Day 244 - 24 Feb '24 - Prague to Vienna. Our sleep last night was much better than the night before; the kids also had a good sleep, especially since Alex slept on the floor by the apartment door, and Abi had the bed.
"I'm glad you slept well," I said to Alex in the morning. "Maybe the two of you would like to stop fighting at night, so you can sleep in the bed?"
"I like sleeping on the floor!" he protested.
"I'm happy to sleep in the bed," Abi answered back.
After breakfast, Dan and the kids went to the nearby Tesco to buy some lunch, then we made our way to the train station.
"Which platform, Dan?"
"4S," he replied.
"Which one is 4S?"
"I don't know."
"This one says 4 south, could that be 4S?"
"Maybe."
"Why are you going to 4 north?"
"Because that's where the train is."
"But you said 4S!"
"The sign says the train is at 4 north."
We boarded the train, but I still wasn't happy.
"This train is listed as Graf Hauptbahnhof. Aren't we going to Wien Hauptbahnhof?"
"Yes, we're going to Vienna."
"But this train says Graf!"
"What's the problem?"
"Our doctor appointment is booked at Vienna. Not Graf! It takes an hour to get to Graf!"
"We're going to Vienna. This is the train to Vienna."
"It says GRAF!"
"MAYBE YOU SHOULD LOOK AT THE STATION LISTS!"
Sure enough, there was Wien...about an hour before it arrived in Graf.
"Okay...well..."
It was about four hours from Prague to Vienna, and a short 10 minute walk to our apartment. We had to meet the host at the entrance to be given the keys, but the only time Dan had given them was 3-4pm.
I'd sent them a text message at 2:45pm to say we'd be there at 3pm, but didn't get a reply. Ordinarily, waiting wouldn't be a problem, but we had our doctor appointment booked at the travel clinic for 3:30pm, and it was a 20 minute walk to get there.
"If she doesn't hurry up, we'll have to walk to the clinic with our rucksacks on!"
"Noooo!" yelped Abi in horror. "We'd have to walk back too!"
"No we wouldn't," Dan said. "We'll go to the station and use a luggage locker."
"Well, she'd better hurry up!"
She arrived at 3:08pm, and we had the quickest run-through of the apartment possible without seeming impolite. A very fast walk to the clinic, and we got there with just one minute to spare!
The doctor was very nice, and gave Abi (and us) some wonderful news, when she said she recommended Dan and the kids get their third shot of rabies in six months' time.
That still didn't stop Abi's tears, or her kicking my shins when I moved to hold her on my lap. Despite having numerous jags now, she was still panicking at the thought of more.
Just the two jags each, and because we didn't get the rabies, our bill was only €650. That was still $1136NZD, though.
"How many more do we have to get, mummy?" Abi asked once we were outside.
"Em, one more rabies for you and Alex and Daddy, one more Hepatits B for daddy and I, and maybe one more tick borne encephalitis for all of us if we decide to get the third dose. That's it! Then you'll be all done!"
At dinner, I remembered about the malaria tablets. That didn't go down too well.
Neither did the possible dengue fever vaccine.
Ha ha ha!
Day 245 - 25 Feb '24 - Vienna. At 7:13am, Alex decided it was time to wake us up, by asking to use the toilet in our bathroom because the 'other one' smelled, despite knowing there was only the one toilet in the apartment.
This was not a welcome start to the day.
About four minutes later, he decided it was time to have his breakfast, despite everyone else being asleep.
This also was not welcome.
By 7:30am we were all awake, and 75% of us were not happy about it! On the positive side, it meant we were up and out the door shortly after 9pm, to start out sightseeing of Vienna.
We bought some 24-hour passes at the train station, and headed to Schönbrunn Palace, a 1441-room Baroque summer palace painted in glorious yellow tones. I looked into buying tickets to see inside, but decided I was the only one really interested in it, and since I didn't want to go alone, we didn't bother.
We made our way to the public gardens at the back, which were, of course, turned over for winter. We then spent about 20 minutes or so playing Pokémon Go with the kids (there was a special event happening, and they simply had to catch three particularly rare ones, which they did, and which we heard about for the rest of the day).
