Salzburg – Day 3

We had seen so many sights of Salzburg in the last two days and Tante Inge loves to shop so she had mentioned earlier in the week that Oma had to take us shopping for a belated birthday present. I am a lot like mummy, I love new clothes but am not always a fan of shopping.  I am stuck in my pram for hours and mummy gets more excited over the clothes than I do.  I love presents and I love to have nice new clothes but shopping would not be at the top of my list of fun things to do.  Luckily Oma and mummy like to shop and we only had a limited time in the mall.  We made a beeline for Zara and H&M as they have the best kids clothes.  It was the most successful shopping trip ever!! We found so many nice things for the summer, Oma had to stop mummy at one point otherwise she would have put the whole shop in the basket!  I got very spoilt and couldn’t wait to show off my new clothes to Tante Inge.

We met two of Tante Inges friends at the hospital and had planned to have a nice Austrian meal at a guesthouse. They were very nice people and made lots of silly faces at me.  I do attract lots of attention where ever I go, and lap it up as best I can. Unfortunately there was a little bit of a language barrier which bothers mummy more than me, since I can’t speak anyway.

This lovely guesthouse had some very yummy things on their menu. Oma once took my Aunty Melissa on a big trip to Salzburg and oma said that where ever they would go, my aunty would order the dumplings.  I had to get myself some of these delicious dumplings, they were definitely the talk of the trip. Mummy could only compare them to Opa’s but she was very excited for the experience.  I am not going to lie to you, I was more interested in the roasted tomatoes but they were very yummy.  I guess I just wasn’t that hungry.  Mummy didn’t mind, she gobbled them all up and ate some of Oma’s dinner aswell! She really likes Austrian food.

You would think any ordinary person would be full after these dumplings but not my mummy, she ordered a huge traditional Austrian dessert.  This dessert was something special, It reminded me of the Alps that surround Salzburg they were that big. The Salzburg Nockerl is 3 large peaks of soft meringue, but with a texture a little bit like a souffle. It is very sweet and it sits on a bed of yummy warm red fruit sauce and dusted with icing sugar.  On the menu it said it is served for two, but I think mummy totally underestimated it’s size.  It was HUGE! The photo’s don’t even do it justice. This dessert was almost bigger than me! Luckily everyone at the table had a bit of a crack at it.  I tried a little bit as well, not bad but I think it was the kind of dessert daddy would love.

Today was our last day in Salzburg and I think we finished with it a bang at this guesthouse! We had such great weather the whole time and wonderful, delicious food.  Best of all we saw my oma and I met my Tante Inge.  I am so lucky to have my Oma show us all around the city she grew up in, it was the best trip ever. I really hope we go back and next time perhaps daddy can come too.

Thank you Oma for such a great few days, I will never forget it and either will mummy. We were very sad to leave but I know we will see you again in a couple of weeks.

H x

Salzburg – Day 2

This gallery contains 13 photos.

Day Two of Salzburg was even more exciting and fun than the first, believe it or not.  When my mummy was little she used to watch a movie called ‘Sound of Music’.  It is about a nun (Maria) who works as a nanny for a wealthy widowed man and his seven children. At first the children are quite […]

Salzburg

This gallery contains 13 photos.

When we got back from Salzburg, daddy had a surprise for mummy.  It was a new Ipad and she has been enjoying her new toy so much that she has been forgetting all about helping me blog about Salzburg, what a lazy mummy! It also doesn’t help that I am not sleeping as much during […]

London to Salzburg via Verona.

