy cashews under our noses (not literally) so we had to buy them but then discovered that the ones further down the market were cheaper. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Then after walking through the market and buying a few yummy delicacies, something I noticed about Austria is that the food and culture is very Middle Eastern so we had some baklava as well, and continued on to see the Succession (which was way to expensive to go into) and wandered on to a beautiful old church, where a Viennese orchestra were playing. Then we went to a museum, but unfortunately the tickets were sold out. We waited around for a little, trying to find shelter, then we left. We walked to a few rainy church and museums, that had no major significance to us, maybe they might have interested us more if it wasn’t pouring, and then we walked home in ponchos and raincoats. It seems like the rain is following us through Europe!

On the 10th we went to a bike rental place with the vision of collecting bikes and going for a bike ride. When we got there, at 9:30, we did not realise we would be there til 11:30, when we finally left. I had my own bike, with the luggage strapped on the back, Eleanor and Mum shared a tandem, and Gilbert and Beatrice were in a cargo bucket with Dad steering. We rode to two rivers, the Narrow river and then the Danube, like the song, Blue Danube. Except it wasn’t very blue. Afterwards we had an ice-cream, and rode to an awesome playground and went on a giant swing (see my videos page). Then we rode on, and conveniently passed the Hundertwasser Haus which was designed by an interesting and quirky artist who loved unique shapes, curves and colours. There was also a Hundertwasser indoor village where there were a variety of cute quaint shops, all in the style of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. On the way home, we bought a schnitzel, iconic to Austria. 

On the 11th, the day we were to depart, we packed up and prepared to leave. The checkout time was to be at 10, but we got it extended to noon. We then delivered our suitcases to the apartment managers office, so we wouldn’t trudge around dragging a variety of bags, true Isham style.  Therefore we had 9 hours to waste as we waited for our night train. First, we caught a train to the Haus of Musik, as that’s what Austria’s famous for. We explored a vast array of cool musical features, such as musical stairs, virtual conducting and sound play. There was an entire level devoted to the exploits of the famous composers and musicians that worked in Austria, such as Strauss, Beethoven and Mozart. My favourite was the sound level where it told and explained all about music, how you hear it, sound waves, and your ear. There was a room where people created clongs, which a digital 3D shapes representing sounds which we made on a virtual reality eyepiece, then we raced to the next room, where we saw our creations floating on the roof. After that, we slowly made our way back to the office, stopping at a fountain and memorial, and then getting on the tram, where Dad and I struck up a conversation with some English folks who were visiting as well. On the way to the station with our bags, we got some yummy ice-cream. At the station, we made our way to the lounge and then someone stopped us. He said that we were only allowed in the lounge if we booked a sleeper cabin. In our horror, we turned to Dad, as we thought that meant he had only booked us some seats. Luckily, we still had beds, just not as nice, and we paid a little extra to have access to the lounge. The lounge had free food, which was good, and we stayed there from 6 to 8:30, when we left for our night train, just on time. When we hopped on the train, two people were sitting in our carriage. We were so tired and exhausted that we just lent against the walls while our parents bargained for us to have a cabin to ourself, the manager came and went and finally the people moved and we were able to get to sleep in our very own, squashy hot quarters.