Mumma Comes to Vienna

There is so much to say as I sit here on a train to Salzburg, sitting opposite mum, still finding it so bizarre that she’s entered my far removed little world. She arrived here on Thursday crying – way too emotional for my liking but apparently it was a concoction of excitement, tiredness and her baggage being lost in London that set her off. We stayed at the Hilton, such a great location – I loved being closer to the city and Stadtpark is truly beautiful. We started our adventure at the Hofburg Palace and had a glorious lunch at the Butterfly House overlooking the palace gardens. During the afternoon we wandered through the Imperial Apartments and the Silver Collection inside the palace. We walked in disbelief at the extravagance until we were too tired to take another step. We ate dinner at Figlmuller who boasts the largest schnitty in Vienna – believe me it is huge – bigger than a dinner plate! Mum was drugged up on the sleeping tablets and asleep before 8.30pm.

Day 2 - Was spent all over the city – watching the Spanish Riding School morning exercises (defs not enough action for us though), Cafe Demel (a gorgeous coffee house – every room is littered in chandeliers and is painted differently. Downstairs you can watch as the pastry chefs as they decorate magnificent cakes), Rathaus (city hall - where we made gingerbread biscuits with the kids), Parliament, more gardens, Burgtheatre and headed to Naschmarkt – the gourmet food markets. The markets were delicious and mum loved Dr Falafel just as much as I do. We taste tested, bought up big and stood at benches in a little shop drinking coffee watching the passerbys. We had dinner at Le Bol – the French place I love which was delicious as always. We had seats at the feasting table and got talking to some other English speakers. Turns out they were actors/dancers in one of the musicals playing in town at the moment – we completely lost track of time and stumbled home some time later – the jetlag was destroying mum by this point.

Day 3 - Mum helped me in the domestic department. We went to my house to do the washing and turns out I have been washing my clothes in fabric softener for 2 months – just brilliant. I also have been washing my clothes on the wrong setting, hence why they are stretching and losing colour – extremely unfortunate. We skyped the boys and went shopping. By the time we knocked over Vera Moda and H&M, we had bags full of clothes and were ready to go home. We knocked back a doner kebab, did a quick shop in Hofer (aldi) to get me some washing liquid and went back to the hotel. Running late we quickly dressed up in the prettiest clothes we had, found delicious soups for dinner and raced to the Staatsoper to see the ballet – A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Now being a little ballerina growing up, I’ve seen a fair few ballets but this one was perfect. Mum couldn’t say the same as she spent the majority of the second act asleep but wow – it was everything a ballet should be – I will definitely be returning to see it again!

Day 4 = Easter Sunday (= Emma Jayne turning twenty-one). I took mum to my church and introduced her to some new friends. The service was great but we bolted off afterwards to Schonbrunn Palace. We wandered the Easter Markets and walked through the gardens up to the Gloriette at the back where we drank coffee and marvelled at the view. We got home with little time again – we munched on some goodies from Naschmarkt, shared a glass of Champers and headed to dinner with Lydia’s family. The restaurant, “At Eight” was divine – every bite was delicious. My taste buds actually went insane and we were given two complimentary dishes each. Black truffle, cheeses, rack of lamb, chocolate truffles, oils and salts, chocolate pudding – gosh – guess you had to be there. So that brings me to today... On the train to Salzburg. Mum’s bag is so heavy with all the clothes I want taken home, my hands are starting to blister. Also mum’s German is embarrassing – probably a good thing – it encourages me to speak up. She keeps saying thankyou in german when she pays (this means keep the change here and we end up giving accidental tips) and she slurs all the words together then uses them in the wrong context, for example “a-bit-of-gin” rather than “bitte schön” (if you please).
Or another golden quote:
Katrina: “We should try and make them laugh!”
Mum: “Who the horses?”

But all in all, having her here is incredible, I am loving every single second and I can’t wait for the adventures that await us, Sound of Music tour (can’t believe I actually have to do this) here we come....