Vienna 2024: The First Four Weeks (on our own)

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Our yearly Vienna trip divides neatly into two parts: the first, longer part where I'm there on my own with the kids, and then the final two weeks when Mr. joins us. Now we're at the end of the first part, here's a photo dump of lots of things we've been up to. It's been hot - every day, pretty much, has been over 30 degrees and so there's a big theme of water!

Before we went, N(9) created this little book of anticipation...








They also practiced the flights in advance - although what they didn't anticipate was that we'd miss our connection in Amsterdam, so we arrived around midnight! A few pictures of the lovely outside yard in the place where we're staying; we didn't take any indoor pics, but the place is very nice and much larger than any we've ever stayed in: 90 m2, with two bedrooms rather than a pull-out sofa in the lounge!

We were greeted by a very... interesting neighbour. Arriving at midnight on Saturday night we knew to be quiet, and I told the kids we'd walk in and go straight to bed. And so we did - walked into the flat in silence, just put our bags down and cleaned our teeth. 20 minutes later, the kids were in bed already and I was cleaning my teeth, police rang our doorbell! Apparently the downstairs neighbour complained of 'stomping' in our flat. That would be us, walking from room to room getting ready... my goodness. We're walking on tippy toes in that flat now. 

The next morning, that neighbour showed up herself to tell me how awful and illegal it was that this flat is being rented out as an Airbnb. I let her rant, and the kids came to see her too, and I think she went away somewhat placated. Still, we'll have to be very careful here.

Home practice for the flights!

At Amsterdam airport

A nice big yard


The kids spent their first week at dance camp, without me so there's no photos of that; I spent my childfree week mostly in bed with a cold. Oh well. Here's two photos of when they got their 'sweets plates' at the end of the dance camp show.



After that week, it was funtime! Lots of swimming, both in the danube and in various pools...

With my sister, A




Loving my sister's dog, Banksy


We're definitely catching some sun!








We also had some very interesting outings, from giving out food at a foodbank (my sister works for a charity and managed to organise this for us) to learning about all sorts of things...


Shadow theatre

Scuba diving



Insect catching


Examining the insects

My sister A organised for some friends of hers to take the kids out while I worked, and we also did a bit of sightseeing together...













All this and many other activities - playgrounds, seeing Bernhard Fibich, walking with my aunt M, lots of ice cream eating - made up our month of summer fun so far. Now we can't wait to see Mr. again!













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