You may be confused by the title of this post, because if you know your geography then you would know Verona is in Italy and Italy is not on the way to Salzburg. In fact Italy is much further south and a whole other country. So knowing that fact you might have presumed we somehow managed to stuff up somewhere in our translations and got on the wrong train – you would be correct! Getting to Munich was the easy part, finding the train at Munich airport, also easy. We even made it to the right platform for our connecting train but this is where it all went pear shaped. We got on a train 10mins too early and instead of Salzburg we were on our way to spaghetti central. Not realising this at the time and putting all my trust in my mum, I played for a little while and then innocently fell asleep, hoping that when I woke up I will be getting cuddles from my Oma. Instead mummy realised when we stopped at Innsbruck that something wasn’t quite right however the next stop was Brenner; 40mins away an on the very edge if the italian border. What to do???
We got off at Brenner and waited 30mins for the next train to Innsbruck, mummy hadn’t eaten all day but luckily I was fine as she always over packs with snacks so we had some time to kill before our 2hr journey back in the right direction – destination Salzburg. Mummy enjoyed some good German beer and a delicious chicken which she shared with me. Finally we boarded the correct train and mummy sweet talked her way out of paying for the ticket as she explain her silly mistake, I think they felt sorry for me and just let it go. I wish I had one of those T-shirts that have an arrow pointing to mummy and reads “I am with stupid”. I like the Austrian trains they go so fast, I think our train maxed out at 140km/h, so the trip back in the right direction didn’t seem so bad but I couldn’t wait to see my oma and have been practising saying “hi oma”. I was pretty sure since we were on the correct train nothing else could go wrong, right? Well, almost.
Yay we were in Salzburg all we had to do now was find oma. We had an address and hoped to jump in a taxi and arrive at our final destination with no worries. One more hurdle – the taxi would not take us without a car seat so we had to find a bus. My goodness what a nightmare, by this time it was 8pm and we had been travelling for 12hours! It actually only takes 13 hours to drive, I think that might have been a better option. After reading this blog you might be questioning my mothers intelligence but I can assure you that blond mop on her head is just a disguise. She cleverly worked out which bus and stop to get off on and we finally made it to Tante Inge’s house and I leaped into Oma’s arms as soon as I saw her.
So we are finally here but the wifi is not that readily available so I will probably have to blog about my awesome trip to Salzburg when I return on Friday.
H x

Cotswolds weekender

Still no internet in our house unfortunately, which makes blogging on a regular basis quite inconvenient! So this week mummy and I have been getting up, having brekky and tidying up the flat then we walk to the bigger Starbuck’s up on Chiswick High Road. Mummy usually gets a big coffee and does her bits on the internet and I have my morning nap.  All was going well with this little routine until last Friday morning, we ran into a bit of bad luck.  Mummy was minding her own business updating things, buying me new toys etc and then these two eastern european girls came up to her asking for money.  Mummy said ‘no’ but they persisted and kept moving closer and closer to us.  I was awake and watching all of this but I can’t talk yet otherwise I would have said to mummy ‘Watch out that girl is taking your phone!’ That’s right one of the girls took her phone off the table and because mummy had her laptop on her lap, she didn’t even notice.  The girls went away once mummy got a bit annoyed and told them to leave her alone, but still didn’t realise her phone was missing.  She went back to playing with me and checking emails.  Then all of a sudden I felt really ill and projectile vomited all over myself and my bugaboo.  Mummy was a bit shocked as I never usually throw up and it was everywhere! So she quickly packed up our things and that is when she couldn’t find her phone.  After she cleaned me up, she told the people who work at Starbucks and they went back and checked out the cctv.  Mummy then had to call into O2 and cancel her sim and block her phone and visit the police station.  It wasn’t a great way to start the weekend or finish the week. Mummy loves her phone and so do I!

After our disastrous morning, we had to get on with our day and mummy had something fun planned for me.  She had booked me in for a free trial at Gymboree.  Gymboree is an activity club with lots of other babies my age.  We learn songs and play with lots of developemental toys.  My favourite part was when they got out a big parachute and we sat on top, our mummies blew bubbles and made big parachute waves.  It was so fun trying to pop those bubbles.  I showed off how well I get myself around the room with my commando style crawl, and some of the other babies were really good at crawling so they gave me a few pointers.  I had lots of fun but we have a few other free trials with some other activity groups next week.  This one is quite expensive so mummy said she will see which is the most fun for us.

