negrar

Hello hello!
After driving over the border from Germany into Italy, we drove into a small B&B in Negrar, near Verona. We headed to the nearby supermarket for some snacks before heading to bed.

 The next morning we went to beautiful Verona, where we briefly looked at the Roman amphitheater as well as the balcony mentioned in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

 In the afternoon we traveled around the picturesque Lake Garda, before heading home to prepare ourselves for Venice!

 The next day we brave the long car ride to Venice, where we park outside the city and take the ferry in. We wander around the gorgeous city, stopping for some yum lunch and lemon gelato. At the end of the day, our feet are super sore from walking all over the city but I am so glad I went!

 The following day, we head to a winery to discover their tours are booked out! We do meet an adorable pug though.

 We head to Valpolicella, a beautiful town with exceptional tortellini!

After that, we go to Sermione, a town on the edge of Lake Garda which is absolutely stunning! We collapse into bed, before going to San Gimignano the next day.
Talk soon,
Georgina

salzburg + germany

Hello!
Sorry for the huge delay in posting - I am now in France, having traveled through Austria, Germany and Italy. I'll try and update on everything today! Below are some photos and commentary about Salzburg and my family's two night stay in Germany.

 After an incredibly rainy morning on our first day in Salzburg, we decided to head out in the afternoon as the rain wasn't seeming to let up. We took the bus into town, and then get on the hop on, hop off bus and toured around Salzburg twice, doing the 'Sound of Music' tour and the Historical tour. We see so many cool sights from the movie, and also learn about the 'real' Von Trapp family!

We then wandered around Salzburg for a couple of hours, before catching up with some family friends who had flown over from England and had dinner with them at a very small, very Austrian restaurant!

On the second day, Dad went out in the morning to get our rental car. He returned 4 hours later, having gotten into a minor smash. We were all incredibly shaken up by this (Europeans drive on a different side of the road to us!) so we only drove out to the countryside. Mum and I then made some snacks, and our friends came over to our apartment again (they are flying out the next day).

The next morning we go to the Festung Hohensalzburg, or Fortress Salzburg. There are some amazing views, and we learn some history about Salzburg itself.

 Inside the Fortress is a small marionette museum, which had puppets of the original Von Trapp family!

 We went into an amazing Saint Peter's Abbey church, which dates back to the 12th century!

 We went shopping in H&M briefly, before going into the Mozart Museum and then heading back to our apartment.

 The next morning, we start the drive from Salzburg to Hitler's hideout, known as the Eagle's Nest. We get incredibly lost on the way, ending up trespassing on private properties after 4 hours of driving! When we finally get to the Eagle's Nest, we are a little disappointed to find fog, as the view is supposed to be extraordinary. We are also disappointed at the lack of information about the hideout, but continue onto our hotel in Germany.

 We wake up early and head to Neuschwanstein, the castle that Disney's is based off. It is so gorgeous, and we also learn a little about the history (this castle was only built in the 1800's, and was built to replace a less impressive one!) We also have some delicious apple strudel and blackforest cake.

We then had a look at the Schloss Lindehoff gardens before heading to an adorable little caravan in Fussen, Germany where we were to stay the night before continuing to Italy!
Thanks for reading, see you soon!
Georgina

dubai + vienna

Hello!

This is my first post about my family's holiday to Europe. So far, we have flown to Vienna, and stayed a couple of nights there. Below are some photos where I will talk about what we have done!

The four above photos were taken at Dubai Airport. To get to Dubai, we flew 14 hours overnight, which was very exhausting. Once we got to Dubai, we had a 12 hour stopover. These 12 hours were spent wandering around the airport. sleeping (a lot), eating some lunch and taking lots of photos. We then boarded another plane to Vienna at around 5pm (Dubai time) and arrived in Vienna at 8pm local time.

 This photo was taken not long after I woke up on our first day in Vienna.

 We then took the train into the city, and got on a hop on, hop off bus as we were absolutely exhausted. The bus took us around Vienna for around an hour and forty five minutes, and we decided all the things we wanted to do while in Vienna.

 Once we got off the bus, we walked to St. Stephen's Cathedral, which was absolutely gorgeous.

 I then had an apple strudel ice cream which was sooo yum! After that we went back to the hotel for a little while before heading out for dinner. For dinner I had lasagna at a place called Wiener Wald.

 After dinner, we went on the evening bus tour, which was basically the bus tour again but without stops. I fell asleep, as I was super tired and jet lagged!

 The next morning we went to Schönbrunn Palace, the home of the Austrian Imperial family for over 600 years. Here we learnt about all the Emperors, Empresses and other members of the Imperial family.

The Schönbrunn Palace gardens were absolutely stunning!

 After visiting the gardens, we were back on the bus to the Belvedere palace and museum. Inside were many beautiful art pieces (including Gustav Klimt's The Kiss), but, as we were getting tired from jetlag again, we went back to the hotel for the afternoon.

  Once we had rested, we went to the Prater, a Viennese amusement park. Here we went on a Ferris wheel, which was built in 1897!

 Following the Ferris wheel ride, we had sushi for dinner before heading to a Mozart concert.

 The next morning we packed up our bags before heading out to the National History Museum. However, this was closed so we decided to go to the Albertina.

I was feeling a little unwell, so sat and used the wifi while Mum, Dad and Hamish (my brother)  wandered around.

After this, we headed back to the hotel, got our bags and went to Westbahnof station to take the train to Salzburg. We got into Salsburg around 6pm, and went down to the supermarket to buy some things for dinner.

I'll update on Salzburg in another post!

Thanks for reading,

Georgina