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Travel with kids is all about keeping it real.  We may not be at home, but that doesn’t mean everything is different from normal.  Thus far on our trip, we have probably been to a playground everyday. If we missed a day somewhere, it was offset by the fact that other days we go multiple times!  This is simply part of the balance of family travel – we do some activities for the whole family, some for mom & dad, some just for the kids. As it turns out though, there are some awesome playgrounds out there so instead of sitting bored on a bench, we often end up joining in the fun.  This is definitely the case in Vienna – among the many things we’ve found over the past 5 days, there have been several amazing playgrounds.

We arrived on Friday morning (Oct 25th) after our overnight train from Italy.  Arriving early, we managed to get to the hotel, drop off our bags and head out exploring all by 9:00 am.  As you may have guessed, the first stop was a playground, this one in the Prater area of Vienna. Funny enough, so was the second stop – all of 5 minutes after the first stop – this area has lots of of them.  I may get parts of this wrong, but from what I can tell, the area known as Prater is Vienna’s version of a central public park, complete with playgrounds, cafes and an amusement park. It’s particularly unique in that it was created for the public by the emperor in the 1766 – now that’s visionary!  Being our first day, we also made a point of sampling the local fare so for lunch it was Wiener Schnitzel all around.

Day two we headed to Schonbrunn Palace (think Austrian version of Versailles if not familiar).  The palace is simply massive and has a history equally impressive. We managed to experience a solid 5-10% of the grounds, which of course included another awesome playground as well as a labyrinth garden, children’s museum (which was as interesting for adults as for kids) and the zoo – claimed to be the world’s oldest.

Day three we explored the central part of the city, walking through the huge pedestrian area filled with shops from every luxury brand imaginable (and H&M which Lauren pointed out, is not like the others).  We followed the pedestrian area to the House of Music (Haus der Musik – German words are so much fun). This was a fantastic museum, with treasure-hunt style info books for the kids so they could search the various rooms for clues to answer puzzles.  After the museum, we headed to the Children’s Opera for a 100% German version of Cinderella (we were steeping in culture at this point). So this day was missing a playground stop – must have been the reason our kids were little monsters by the end of the day – too much culture, not enough blowing off steam.

Day four, we took in the Science and Technology museum, moving fast at the “museum” parts and taking our time on the interactive parts.  The favourite exhibit was a slide that when the kids were ejected out the bottom, had a big display that indicated their top speed. Naturally, this became a contest to see who could go the fastest.  The best part about this contest was that it required them to run back up to the top over & over & over & over & … you get the idea. So science centre-turned-park for the record. Following the museum, we found a perfect Austrian pub for dinner – time for more deep fried food in a cozy spot with a local neighborhood feel.

Next it was day five – tour of the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna.  This was a great tour and the kids engaged rather impressively through the tour, asking thoughtful questions about atomic energy, space technologies, how many flags there are (195: 193 member states plus 2 observer states) and other goings on around the complex.  To balance out this period of deep thinking, we of course went to… a playground! This one was in a large park behind the UN and turned out to be the crown jewel in Vienna’s playground circuit with several structures large enough for all four of us simultaneously. (I hope to add a picture later).

Next we’re off to Budapest for Halloween (still not sure how they celebrate it but we’ll find out soon).  We’ll be there for 2 weeks – time to slow down just a bit to catch our breath before we leave Europe for warmer climates come mid-November.

I wonder how many playgrounds Budapest has?

After our six week stint in France, the past week(ish) has been a whirlwind with multiple trains, subways, buses, cars and even boats (Venice is always fun).  Resilience has continued to be our main theme in the school of life that travel just gives so many chances to embrace. Our departure from France was complicated by a nationwide rail strike that we discovered on arrival at the train station (us and a few million other people).  Since we no longer had a place to stay in France but had pre-paid our apartment in Turino, alternate travel was the name of the game. As chance would have it, there was a bus going exactly where we needed to go with only one stop and arrived at the same time as our originally scheduled train – win!  So off to Italy we went, time for pasta, pizza and gelato.

Northern Italy came into our plans late which is why it was a short stay with lots of moving around.    One day in each of Turino, Milano, Castelfranco, Venezia and Treviso. We’re getting better at estimating what and how much to pack into a single day, our set-up looks something like this:

• 4-5 hour outings trips are best, though we can stretch if required
• Figure out public transportation early, use it often
• Each day needs a morning snack, lunch stop and an afternoon snack, otherwise dad gets grumpy
• Museums need to be limited to around 2 hours per location, otherwise somebody gets bored and grumpy
• Playgrounds should be included at least once a day, twice is better to avoid everyone getting grumpy
• Gelato fixes most problems (including the grumps).

