We were very pleased to finally drive the rental car out of Vienna, after much ado and a big morning of admin...which involved Bill having to take the train out to the airport to get the rental and even me getting behind the wheel of the Berlingo to take it back to the workshop - unleashed on the streets of Vienna with Harv as the co-pilot!
However, there was a bit less room in the new car, much to Bill's packing chagrin, so we had every nook and cranny filled, meaning even the apricot pie was wedged into the window...
We arrived in Innsbruck where the temperature was a lot more manageable than in Vienna - and there was not a lot of snow even on the mountains towering above the town. We went out to explore the old town and the Christmas markets which were finishing that night. We had a good dinner out with some traditional Austrian fare being sampled. I ordered goulash which came with some stewed beef, a gherkin on the side and a poached egg on top. Very weird... I have to say that the food in Austria has not been top drawer - I realise we are coming off the back of 2 months in France and Italy but seriously, how did they managed to go so far wrong on the food front?? The beer is good though!
On the way home we enjoyed the Xmas decorations and even had a dance to "Do they know it's Christmas time?" which was blasting out from the radio station set up in Maria platz
On the morning of Christmas Eve, after a bit of fossicking around the town, I managed to find some random pine branches at the market, which we later fashioned into a tree in the hotel room - it was Harv's great idea to attach it to the lampshade - top improvisation..
Then, after a few calls home to NZ where it was the night of Xmas Eve, it was off to the nearby town of Hall where they had a Christmas market in the lovely Alstadt (old town). We had a great time with the kids all buying presents for each member of the family. High intrigue and excitement! There was even a brass band playing Xmas carols..
We came home and had a chilled afternoon, sorting the rooms and the tree before venturing out for Christmas Eve in the old town, where we experienced the traditional music ringing out from the famous golden roof, answered by music from other rooftops all around, as darkness fell.
Then home to get ready for Santa and the reindeer and arrange the pillow cases...
That night was a pretty sleepless one, not because of the usual excitement, but because both Harv and Zoe had a tummy bug..resulting in most of us getting less than a wink of sleep...maybe we did though because Santa still turned up - there were 3 Santa sacks deposited in our room come morning!
After presents and breakfast and some down time in the room, it was touch and go whether we were going to be able to drag everyone from their sick beds for lunch. But we managed to get them up and ready for the walk to Hotel Scwharzer Adler where we had a lovely Christmas lunch, with much fanfare and celebration...
Zoe picked up, especially after a few carafes of Sprite....Harv was still a bit marginal at first but was pretty cheery by the end! As for mum and dad, we were definitely a bit worse for wear after some beer, prossecco, red wine and an amazing bottle of sticky!
After making our way home via the old town, we napped for the rest of the afternoon, then had berries and fizzy in the evening, before calling it a Christmas night!
Unfortunately, the Christmas grinch had not quite finished with us, with Amelia going down in the evening and managing to bring up lunch in our hotel sink just before bedtime. Bill had to go looking for a plunger...good times!!
Luckily Boxing Day dawned bright and clear with everyone feeling better... we took the funicular up into the mountains to Hungerburg - quite an incredible ride, the funicular train system is world-recognised for its amazing engineering. Amelia could not help but sabotage the photos at the top by re-enacting her vomiting - we told the kids that we liked it so much better when they were sick and easy to manage....
Amelia says: I loved Innsbruck because it was really fascinating - Christmas was a great hit because we got lots of cool presents - I even got a kindle. On Christmas Eve we heard the music from the golden roof - they kept on changing the instruments. Our dinner was really nice. On the last day we went up to the top of the gondola - the view was amazing.
Zoe says: I just loved Christmas because I got lots and lots of cool stuff. But my two favourite things had to be my Jo Jo bow bow and my jewellery box. If you saw the picture of me in bed with lipstick on holding my jewellery box with my Jo Jo bow bow on, at that time I was feeling really sick - you might find that strange. When I started to feel better at the lunch I got an icecream.
Harvey says: I really loved Innsbruck but the hotel wasn't much chop. We made a tree out of a lampshade and filled the bottom with presents for each other from the whole family. On Christmas day no-one was feeling too well but we pushed hard to get into the Christmas spirit anyway, going out for a traditional Austrian lunch - and me only having Sprite...It ended with a relaxed nap and play with our presents. Overall, the only thing wrong with Innsbruck was the hotel.
