After a busy end to our amazing time in Siena, we dropped off 200kg of luggage with FedEx, took our final photos in the apartment and headed off for one last European road trip.
Mandi and the girls headed straight to Venice while I detoured to see a friend in Milan and return our leased car. The next day I caught the train to catch up with the others, hoping that the storms I passed through along the way weren’t a sign of more to come.
I arrived in Venice just in time to catch a spectacular sunset.
I connected with Mandi and the girls and we crossed Piazza San Marco and headed to the hotel.
It was raining the next morning, which, combined with the acqua alta, made exploring Venice’s streets a challenging and surreal experience.
After a morning of being surrounded by water in all directions, we decided to take an indoor break and booked the kids into a mask-painting class at one of the oldest mask workshops in Venice.
Eventually the rain stopped and the floodwater disappeared with the ebbing tide.
The next morning I decided to venture out early on my own into the (now flooded again) streets.
It was incredible seeing how the locals just get on with their lives, even with the difficult conditions.
We were stuck in our hotel until 11am the next day due to the flooded streets but eventually managed to reach the rental car office and get on the road. After three hours we started seeing the snow-covered mountains (and excellent roads) of Slovenia.
We checked into what would be the nicest hotel we’d stayed in for the whole year. Hayley immediately fell in love with the vintage typewriter in the lounge.
While I fell in love with the local running trails.
We spent the next five days taking long walks…
riding bikes…
meeting the locals…
drinking hot chocolate by the late…
and having fun in the snow.
We also managed a traditional Slovenian Christmas lunch.
Followed by a traditional Slovenian Christmas tree-drowning ceremony.
And a nativity extravaganza in a huge series of underground caves.
After an amazing stay, we hit the road again, heading first to Lake Bled for a late lunch before arriving in Salzburg.
The next day we met up with friends who had also been living in Siena but who had since returned to Austria. They spent the day showing us around.
and helping us buy fireworks for New Year’s Eve.
We had a great day exploring Salzburg and when we mentioned we were thinking of going tobogganing the following day they offered to come with us to a ski resort they loved.
It was a great small resort, full of locals, with a great hill for tobogganing. We all had a blast.
The next day we headed out early for our Sound Of Music tour.
It was exactly what we’d hoped - very kitsch and lots of fun.
We had been invited to our friends’ apartment to celebrate New Year’s Eve so we headed across town for homemade dinner and fireworks display.
Our friends knew the monks at a monastery in Saltzburg (coincidently right next door to the one from The Sound Of Music). Just before midnight we headed into the city, climbed to the top the hill and were let inside the monastery for an amazing view of the official fireworks show.
The following day we packed our bags (again) and drove to Vienna. We only had two days so we kept ourselves pretty busy with playgrounds…
Horse-drawn carriage rides…
And the Prater amusement park.
We also showed the kids the building where their great-grandparents lived.
Then it was time for our final drive to Prague, where we returned the car for the last time.
We had an apartment with more space that we’d had for a while so we took the opportunity to relax a bit. Except for when we were out eating pastries.
Or at Christmas markets eating wood-fired chimney cakes.
Or checking out communist-era architecture.
Or at more playgrounds.
After two days in Prague we caught the night train to Budapest. We all loved the experience in our little adjoining cabins
We didn’t have much of an agenda in Budapest and we were all running out of steam as our return to Sydney got closer, but we still managed to made the effort to have some good food at one of the city’s popular “ruin bars”.
We ended our stay with a day at the Szechenyi Baths and the park next to it.
And then, one year, one month and one day after we arrived, it was time to leave Europe.
We had decided to spend a week in Vietnam to get over some jet lag before arriving in Sydney. It was nice swapping fog and snow for sand and sun.
We had a great week of long walks on the beach…
Spending time with the kids…
Kung Fu…
And more fireworks.
We had a great week but pretty soon it was time to pack for the last time and head to the airport. Two flights later we caught our first spectacular view of Sydney.
We landed, got through customs and were met by our families in the airport. With mixed emotions, we hugged everyone and headed home.