Goodbye Ikebukuro, the city of cats and crows.

We were sad to leave Japan albeit two days late. We crept out of our Ryokan at 5.45 in the morning and it was light outside. Pumping Ikebukuro was sleeping and quiet and the sound of crows and the scurry of cats was all to be seen and heard.

We raced to the station and we made it – the whole time pumping water into Iggy, no way risking a repeat of Monday morning. And we are on the plane – flying to Vienna and as it gets closer I feel more and more excited what does the future hold I wonder.

A word on Austrian Airlines

If you like nice plane food, which until eating on this airline I thought was a myth, then this is your airline however, and here comes the big BUT – if you want your entertainment to work, more than one toilet for 200 people, decent seating under thirty years old and nice and reasonable airline staff then give Austrian Airlines a big miss. Austrian Airlines is a poor reflection on Vienna, which is a beautiful helpful and friendly city – the food on the ground is even better than in the sky – that’s been wonderful.

Our first views of Vienna were similar to Yarraville which made us think of all our friends in the west!

The Lahiff-Jenkins eating Kipfler (croissants) waiting for a three-minute taxi which actually took half-an-hour. Every time we rang and asked ’is it coming?’ the woman would say ‘three-minutes’!

Schonbrom Palace was amazing – it was a great feeling when Iggy said ‘I feel as if I’m in a dream, mum. I pinched myself and I’m still here!’

We are fans of Sissi – who was Franz Joseph’s wife; the first Empress feminist. Rock on Sissi! Sissi was brutally murdered- poor love- by an Italian anarchist and Franz Joseph who loved her (it seems she was not as fond of him) was so broken hearted he found it hard to go on – the Austrians seem very fond of Franz and there are two very divided schools of thought on Sissi!

By the end of the day Quinn was exhausted. While we were wandering around Schonbrom Palace we met many grumpy youths and snarling punks – It’s nice to know that everywhere we go there are still the same disaffected youth and young women who dress like Kim (from Kath n’ Kim). There’s also something to be said about mothers the world over. The floor at the Schonbrom in paved with wooden tiles – beautiful cut and hexagonal 500 years old – older than any western white persons building in Australia by far and this women who really closely resembled my mother, was complaining about them being a little slippery.