The past month or so has been all about catching up with friends and family in Graz and throughout Europe.
School finished up in Austria at the beginning of July and can be described at best as a ‘mixed success’. However, overall the kids were better off for the experience, in particular Liam’s German has improved significantly and some friendships were made, albeit at the expense of a lot of tears and some early morning drama along the way.
School drama aside, it was lovely to simply relax and have some friends and family visit Graz while we were there and just as good to be able to hit the road and catch up with mates and family as we set off on a trip across Europe…
Sofia loved spending time with Francesca who she became friends with when at school in Graz five years ago
It was fantastic to have Eric, Antina and the family – friends from our Dublin days – visit for a fun filled week
I returned shortly after from my bike trip and managed this Robin Hood effort on the dart board
Then it was family time as my parents visited from New Zealand and my brother Granty and his family joined us from Berlin 
Cuzzies!
At the Shoeckl in Graz
The kids are starting to get creative with the camera
We’ve noticed a change in how Sofia poses for photos since she joined Instagram
Sofia has also been getting creative with making birthday cakes
We visited family friend, Pogerl, for a Sting concert that his balcony overlooked
Potatoes – hangi style with Opa!
And Harvs, Eugenia and family dropped by on their European road trip
…Then it was time for us to hit the road again. We rented a car and set out on a course to catch up with as many friends and family as we could.
We stopped off at the ‘Technische’ museum in Vienna which gave an excellent summary of the development of modern technology.
We had our first experience of Couchsurfing as a family close to Brno in the Czech Republic with Eva and her children. The idea with this is to stay with other families to try and experience family life in other countries. It worked out really well given there was no common language between the kids thanks to ‘Just Dance’ on the XBox and a trampoline!
Hanna was born on 10-10-10, Liam on 8-8-8.
On a tip from Eva, we stopped by at the Czech ‘Hobbiton’ at Vrbice with dozens and dozens of wine cellars blending beautifully into the surrounding landscape
From there we headed further north to explore the remarkable boulders at the Stolowe National Park.
The kids have been staying in touch with their kiwi buddies through social media and video chatting while playing online games like Roblox.
It was cuzzie time again – this time in the Giant mountains on the border between Czech Republic and Poland while they were on holiday with their grandparents, Doris and Wolfgang.
The girls went to a nearby waterfall with Anje, who visited for the day from Prague, while the boys were going through an emotional rollercoaster watching the cricket World Cup final.
Then we hit the road again north through Poland and stopped over at beautiful Poznan
…which was on the way to see Grant, Magda and family who moved last year from Wellington to the countryside near Gdańsk where Magda is from
Fun was had in Malbork…
…which is home to the world’s largest brick castle
Sofia being a tidy kiwi
Magda’s parent’s and brother in law’s house was a kid’s paradise
We spent a day in beautiful Gdańsk, which had a completely different feel from when I was last there in the middle of winter years back
It was stunning!
We visited the new WW2 museum which gave an absorbing account of one of human history’s darkest times
…then we b-lined it to Fürstenwalde near Berlin for some more time with the family
It’s been a pretty good effort to see the cousins four times in four countries this year!
Liam rummaging about in a forest walk near Granty’s home
At a local luge park…
…where marble races had almost as much tension as a super over in a World Cup cricket final
Granty gives some ‘Insta-pose’ tips at the Eastside gallery on the remaining part of the Berlin wall
We couldn’t resist trying out this disco booth at a bier garten on the Spree river
In hindsite, fitting us all into a steel box in the middle of the day during a European heatwave dancing to ‘dancing queen’ may have not been fully thought through. It got a little steamy!
Meanwhile, Liam and Teo were putting together an impressive collection of bottle tops
Sofia and Emi spent a lot of time with the horses that Emi is caring for
Then we headed south to beautiful Würzburg to spend some more time with Eric and Antina
Sofia’s Rapunzel Pose now and five years earlier…
We’ve been spoilt by the newer European museums. The Mercedes Benz museum gave an outstanding history of the development of the automobile in a wider historical context.
This was a great way to spend round 2 of the 2019 European heatwave in Freiburg
…where we caught up with Mark and Christina who moved there from NZ earlier this year
We headed into France next and stopped over at Dijon, where this funky empanada restaurant was a surprise highlight
We’ve given the kids more say in our itinerary this time around. The result… Paris!
Spectators filled every possible vantage point for the final leg of the Tour de France that passed close to our tiny AirBNB apartment near Place de la Concorde
The crowd was shocked to see the cyclists blatantly running a red light on the final sprint to the finish line
The girls went on an outing full of shopping and Macarons
Meanwhile, the boys tried out one of the virtual reality games centres which took the concept of ‘escape rooms’ to an entirely new level. It was, in Liam’s words ‘totally awesome’
We weren’t quite expecting this!
Exploring this magnificent city was made even more fun by getting around with E-scooters. After three nights in Paris we all agreed that it was a fabulous city – we’d had time to soak up the atmosphere in the various arrondissements from grand to chique to artsy and will have to come back some day – ideally with better French!