When Dan and I finally had control again (of our children and our phones), we walked up the hill at the back to get some fabulous views back towards the palace and out into Vienna.
There was Neptune's fountain, turned off during winter, and another building called a Gloriette, which commanded the top of the hillside.
"The number of gardeners to look after this place must be massive!" Dan commented.
"I know! And they all have to be paid!"
We caught the S-Bahn and U-Bahn back into town to go the Hofburg Palace, which was now a musuem. This was a beautifully curved and ornate building, surrounded by other, equally impressive buildings.
"What's that cathedral over there, the one with five spires?" Dan asked.
"Em, let me check the map...oh wow! It's not a cathedral - that's the city hall!"
Built between 1872 and 1883, it was added to the plans of other grand buildings being erected in the area at the same time; the state opera, the parliament building, the Burgtheater, and the Vienna University.
In front of the city hall was a massive ice rink, that had four separate rinks joined by ice paths and ramps! They took up the entire garden space in front of the city hall, and there were hundreds of people skating all around them in every direction. It was fantastic to see - for 29 years, the city has paid for the construction of the Ice Dream, to give the citizens a fun outdoor activity to do.
We sat for a while in front of the parliament building, admiring the statue and mosaic frieze, then caught the S-Bahn back to our apartment.
As we went past Belvedere Palace, Dan asked if I wanted to go and see it. I shook my head. When we got off the train, he asked why I said no:
"Because just before, everyone was complaining about being bored, or cold, or not wanting to see another building. Besides, you can't see the patterns of their gardens without an aerial view, and nothing is growing in winter."
I may have been a bit grumpy.
We popped into the only supermarket that was open, and discovered the store had barricades running through the middle of it! In Austria, all the shops are closed on a Sunday; this one was open purely because it was in a train station.
We could buy whatever we wanted from the store, but could only buy liquids from one checkout, then we had to leave the store, re-enter from the other side, and buy our groceries from that side! Truly bizarre.
At bedtime, we once again had dramas with the kids. Despite being up early, they were still awake an hour after going to bed. We'd warned them three times to be quiet and go to sleep, but they weren't listening.
"Fine! Okay! You don't want to go to sleep? You can get up and do work. You can write lines. One hundred should do," I said.
"You can write 'I will go to sleep when I go to bed'," Dan told them.
"And make sure you number them, because I'm not counting them," I added.
After half an hour or so, Alex was done, so went back to bed. At 10:20pm, Dan let Abi off the hook at 94, and she went back to bed.
You'd really think that after eight months of travelling and sharing a bed, they'd be able to just lie down and go to sleep!
Day 246 - 26 Feb '24 - Vienna (and Bratislava). Today we woke up around 6:30am, not from the kids, but from the sun!
"Bloody white mesh blinds that don't close properly," I grumbled.
"Hmmmmmm," Dan grumbled back.
We dozed for another hour, but then it was even brighter. Dan hopped on his phone to look at train reservations for tomorrow, while I tried to ignore my bladder and pretend to sleep for a bit longer!
Alas, nature won out, and we got up at 8am. We'd decided to make a day trip to Slovakia, to visit Bratislava, as it was only an hour away on the train.
The train left every half hour, and at 9:02am, Dan was convinced we could make the 9:17am train.
"We're never going to get there on time," I said, "as Abi doesn't even have her shoes on!"
"So do you not want to try?"
"We can try, but I'm not running for the train, eapecially when there is another one half an hour later!"
We got down to the street at 9:10am.
"Come on mummy!"
"I'm not running. I told you! I'll walk quickly, but that's it."
We got to the train station at 9:14am.
"It's on platform four," Dan told us.
"I'm not running!" I reminded everyone again.
We took the stairs to the platfrom two at a time, and there, at the other end, was the train.
"Okay, I guess I can run now."
"You said you weren't going to run for the train!" Dan reminded me.
"Yes, but that's the train right there! I don't want to miss it when I can see it waiting!"
We boarded the train at 9:16am. I hate running.
