Winter vacation is on!!!

We left home in style, spending our last night in the Kempinski. This is where we met A.
Got upgraded again, straight into the presidential suite.

Loved the space, but I think it needs serious work when it comes to technology. Took me a while to find a plug, so I could start charging my phone. Having 3 phones, an iPad and a Macbook was too much, had to take turns.
But hey, that should be my biggest problem ever in life!

Finally was able to see all the Christmas lights in town, it is fantastic. The Christmas market as well. Although I almost know all the stalls, most of them are at the same location year after year.

I especially love the one that sells wreaths and dried clementines, limes, orange slices on strings, some of them decorated with hot chillies, cinnamon, others have gorgeous coloured hearts attached to them.

Don’t leave a Christmas market without trying out their local delicacies. In our case it was the flat bread stuffed with sheep cheese and meat, then ironed flat. My son preferred sausage with potatoes. Wonder who did he get his taste from?

Having a difficult time finding him sausage and bacon not made of pork. He loves this stuff.

My mission was accomplished, took loads of photos of Budapest by night.
Ended the evening with dinner on Duna Corso, simple home cooking,

Started Sunday early with a breakfast down in the lobby. Travelled by car to Vienna , where we had an hour to kill on the Mariahilfer Strasse.
Back then, before the collapse of the Berlin wall we all so wanted to be able to walk on it, shop till we drop… I remember my Mum and Dad going there, just 2 hours drive from us, yet it was like on a different planet.

Things change, my son doesn’t even understand what am I talking about.
For him it was just a really long, boring street, where nothing was open, except McDonalds.
Luckily found a coffee shop and had some pastries, and no, we did not have a Sacher torte, even though that is the only kind of chocolate cake M is willing to eat.

Sachertorte was invented right there by and Austrian called Franz Sacher. If you are in Vienna , then you must try it. It is a chocolate cake with apricot jam on top and coated with chocolate icing. Delicious.

The afternoon was spent on trains. First it took us to Salzburg, where we had to switch to a local one which took us to Kitzbuhel.

It was a first for both son and father to be on a train. Was fun at the beginning, travelling on first class, with wifi and full service.

I love trains. Let me clarify that. Love clean trains. Like the one in Norway, where even in the toilet I felt like I am in the woods, having a wall to wall poster of birch trees on the semicircular walls of it.

Now this one wasn’t quite the same, but good enough. Had no problem killing time reading mags, staring out the window, watching the houses, trees go by.

For a child in this day and age it is different. He found it incredibly boring, especially the second one. Minutes felt like hours, him getting more and more impatient, me getting more and more tense.

Finally we arrived. A guy was waiting for us from the hotel. It was about an 8 km ride to Jochberg , where the Kempinski is located.

Beautiful place. The lobby is so tastefully decorated, modern design mixed with the local architecture, lots of natural wood, fire places, elegant shops, yet at the same time very relaxing. You don’t have the urge to dress up, lounging on the sofas in your track suit bottoms or ski pants is not frowned upon.

After all this is a ski resort.

But where is the snow????