Through the week, the three favorites were the Automotive Museum in Turin, the whole city of Venice and our B&B/apartment in Castelfranco because of the courtyard and field for running around.  Throughout this trip, we get to see amazing things (Paris, Venice – no explanation required), but we’re appreciating the value of simple things that mean so much, like having a backyard to play.

At the end of our day in Treviso, we caught the night train to Vienna.  For the second time in a week, a rail strike was looming (this one in Italy), but we were boarding an Austrian train so we escaped delay.  Riding an overnight train was a novelty we wanted the kids to experience (it turns out to be no more economical than a night in a hotel).  The experience was everything we hoped for, although actually sleeping on a train that starts and stops and makes lots of noise was challenging.  We arrived in Vienna a little tired but rested enough to explore this new city. More on that in the next post.

What an awesome time we had.  We have a tonne of photos that tell all kinds of stories from the past 6 weeks, but I’m slow at this blog and I have to save a few stories for when we get home.  In honour of our departure from this wonderful country though, a few of my favorite things about France (in no particular order):

Baked Goods:

Baguette, Bread, Pastries – all awesome.  In general, I’m a big fan of all things that come from from an oven – be it a bakery or homemade.  In this regard, Lauren and I have a special bond. On the weekends, we would walk to the local Boulangerie and pick up yummy things for the family for breakfast.  By the end of the second week, we got a little out of control and our weekend outing turned into 5 days a week! Needless to say, we had to rein in our outings back to just weekends, but it was our special outing where we enjoyed the stillness of the morning, and yummy treats.

Bicycles:

I love riding a bike, I remember riding a bike as a kid and having the sense of total freedom – the ability to control where and when I go places.  I still get that feeling when I ride a bike today. At home, our city isn’t set up very well for bikes (though we do have some awesome trails), for the most part they fill a limited role for adults, really only being used for athletic pursuits (road bikes, mountain bikes, etc).  In France (home of Le Tour), bikes are simply a way of life. The apartment we rented came with a pair of bikes that we used regularly, we also rented bikes for the kids to join in exploring the bike paths and vélo cafes (cafes made exclusively for access by bikes). In France, bikes are everywhere and enjoyed by everyone young and old.

Cheese:

French cheese is soooo good.  If you’ve been to France, you know what I’m talking about, if you haven’t – it’s worth going just for the cheese.  By about day 3 in France, my body felt overloaded and I couldn’t eat anymore cheese but then, I acclimatized! After that I found myself seeking out cheese on a daily basis.  We had a running joke, “have you had your cheese today”, as if is was a nutrient that one should consume daily. Oh how I will miss French cheese.

Happy, Helpful People:

I took French as a high school credit until grade 11.  After that my teacher graciously told me that while conversational french was in my future, keeping the subject on my report card would not bode well for my admission to University!  Over the years since, I’ve had a few opportunities to refresh my limited knowledge, but Annecy opened up a whole new world to me. I would say at this point, I have developed a solid foundation in “Survivalist French”.  I cannot carry on a conversation, but drop me off on my own in the middle of the country and I will successfully find food, accommodation and maybe even rent a car so I can get lost in the never ending roundabouts.  The people of Annecy were simply wonderful in their patience and helpfulness allowing me to keep trying and get a little bit better each time. There is so much value to making an effort, people see it instantly and respond warmly to your show of respect for their culture.  Thank you to all the shopkeepers in Annecy.

French Wine:

It goes so well with all of that bread and cheese.  It’s cheap too! I had a mission to find the least expensive wine I could and got down to €2.87 for a bottle – that’s around $4.20 Canadian. Bottled water was probably more expensive (didn’t ever check because Annecy has potable water flowing out of fountains all over the city which seems to be disappearing from Canadian cities).  I helped an American couple in the grocery store select a wine with simple advice – you’re in France, they’re all good (they walked away happily with their selection, I’m sure it was good).

From here, we head to Italy.  The days are getting much shorter and the seasons are changing.  We have a busy stretch of travel for the next few weeks, hopefully I get quicker at these posts so I can get more of them out.  Until then, Au revoir France!