We changed carriage halfway through the journey, as the heater was on full and we were all roasting. We were at -26°C not that long ago, and now at 7-14°C; it was only going to get warmer from here, and we wondered how long it would be before we missed the cold.
Bratislava was an interesting place, with a smallish old town completely surrounded by new. The first place we walked to was Michael's Gate, a tower built in 1300 as part of the city's defensive network.
We bought tickets to go up the top, where we were afforded a wonderful view over old town, and also to the castle on the hill. Inside the tower there was an excellent exihibition detailing the numerous renovations, the latest being 2021-2022, and we could also see the old bell, which had a massive chunk missing from it.
Next, we went to one of the many public squares, where there was an interesting sculpture of a Napoleonic soldier leaning on a park bench!
Further up the street, we found another fun statue, this time of a street worker sticking up out of a manhole!
But the most fun part of today for Abi came at lunchtime, when I found out that McDonald's in Bratislava had gluten free burger buns - she was over the moon!
The last time she had Maccas was as a 'last meal' at the age of two-and-a-half, before switching to gluten free when she was diagnosed with coeliac disease.
While travelling, we've viewed McDonald's as an absolute last resort, as the fries and milkshakes are gluten free. So, while the rest of us would be having a sub-par burger, she would get to at least eat fries and drink a milkshake. (Finding cheap gluten free options for lunch has been a constant challenge).
After lunch we went to St. Martin's cathedral, which had beautifully ornate decorations, stained glass windows, and intricately painted ceiling panels between the ribs.
We then crossed the road to climb the hill to the top of the castle. At the top of the winding cobblestone roads, we got a striking view of old town contrasted with new town; church spires in the foreground and high rises in the background.
The castle, we thought, looked rather like a prison, and not as grand as others we've seen. Even the inner courtyard was plain and looked more like a prison exercise yard. Tall white walls, pillars in the corners, no decorations, and lots of small windows.
We found out the castle had actually been completely destroyed, and was rebuilt only in the 1950s. We didn't go inside to the museum, and decided not to look around their gardens (again, it was winter, so nothing would be growing).
After the castle, we made our way back to the train station.
"How long is the walk, Dan?" I asked.
"2.2km. So much for 10 minutes!" he replied.
"That was to walk across old town," I responded defensively, "not to walk back to the train station. We've walked much further than old town!"
We were walking along a nice, flat, main road, when Dan suddenly directed us to cross said road, and walk up a narrow, windy, residential hill.
"Em, Dan..."
"Ha ha ha ha, who knows where Google is taking us now! Don't worry, I'd have looked at you sideways too."
We made it to the station safe and sound, and didn't have to wait long for our train back to Vienna. There were more things we could have done and seen in Vienna (like the Spanish riding school, or a classical concert, or the cathedral with a colourfully tiled roof), but it was good to go to another country, if only for the afternoon.
That night, both kids were again being little shits and not going to sleep. We are both so very over it. They were told to stand up in opposite corners of the room, but in the end, not for long; Dan and I talked about it, and it doesn't work. Neither does writing lines. Neither does going to bed really late (which causes its own problems the next day, anyway). The only thing that works is Abi going to sleep in our bed, while Alex goes to sleep in their bed. However, this only works if we have a separate bedroom to the lounge; it doesn't work if the kids are sleeping on the pullout couch!
Day 247 - 27 Feb '24 - Vienna to Ljubljana. Our day started at 7:10am, when Abi burst into our room in tears.
"Alex was fighting me," she managed to get out between sobs.
"ALEX! Go and stand in the corner!" yelled Dan.
"But Abi was hitting ME!" Alex cried back between his own tears.
After Abi had calmed down enough to speak, she told us that he had woken up to find her feet near his head (they were top-and-tail in the bed), so he pushed them away, but she moved them back, so he pushed them away again, so he leaned over her and punched her in the chest.
We called Alex into the room a few minutes later. His version started the same, with her feet at his head, but said he didn't punch her, that he "skimmed" her.
"What is 'skimmed'?" I asked.
"I went like this," he answered, as he lightly punched me with a glancing blow.
"That's a punch, Alex! How many times do we have to tell you to keep your hands to yourself!"
