Vienna; public transport and moments from the heart.

Today in Vienna we rode on the prater wheel Risengard, and had a wonderful view of Vienna, including the mountains which we haven't rally had a chance to see from the city. I feel very connected to my Zia Giselle here in Austria; she was born nearly 104 years ago under the reign of the Habspurgs Franz Joseph and Sissi. I am told by her daughter Emila Lydia that she would sing the Austrian national anthem at primary school. Austrian National Anthem

In the 70s Giselle and Lydia went on the Prater Wheel and now today I have done the same things, seeing what they have seen and following their footsteps - maybe we were in the same carriage (it's old and rickety enough for me to believe that). It made me feel closer to them up there in the sky, I felt a tear come to my eye as I searched for the connection; our Aunt was a special person to the four generations who called her that.

Tomorrow we jump on the train to Italy and them meet another Lidia at Trieste Centrale; where my mother and grandmother were born and now, little Francesco who we are looking forward to meeting. My sister said when she arrived in Italy she felt like she was coming home - I wonder if I'll feel the same.

I think for me Australia is home, it's a place I love purely and simply because my heart lives there with the people I love - my aunt Nivvy and uncle Tone, my mum and dad, my brother and sister and my beautiful neices and nephews and everyone else who make us feel connected to home. The moments we have been Skyped and emailed and called by our family have always come just at the right time. Dragging to kids across Japan and Europe is an adventure that may not be repeated simply because it is frickin exhausting. I am a woman of extreme patience but my goddess when Iggy licked the wall at the train station today my cool melted and I cracked an absoulutly beautiful sook.

Vienna is not a huge space but the public transport is incredibly cheap and efficient, that;s an interesting new fact to add to the arguement that I've been having with Mirjam in Melbourne about our PATHETIC public transport there. If Vienna can do it why can't we?