It was the 27th of December and we’d enjoyed a wonderful (and snowy) Christmas in Innsbruck, Austria. Sadly our time here was up and we were onto the next part of our adventure.
Farewell Igls and Innsbruck….
We had to say farewell to our lovely house up in Igls and head 480km East to the capital, Vienna. It was a crisp minus 10 outside (feels like -12) and very snowy still. The bags had gone ahead in a taxi with Max and Di, and Rene had set off on her journey homeward, so the 5 of us and Grandma (Lorraine) caught the bus down the mountain one last time. The kids had been spending the morning brushing up on their German on Duolingo which was keeping them amused.
We zipped past the Bergisel ski jump one last time. It’s an impressive sight up on the mountain!
Today was a mostly travel day, with a very special ending with the Spanish Riding School show. By the time we reached the HBF it wasn’t any warmer and our train was already running late. Luckily it was originating in Innsbruck and was already there so we actually got bag spots. Max and Di were up in first class, but the rest of us decided it was a bit too pricey for this leg, so we had landed in the family zone. This made for a very loud journey with lots of kids. We’d stocked up on food for the journey at the HBF supermarket while avoiding the local youth crime gangs, so had were ready for the day ahead.
Off across Austria….
Our train left almost 20 minutes late and we settled in for a long and noisy journey. We had a scenic run through Austria, with plenty of snow. Our train did no less than 2 sudden emergency brakings, with burning smells and all the screens turning off and alarms. The first one only 15 minutes into the trip. We weren’t sure why, as my German wasn’t good enough to follow the announcements fully, but we did eventually get going again both times, but constantly lost time throughout the trip.
At least the scenery continued to be spectacular and we all took the opportunity for some downtime (or never ending device time for the kids).
Our large bags of supermarket lunch snacks were enjoyed as we watched Austria zip by. There was less and less snow as we exited the Alps and were Vienna bound. Zinnia even enjoyed a pig shaped bread snack. Pig pastries and breads seem popular with the kids in various countries!
Anto and Zinnia did manage to nap in the sunshine for awhile, and several books were read and photos edited amongst the rest of us. We had terrible Wifi on this leg but at least the scenery was good!
Eventually we arrived into Vienna a bit after 3pm, more than 30 minutes late. We only had to take the underground 1 stop from the HBF, and the biggest trick was finding the correct exit from the station. It was then a pretty easy 800m walk to our apartment, which we all noted was slightly downhill, making it pretty easy today, but concerning us for the trip back in a few days time 🙂
Vienna was much warmer than Innsbruck, at 5 degrees. This was a nice change but we quickly felt hot, dragging the bags. Once we made it to our very large and light apartment (and thankfully ground floor so there was no need to drag bags upstairs) it was pretty much sunset – currently 4pm here!
Japanese and Aperol Showers
The five of us, and Grandma, had our Spanish Riding School show booked for the evening, so after quickly unpacking and getting changed, we found a ramen place around the corner. It has been a few weeks now since Tokyo Ramen (and at least 4 countries) so Japanese food it was. The kids were happy!
Granny got an Aperol shower rather than an Aperol spritz, when a very apologetic waiter broke a drink all over her. Soren continued to manage to find the most expensive thing on the menu but did have an impressive ‘gentleman’s platter’ and the rest of us got some very tasty food with a selection of ramen and rice bowls that filled up hungry tummies.
Soren did impressively finish off his entire platter. How he stays so tiny we don’t know!
Vienna by night…..
Di and Max were staying in for the night, so the rest of us head off to catch a couple of trains to Hofburg Palace for our horse extravaganza. We’d booked these tickets many months ago and had been looking forward to the experience. When we’d visited Vienna in 2016, Astrid was 4.5 and Soren 2. The minimum age for the Spanish Riding School shows is 3, so we said we’d be keen to go if we ever returned to Vienna. Since we were back in Vienna and everyone was now older than 3, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Lorraine (Grandma) was also keen to join us for the experience. We’d decided to book tickets to the night time show rather than the cheaper daytime practice sessions and were hoping it would be a show to remember for us and the kids.
Once we were off our trains we were in the heart of the city. Anyone who has been to Vienna knows how many impressive buildings there are here and it’s spectacular by night.
The Spanish Riding School….
It was only a short walk to the impressive Hofburg Palace. The Palace complex is huge. We tried a few different entrances, where they’d check our tickets and direct us around to the next door, which always seemed to be another couple hundred metres walk in the cold.
The Spanish Riding School performances are in the baroque Winter riding school, a very imperial setting. We had the cheapest seats you could get on the second floor, which is about 4 floors high as the palace has large windows between every floor. The sandstone banisters mean even the adults had to stand to see the performance sections but it was well worth it.
The building is amazing and the stallions are beautiful and very impressive with their performances. You couldn’t film the horses but we took a few photos in the venue before and after. With open windows, and no heating, it wasn’t warm as it was now 1 degree, but we thoroughly enjoyed the show and kids loved the horses and outfits.
There was commentary in both German and English, which was lucky as our German didn’t hold up to the level of detail they were giving. We learnt all about the history of the riding school, the uniforms, the saddles and what the different coloured saddle cloths and uniforms meant. We also concluded the horses were much better behaved than most kids!
The lighting and architecture were so impressive that it was worth being a bit cold for! The show was only about an hour and 15 minutes so while we didn’t get our coats off at all, it held the attention of even Zinnia. All the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
After the show you could take photos of the arena. The sand was much less neat than before the horses started and it was neatly raked and had less horse poo everywhere!
We had a few quick photo stops through the Hofburg complex as we wandered out. It’s a rather impressive setting for the show.
As we left we got to see more of Vienna lit up at night. They definitely don’t do understated in Vienna!
We were hoping to do more exploring in daylight the next day. After a quick train and bus back to our apartment we were safely back by 9pm. It had been a long day but fairly quiet by our hectic standards. We had all enjoyed a break from plenty of walking but were excited to see more of Vienna the next day. The weather had been less than ideal the last time we visited and the forecast was looking much better this time around 🙂
Up next…..
A beautiful Winter’s day exploring of Vienna. With the Shoenbrunn Palace, St Stephen’s Cathedral, the beautiful architecture of the city centre and plenty of delicious food!