"You don't hit, Alex!" Dan joined in. "You're bigger and stronger than her!"
"Well, she was kicking me!"
"What else should I have done," Abi retorted. "Let you keep punching me?"
And thus began our day. What fun.
After breakfast we video called my dad to wish him a happy birthday, during which, both kids lied through their teeth when they were asked if they were behaving!
We went to the train station an hour before our train was due to depart, because we had access to the lounge, and their website said they had food and beverages available in "average quantities".
That dubious phrase turned out to be apples and oranges, a decent selection of bottled cold drinks, some chocolate macaroons, and small packets of dried soybeans. Average indeed! Shortly before we were due to leave, it increased slightly to include a singular plate of warm, savoury pastries.
"I guess you'll need to go to the shop for some food after all, Dan!"
It was almost six hours through the Austrian alpine countryside to Ljubljana, with a nine-minute change at Vallach. As we approached Vallach, we watched the arrival time get later, which meant our changeover time got shorter.
The conductor put a message over the speakers, all in German, informing the passengers which train was on which platform. I couldn't hear what she was saying as the kids were making a racket. When she repeated the message in English, she just said "check the information board".
"Well, that wasn't very helpful!" I said. "Luckily you've already checked on your phone that it was platform two."
When the train stopped, we quickly gave the information board a read, and, once we'd confirmed it was indeed platform two, went as fast as we could, with a number of other passengers doing the same!
We needn't have worried too much, as the train to Ljubljana delayed its departure a few minutes to make sure all the connecting passengers got on board. Not every train does that.
We arrived at Ljubljana a little after 6pm, and after taking our bags to our very nice apartment (with two single beds for the kids), we found a local shop that had milk for breakfast and some sushi for dinner. Nobody was really hungry, and it was almost 7pm by the time we got back, so too late to cook.
We watched an hour of Iron Man, and then we all went to our beds. Alex and Abi had their own beds (thank the heavens), and were asleep within minutes.
One thing we've found interesting has been the bedding. Since Scandinavia, we have been introduced to two single blankets on a double/queen/king bed, with no top sheet. This has happened in every place we've stayed since then.
The idea behind it, is that each person has their own duvet to wrap up in, and therefore can change the inner to match their own warmth requirements. We haven't minded that aspect too much. What we have found rather negative, is the duvets tend to slide off the bed, and we don't like the fact there is no top sheet.
Also, when you have your own duvet, you can't annoy your bedmate by pulling off the covers!
Day 248 - 28 Feb '24 - Ljubljana. Ooh, the bed was the best bed I've slept on in eight months, hands down. It was a perfect Goldilocks mattress; not too hard, not too soft, just right. The duvet was just the right thickness. The pillow was just the right plump-ness.
The curtains didn't cover the entire window though...
Today we went on a train (and then a taxi) to nearby Lake Bled. It was a beautifully still day, and rather quiet, but the taxi driver told us that during summer the population gets bigger by about 10,000 tourists!
It wasn't hard to see why.
A small lake with a tiny island housing a church, a castle perched up really high on a cliff edge, and views over to the snow-capped mountains.
We went to the castle first, where we had incredible views down to the lake and the church on the island there, and also to an awesome swimming area at the lake edge. Holy crap, we were up high, with a sheer drop to certain death over the railing.
It was built before 1011, when it was first mentioned in a document, and had been added to periodically, with the chapel dating to the 16th century.
After looking through the on-site museum, we walked down the stairway to the lakefront, where we could see exactly how high up the castle was.
Rather than pay another €24 for the taxi back to the train station, we decided to walk the 4km, and besides, as Dan said, it was nice to walk through countryside instead of the city.
On the way, Dan checked the train schedule.
"The next train leaves in 15 minutes, and the station is 19 minutes away."
"We can't make that! We may as well walk slower and get the next one."
"We can try!"
"I suppose it might be late..."
"That was my thought too."
As we got closer, the time difference had been cut from four to just one minute.
"What we don't want, is to be stuck this side of that road barrier when the train comes," Dan said, when it came into sight.
Just five seconds later...
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"RUN!"