Saturday morning we got up fairly early and mummy had our bags packed, we were going on an adventure! We caught the tube to Hammersmith, then due to some track works we had to catch the bus rather the Hammersmith line to Paddington station.  The bus took a lot longer than what the tube takes so we literally made our train by the skin of our teeth, 3 minutes before it was due to depart.  Phew! We were going to Cheltenham for the weekend to visit Nikki and Nathan, and Nathan’s mummy and daddy, Heike and David.  Heike and David flew in from Sydney this morning.  Unfortunately Nathan wasn’t playing today but he still went to the game with Heike and David.  Nikki, Mummy and I went shopping around Cheltenham instead.  It was another amazing day in England, I am so glad the weather has been warm enough so I can still wear my summer dresses.

Cheltenham is a really nice little city, there are lots of shops and its right in the middle of nice area of England called the Cotswolds.  Lots of Londoners visit the Cotswolds for a weekend getaway, as it’s only two hours by train and it’s made up of nice little villages and country towns. A few celebrities have cottages out here, Kate Moss visits here regularly.  Nikki and Nathan cooked a very yummy roast dinner and all the adults stayed up really late and kept drinking.  I was a good girl and had my favourite fruity chicken for dinner and went to bed.

Everyone had a little bit of a sleep in on Sunday morning and Heike made everyone bacon and eggs.  It smelt yummy but I just had my mashed banana and Weetbix.  Mummy says I am Weetbix kid but I don’t know what she is talking about, crazy woman! After brekky we drove out to Bourton-on-the-water, the Venice of the Cotswolds.  It is a quaint little town with a little creek running through it.  There were droves of people out having picnics by the water and feeding the ducks, some people even got into the little creek but I overheard them saying how cold it was.  I went for a walk with Heike and David whilst mummy, daddy, Nikki and Nathan went into a maze.  Dragonfly maze was the best maze they had all been to, so they said.  It was more than a maze, as they all had to collect clues along the way then when they found their way into the middle they had to put together the riddle and figure out where the dragonfly was hiding.  It took them a while but in the end they worked together and found the dragonfly, I won’t tell you where they found it, just in case you visit one day and want to work it out yourself. It was very clever and made the maze a whole lot more interesting.

It was such a nice weekend out in the countryside. I love going for road trips in the van with mummy and daddy. It was really nice to see Heike and David and see something new and interesting.  To top it off the weather was like a summer’s day, so although the weekend started bad with mummy’s phone it ended up bring a really nice weekend.

H x

Come back to Sorrento

Most of you know we are back in London and have been for the past 5 days and I still haven’t updated my blog with the rest of our trip, well I am going to place most of the blame on mummy as she is so busy all the time.  She has been promising for days to finish but hasn’t got round to it.

So our last few days were spent in Sorrento, with a little less sightseeing and a little more relaxing, so I will update all about the rest of our Italy trip in this last blog entry.  Then I have a few other goodies to include about our time so far in London.

Sorrento

After our huge day in Rome and delicious dinner for mummy and daddy, they took their time at breakfast and checked out then we made our way down the coast of Italy to Sorrento, which is just south of Naples.  Although mummy and daddy did very well with their navigating and driving, and made a huge improvement since they first hired the car, we got very lost in Sorrento trying to find our hotel.  In fact I woke up to them trying to figure out which direction we were heading and whether or not we were driving the wrong way down a one way street…. which we were.  After being lost for an hour in the very narrow and confusing streets of Sorrento we found our hotel.  To be honest it didn’t look that great from the outside but we were happy to give it a go, as it said 4 star on the internet.  Once we got inside however, we knew from then, we were not going to like this place.  Firstly it was 4km from the middle of Sorrento which meant we had to catch a bus, there were no restaurants near us and there was just one beach which you had to pay for.  I won’t go on too much but the room was a level up from a hostel and they didn’t even give me sheets for my cot!  So mummy and daddy emailed our travel agent and hoped to get a refund, but of course we had to stay the first night here.

