Day 21 Vienna Pretty relaxed day today. After breakfast we went into the city centre to try and find the girls new shoes. Maddy had worn out her pair and the sole was coming off Renee's joggers. This took longer than expected so we grabbed a bread stick for lunch, from a corner bakery called Anker. We found some shoes, (the extent of our high class, Viennese shopping spree, at least some were happy) and headed home for a rest. Rested for most of the afternoon and...

Day 20 Vienna After a pleasant 2 and a half hour train trip (great train) through the Austrian countryside at a maximum speed of 200km/hr, we arrived at Vienna. (I think Herr Mozart would have taken considerably longer in the 18th C, at 10km/ hour). We found the tram we had to catch to get to our accomodation and once again, just made it. The receptionist at the hotel was very helpful and he even gave us free tickets to the Music museum. We are in a newly renovat...

Day 18 Salzburg We spent most of today in transit. Our first hurdle (after the steps/ bridges over canals with heavy bags), was getting on the correct form of transport, to get out of Venice. The ticket said Venezia S Lucia, as our departure point, but when I checked at the station they said it was a bus, not a train, that we were to take to Villach. We then had to drag our bags to the bus depot and find the people mover- shuttle train - that was to take us to th...

Day 19 Salzburg Cold and rainy today in Salzburg. They are expecting snow on the alps. So you can imagine the temperature. Warm jumpers again make an appearance as we make our way to Mirabell Palace, from where our Sound of Music tour departs. We hop on the coach and weave our way through the streets of Salzburg, while being entertained by the tour director, who is a wealth of knowledge on all things Sound of music and Austrian. Our first stop is where the childr...