We made it to the other side of the barrier just in time, and continued to run to the platform.
"Poor mummy," Dan laughed, "having to run again!"
One minute after we made it to the platform, our train arrived, and we headed back to Ljubljana. It was only 2:30pm when we got there, so I said we should go into the town centre to have a look, and Dan agreed. Alex and Abigail were somewhat less eager.
We first went to the Dragon Bridge, a bridge with dragons on each pillar. Kind of self-explanatory really! Then we walked along the river edge to the centre of town, where we saw the Triple Bridge. Guess what? It's three bridges right beside each other, spread out like a fan. Top points for their bridge naming skills!
We decided against the castle, but we did go to the cathedral, and oh my goodness, once we'd walked through the amazing bronze doors, it was literally breathtaking.
The frescoes on every wall and ceiling space were beautiful. So vibrant and colourful, and with lots of gold everywhere. We were also lucky to have the whole place to ourselves at that time.
In the central dome, there was a small circle of gold with a dove in the middle. This circle was lit by the sun, and the rest of the dome was dark. It made it very much look like heaven, surrounded by darkness, but we couldn't see the paintings on the dome at all.
After that, we headed back to the apartment. We walked through a market square that was closing up, but we were in time to buy some delicious strawberries are super sweet grape tomatoes. Yummy!
We watched the second half of Iron Man, had a salad for dinner (which Abi complained about, of course), then sent the kids to bed. Dan did some work on his computer, and I watched a couple of episodes of The Crown, then we went to bed too.
Day 249 - 29 Feb '24 - Ljubljana to Zagreb. Today was an exciting travel day! We had our train booked for 2:45pm, but Dan said there was another option - we could leave at 10:55am with no changeover, or leave at 9:55am with a kind-of changeover between two stations that were 2km apart!
This was one of the train trips Dan had problems booking, as the Eurail network didn't operate internationally between Slovenia and Croatia. We had to get a train from Ljubljana to Dobova, which was at the Slovenian border, then make our way to Harmica, just inside the Croatian border.
We decided to aim for the 9:55am train, and if we missed it, we'd go for the 10:55am one. This was a much better idea than sitting at the train station until 2:45pm! We made it in time for the earlier train and were glad there was no connecting train, as we arrived at Dobova 22 minutes later than scheduled.
"So...are we walking the 32 minutes, or are we finding a taxi?" I asked.
"Let's walk!" said Abi. "Then we can have an icecream!"
"Who said that?"
"Daddy did!"
"Okay then, let's walk."
We stopped after one minute to fix Abi's shoulder strap. We stopped after another minute to scratch Abi's shoulder blade. We stopped after just one more minute to scratch it again. Three minutes later, we stopped for a drink. And to fix Alex's waist strap. And for Abi to take off her jumper. And for Alex to take off his jumper.
"At this rate, it's going to be an hour before we get there!"
We carried on our trek to Harmica, and stopped when we'd been walking for 15 minutes. A power lunch of a banana and a Kinder chocolate bar, and we were off again. The pavement ran out, which meant we had to walk on the road; most of the drivers were really nice, and pulled over to the other side of the road when they passed us, but there were a couple who barely gave us any room.
Dan and I had decided there was no need to rush, as the trains were leaving every half hour, but luckily for us, when we got to the station there was one waiting. We boarded it with some relief; my pack, despite weighing 20kg, didn't feel too heavy once all the straps were tightened, What did feel heavy, was carrying my backpack.
Dan's backpack was clipped to the front of his pack, but I had to carry mine like a bag. I also normally carry the grocery bag, but today Dan was, as my elbows were sore from being strained too many times with the weight of the extra bags.
We arrived in Zagreb to many a strange look from the people waiting on the platform. Nobody else had any luggage of any form, and there we were, taking a local train, and walking off wearing rucksacks.
One thing we'd noticed in Slovenia, Slovakia, and on our way to the apartment, was the dreadful amount of graffiti everywhere, and on everything. Not a single building was left unscathed, including churches.
Walls, pillars, doors, windows...anything the vandals could reach from pavement height - such a shame. It certainly did nothing for the appearance of the area, but again, the inside of our apartment was beautiful. An incredible contrast.