The private beach

The sunset view from our Suite

Beautiful Sorrento at night

In the morning we checked out after a very lame breakfast and drove into the main part of Sorrento.  Much better! Daddy was feeling very generous and forked out for a sweet pad on the cliffs, very swanky indeed.  He checked out a room and a suite, and decided we would be much more comfortable in a suite.  What a nice way to finish our trip.  It was more like a 6 star hotel, it was amazing!  The hotel had a private beach and I practically had my own room.  It had a little balcony with an amazing view over the coast and Mt Vesuvius. The water looked so blue and inviting so we immediately got our beach things together and went swimming and a little a sleep on the deck.  It was very relaxing, such a nice way to finish our hectic but very fun holiday. We wanted to relax for the next few days, no more sightseeing just a bit of r’n’r.

Swimming with Daddy

Working on my tan

In the evening mummy got all dressed up for the a sunset dinner down the road at a restaurant called Photo.  I had other plans and woke up halfway through their romantic meal and I wasn’t a happy bunny so daddy missed out on dessert again.

All dressed up for our Sunset dinner

The next day was spent sunning ourselves and swimming.  I am getting really good at kicking my legs and I try to put my head under the water to see the fish.  I can’t wait for mummy to take me to swimming lessons next summer.   It was our last night in Sorrento so mummy and daddy were just going to go get a pizza for dinner when they stumbled onto a really nice restaurant out on the water.  It was still very warm and mummy had one more nice dress to wear. So she got all dressed up again and they had a beautiful seafood dinner.  Daddy really spoilt her, so I was a really good girl all night so they got to have a very romantic meal by the water.

Chilling by the pool with my handsome daddy

The restaurant on the water

Mummy and daddy playing on these funny balanced spinning chairs at the restaurant

Mt Vesuvius

We had one more swim in the morning, as it will be our last for a very long time, then we drove to Rome. We were sad to check out of our plush pad but we had one more night in Italy, which was already booked to stay in a hotel nearer the airport.  It was a pretty good hotel and they did a fantastic pizza, not that I got to try any!

Stealing my daddies sunglasses

Cuddling my favourite toy on the big suite bed

Having pizza on our last night in Italy

I have had the best time in Italy, I am a very lucky girl.  Mummy had planned such a great holiday, I saw and learnt so much. Daddy spoilt us and I caught him looking on the internet for ideas for our next holiday. I hope it’s a winter holiday in the snow (hint hint).

We had one more plane ride which wasn’t as epic and long as my first ones, thankfully.  I slept the whole way to London and had my first black cab ride to our next destination: Cherrywood lane Morden. Luckily for us London welcomed us with sunny blue skies, what a nice way to start our next adventure – living in London.

H x

When in Rome….

There is so much to see and do in Rome and mummy sure had a big day planned for us.  Our first stop was to see the pope talk at the Vatican.  He speaks to the public every Sunday at noon.  We didn’t quite make it into the Basilica but they broadcast him in St Peters square. We took loads of photo’s and listened to him for a little while.  I didn’t really know what he was saying as my Italian is very limited to the few words I hear every day… mostly ‘ bellisima, bella, bambina, grazi, prego, ciao’ etc.  The Basilica was really beautiful but I wasn’t really in the mood for it and decided to have a little tantrum.  It’s a little game I have learnt to play whilst on this holiday. You see, I am not really a noisy baby but when I know I have to be on my best behaviour, like in museums, art galleries or churches I decide to practise using my words and I make some unreal sounds.  I also squirm in the pram or in daddy’s arms and I make all sorts of funny loud noises.  It’s a little bit embarrassing for mummy and daddy but hilarious for me.

Listening to the pope talk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cracking up in the Basilica

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop was Piazza Navona for lunch and onto the Pantheon, another gigantic building.  The Romans liked to build things to a very large scale. This Roman temple has been standing for over 2000 years.

Pantheon

Fun Fact #4:  The Pantheon’s diameter is exactly equal to the interior height of 43.3m. Light enters through the oculus, an 8.7m opening in the dome that serves as a symbolic connection between the temple and the gods.  Rainwater enters but drains away through 22 almost invisible holes in the sloping marble floor.

The Colosseum was our next stop.  Another 2000 year, old huge building built in AD 80. I was asleep through most of this sightseeing opportunity but woke just at the end so mummy and daddy could get some family photos and share a few fun facts.

