Great to hear Molly's school is following alomg still. Molly is ready to unleash her own version of events after London so keep watching...............we may have moved on but for now, like me, you have to catch up!!!!!!! Read on............................
We had managed to get from St Petersburg to Vienna in just 36 hours, through 6 countries. After weighing up the pros and cons of hiring a car from Vienna we decided to stop for a night and research all of our options. We arranged to meet Julia’s sister in the afternoon and spent the day resting and researching. We also enjoyed the simplicity of the Vienna underground train network and ease with which we could now communicate with people. Most Austrians speak excellent English.
Meeting up with Tracy we were introduced to her beau Troy, an American who has lived in Austria for 16 years and who knew the perfect place for dinner – the Plater…….a fun park filled with restaurants. Having had a few drinks at Tracy and Troy’s apartment in the centre of the city, inclusive of a rooftop tour, we got straight into the spirit of things at the open air restaurant – whilst being ribbed for Australia’s performance in the World Cup…….apparently the Austrians (who did not get to the World Cup) were happy to follow Germany and thus our 4-0 thumping in the first round was all anyone could talk about!
The banter was good but the roast pork knuckles were better! So, full of pork and wine we headed back through the park – and spotted the dodgem cars!
With Molly riding with Tracy and the rest of us one man demolition drivers, we proceeded to do less dodging and more bumping.
When time was up we soon found ourselves at a different yet equally equipped dodgem rink – by now we were all quite hyped up and I am sure these new cars were faster!
Without really thinking we left those dodgems and ran across to another ride that appeared to be a mini roller coaster. In the dark it was hard to tell just what the ride did but sure enough, it had us all screaming within seconds of being on and sped to the top.
So having enjoyed Vienna’s party place, we awoke the next morning still un-certain of how we would get to the UK. I eventually decided on a bus to Rotterdam to meet up with a ferry to Hull in Yorkshire. Of course things happen fast in a big city and by the time I got to the bus station to by the tickets they had sold out of all but 2 – and of course we are 3! Running out of options, I decided on a bus to Hamburg, via Dresden and Berlin (!!) and then we could get back on trains for the run to the Netherlands where we should still be able to pick up an overnight ferry to England’s north. It seemed crazy but the fact was there are very few options and those available for direct travel were all extremely expensive. But, hey, we had enjoyed a good rest in Vienna and figured we had a day spare to get to the funeral in Bradford…………