After dropping our bags off, we decided to go and walk around Zagreb for a while, since we were leaving tomorrow. We walked to the main square, then up to Lotrščak Tower, a fortified 13th century tower that gave us amazing views over the city.
This tower was built when the king granted the city 'royal free' status, after Zagreb housed him when he was escaping enemies. This new status meant Zagreb had to build defensive walls and towers to protect themselves, so really, 'royal free' was a double-edged sword.
From the top of the tower, we saw St Mark's church, which had an incredible tiled roof, and when we got back down, we walked there for a closer look. It was really very pretty; very detailed and colourful.
We carried on to the stone gate, which was mostly rebuilt in 1760 following a fire, and which had a miniature chapel inside it. The gate is one of the few remaining sections of the city walls, and even though it was originally built sometime between 1242 and 1266, nobody knows what it used to look like.
After that, we decided that we'd done enough walking for the day, and it was time to go back to the apartment and rest. We had fish finger burgers for dinner, and for dessert, the usual arguments with the kids!
Day 250 - 1 Mar '24 - Zagreb to Split. This morning, after our 11am check-out, we took our rucksacks and bags to the luggage storage at the train station (only €2 each locker, bargain!), then thought "what now?" as our train didn't leave until 3:18pm.
I had found a gluten free bakery online, so we went there first, for Abi to get something for lunch. Everything there was 100% gluten free, so she was thrilled to be able to pick whatever she wanted!
We sat at a nearby park for her to eat a couple of mouse-sized bites, and then we went to the Museum of Illusions. I'd taken the kids to somewhere similar in Rotorua, so we knew it would be fun to spend a while.
We had so much fun! They had some amazing illusions to play with, and for around 15 minutes there were only a few people there, which meant we could take some uninterrupted photos.
Some of the trickery with mirrors was incredible, like having a head on a plate, or falling through a tunnel. And the effects from lights and mirrors made a lot of things look endless, especially the hexagonal-shaped thing.
Once the school group arrived, we made a quick exit. We didn't get to spend as long as we would have liked there (to use up more time), but the kids were noisy and getting in the way of photo opportunities.
We went to a supermarket to get some food for lunch and dinner, then sat in the park by the train station to eat. The sun started to come out, which was lovely to see; spring was definitely coming! Flowers were starting to bloom, it was getting warm enough to walk around without a jacket, and the city had its fountains going. Beautiful!
Eventually, it was time to get on the train. There was a bit of confusion as to which carriage we were booked on, due to the lack of signage, and we had to ask a very confused man to leave his seat so we could sit down. he kept pointing to his ticket that said seat 45, which he was indeed sitting on, but in carriage two, not carriage one, like he was supposed to be.
Oh my goodness. It was THE LONGEST TRAIN TRIP EVER!!! It was only six-and-a-half hours, but it felt like 52.
"I think it's because we started so late in the day," Dan said.
I'd told the kids they couldn't go on anything electronic until the sun went down, as we would be travelling along the coast, so they could look out the window while there was still daylight. By 5:30pm I'd had enough of the complaints about being bored, and the sun still hadn't gone down. Traitor!
At one point Dan quietly pointed out some lit up buildings.
"NIC!" he yelled. "LOOK!"
(He had his headphones on, so clearly misjudged his amplification).
We didn't know quite what it was we were looking at, as the train was moving too fast for our maps to catch up, but we discovered later on that it was the fortress of Knin. It was rather impressive to see at night as it was massive, and took up a lot of hillside.
Other than a drunk man who smelled of weed, who kept running back and forth through the cabins, and stopped at one point to talk to Alex about his Nintendo Switch, our train trip was rather uneventful. It turned out there was a first class section that was empty, but once again, the booking system hadn't let Dan book first class between the two countries. Never mind.
We arrived in Split just before 10pm, and our host's mum had stayed in the apartment to welcome us in. Not only that, but she had supplied a bowl of fruit, two bowls of Werther's Originals, and a bottle each of milk, apple juice, and wine. WINE!
That's tomorrow night sorted!
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