On the look out in the Colosseum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun fact #5: When the building was finished on the Colosseum, to mark the occasion they held games here for 100 days and nights during which 5000 animals were slaughtered (insert sad face, those poor animals).  However this wasn’t the worst killing spree, Trajan later topped this with a 117 day marathon involving 9,000 gladiators and 10,000 animals.

Today was another really hot day and by this time I was getting very uncomfortable in my pram.  We stopped by a watermelon cart and mummy put some in my little blue container.  This has to be my favourite fruit so far! Daddy’s feet were starting to get sore and it was getting close to dinner time so there was just one more stop on our tour of Rome.  Mummy saved the best for last, well her favourite for last.  Bocca della verita, made famous from the movie, the Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn.  ‘Bocca della verita’ is Italian for ‘Mouth of Truth’.  Legend has it, that if you put your hand in its mouth and tell a secret, if it is true, you keep your hand but if it is a lie, the mouth takes off your hand.  Luckily both mummy and daddy told the truth with whatever they told the face and they kept both their hands.

Bocca Della Verita - The mouth of Truth

We were nowhere near our hotel so we walked all the way home so mummy could get my food ready for dinner and put me to sleep.  It was such a big day so I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow.  However mummy and daddy went out with me asleep in the pram.  They were just going to go for pizza but ended up having the best meal of the holiday.  It was a little restaurant across the road from our hotel ‘Locarno’.  They chose the 5 course degustation menu, first course was complimentary of the chef, a fried prawn – my crazy parents ate the whole prawn, head and tail, Gross! I spit out my beef and vegetables, I can’t imagine eating  a whole prawn! Then they had the first course which was fried pumpkin flowers with mozzarella and tomato, this was one of mummy’s favourites, she thought it tasted a lot like zucchini flowers.  Next course was the most delicious pasta with a tomato sauce and crispy ham, this was both mummy and daddy’s favourite.  Next they had spaghetti with a cheese and pepper sauce. Then the final savoury course was fried cod with white truffle and chick peas, also very delicious.  I think this was both mummy and daddy’s first time trying truffle and to finish off they had the most amazing chocolate soufflé for mummy and pistachio soufflé for daddy.  By this time they had, a couple bottles of wine and their stomachs were very full so it was time to go to bed!  Wow, what a huge day for us all.

H x

Having a rest with my daddy

Roman holiday

Goodness I have quite a lot of blogging to catch up on! I am sorry I have been a bit a slack lately.

After our adventurous day driving around Tuscany, our next stop was Rome.  I was such a good girl and slept the whole way, which was about 2 ½ hours drive.  We found the hotel really easily and it was really nice.  It had a cool garden restaurant between the two hotel buildings.  The only downfall was that it had a very old lift, one of those ones where it has two doors that you have to open and close each time you get in and out of it. My pram didn’t fit inside, so daddy had to carry me up the three flights of stairs each day.  Since we arrived in Rome fairly early afternoon mummy thought we should get a little bit of sightseeing in before dinner, the Trevi fountain wasn’t too far from the hotel, so off we went.  I fell asleep on the way and missed out on seeing how pretty it is, but mummy and daddy took some photo’s.

Trevi Fountain, Rome

It was such a hot afternoon, so we sat inside a nice air conditioned restaurant for dinner.  I had lamb and vegetables, this was my first time trying lamb and I really liked it.  Mummy and daddy stuck to eating a very healthy salad.  The Spanish steps were just around the corner from the restaurant, so we took a detour on our way back to the hotel.  Those steps seem to go on forever.  Daddy was glad he didn’t have to carry me and my pram up them.

Spanish Steps

We had an early night because mummy had planned a very busy day tomorrow.

H x

Lean on me

Can you guess where we went today?

We took a drive to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  We found some free parking about 3km from the Tower, it was nice to walk around and a chance to burn off some of the carbs we have been eating… well mummy and daddy need to burn off those carbs.  It was another hot day, at least 40 degrees, we are tanning up nicely.  It was a late start this morning so when we got to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it was already lunch time.  After a quick bite to eat, it was time to put on my best smiles for the Leaning Tower of Pisa photo’s. The Tower is in a park so we had a lay down in the grass, and I fell asleep while mummy and daddy took the standard Leaning Tower of Pisa photo’s.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Climbing the Tower

 

Mummy tried to get it straight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just chilling out with daddy

On the way back to the car mummy and daddy had a gelato.  Mummy loves the Gelato, but I still haven’t tried it.  I don’t know if it is a coincidence but they always seem to have it when I am asleep, so daddy can’t sneak me any.  We drove the long way home so we could stop at a few nice places in the Wine country.  Tuscany is so beautiful, full of gorgeous vineyards and sunflower fields.  Our first stop was in San Gimignano, a pretty medieval walled city, famous for it’s towers.  There was once 72 towers, but now there are only 14.  It offers amazing panaormanic views of Tuscany and delicious wine shops, filled with homemade pasta sauces, pasta, salami’s and cheeses.

San Gimignano Towers in the background

Wineries in Siena

 

 

Beautiful views of Tuscany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop was Siena and by this time the sun was beginning to set, so we stopped here for dinner. We found a gorgeous restaurant, tucked away in a little alley.  It was a stone walled building at the base of a tower. Mummy had Steak with pears and traditional Tuscan white beans and daddy had Chicken with a berry sauce.  I was being a little bit cheeky and wouldn’t go to sleep so mummy and daddy had to eat their dessert very quickly and take me back to the hotel for a sleep.  It was another big day and for the most part I was very good.  Tomorrow we are driving to Rome.

H x

My friend, my love, my David.

I got in touch with my cultural side today.  Mummy had a very artistic day planned for us, firstly we took the road right outside of our hotel down to Ponte Vecchio.  Ponte Vecchio is a medievil bridge crossing the Arno River, it was once the main route into the city centre.

The Arno River

Fun Fact # 3:  Ponte Vecchio means Old Bridge.  The Bridge was originally made out of wood but a flood in 1333 destroyed it.  Today it is built of stone and is lined with leather and jewelry shops, hawking their craft learned through the ages.

When mummy was at school, her favourite subject was art and she wasn’t too bad at it.  She had 2 favourite artworks, one of those was Sandro Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’.  This was next on our cultural tour of Florence.  It is located in the Uffizi Gallery, a 16th century building which was the first museum open to the public, making this the oldest Museum in the world.  There is a whole room dedicated to Botticelli’s works.  I have to admit, this museum was a bit dull for a little baby and everyone is so quiet.  For one normally quiet baby, I found my voice here and it echoes!

Birth of Venus

We took a walk past the Bargello – the medieval palace and then carried onto the Piazza Duomo which was quite impressive. It is massive and very different to the Duomo in Milan and Venice as it has a more gothic style to it.   We spent a little bit of time here as mummy was trying all different settings on her camera, she has been embracing her inner tourist.  A quick ice coffee for mummy and daddy and milk for me and we moved onto the Accedemia Galleria.  The home of Michelangelo’s statue of ‘David’. WOW! What a man.  The statue is HUGE! It has definitely been a highlight of the day, I can’t believe I have seen so many famous works of art in one day.

Hanging out near the Duomo

David

We had to really call it a day after seeing The birth of Venus and David, I mean lets be honest everything else would have been a bit underwhelming.  So we walked through the leather markets and took an unplanned detour home to our Hotel.  We finished our day with one more sightseeing opportunity.  Luckily enough we are staying right next to one, the Piazza Santa Maria Novella another gothic piece of architecture.

Mummy and daddy had a Brontosaurus steak dinner that would make Omi and Sally’s Dino steaks look like lamb cutlets.  We met some lovely people travelling from India on our way home, they gave me lots of cuddles.  Once again I have been very popular, not to blow my own trumpet.  I am about to get into my cot and have a nice sleep before our adventure tomorrow. Stayed tuned…. I am giving nothing away.

When mummy said I could try some steak, I didn't think she meant I could eat a whole cow.

My new friend, Manjula

H x