Vienna, Lost Teeth and Broken Bones

Arriving in Vienna, I had quite a bit of anxiety.  We were leaving sleepy little Bratislava with everything a bit slow paced and old school, to a place that was due to host 3 Taylor Swift concerts while we were there, but canceled at the last minute due to a credible terrorism threat.  Nowhere on our trip so far have I felt uneasy until now.

When we arrive at the giant central train station, there is nothing to indicate anything was amiss.  Bustling travelers going about their business, and no sign of law enforcement anywhere.  We make our way to the underground and stop for a late lunch close to our apartment.  Zach decides while carrying all our luggage from the underground, it would be the perfect time to pull his tooth out.  This kid is notorious for losing his teeth when they fall out.  So now there is a human tooth casually being transported in my handbag.  There is no real shade and we are soaked in sweat, but the kids' lasagna is spectacular and Gareth and I share a fish soup we wouldn’t normally eat (but we were desperate) and to our surprise it wasn’t vomit inducing.  We have to reconsider our entire hatred of leeks because of this meal!

Our apartment is probably the most modern we have stayed in all around europe and feels very luxurious until we can’t work out how to get the remote controlled mechanical blinds up, the dishwasher isn’t actually plugged in, and I’m accidentally drying out clothes instead of washing them.  Like 50% of the places we have stayed, there is no plug for the sink.  I can’t understand why.  On the plus side there is a Chinese restaurant down the road for dineer and we are all keen for hot and sour soup and noodles.  

We have friends from NZ that live in Linz (about 2 hours away) with similar aged kids coming to meet us and spend the day at Prater park.  It’s a huge park that’s a combination of free green space, areas for cycling or skateboarding, playgrounds and a huge amusement park.  After having a wine spritzer picnic for lunch we made our way over to the amusement park.  The kids can never go past the bumper cars so it's the first stop and turns out to be the cheapest.  I had to wonder at the lady who skirted around the outside of the area trying not to get hit by anyone, sitting on the wrong side of the car trying to steer and use the accelerator.

Next up was the log flume, however something in the elevator broke which meant our hopes of getting on a water ride to try and cool down were dashed until we saw the whirlpool ride.  This thing took all 8 of us in one go, completely unbalanced and hoisted us to a great height in the air only to start what I would describe as the spin cycle of your washing machine down the hydroslide.  It felt like we had passed the point of excitement into concern that we may pass out or let go of the safety rail as bodies shouldn’t be spun like that.  Got down the bottom of the ride in one piece, however Sandy and Kaia were absolutely drenched.

The kids and I couldn’t go past the big roller coaster, and I think the highlight for me was hearing all the different accents screaming and swearing.  I particularly liked the harshness of the German dude in a state of panic / adrenaline / excitement!

There are two things we have come to know very well quite quickly in Austria, first, anytime is a good time for a beer, in the morning it's called Frühschoppen and we see many people drinking a beer while ordering our breakfasts, and secondly, it's very safe for children and there is a level of independence given to Austrian kids I’ve never seen or experienced anywhere.  Because the kids were with their Austrian friends, we let them go off, so they explored the amusement park on their own, and then headed out of the area, across the road and over to the playground about half a KM away.

We sat in a beer garden drinking beer and wine spritzers for the rest of the afternoon, and every now and then the kids came back (usually for euros to ride something they had just found).  We all had wiener schnitzel for dinner (how could we not in a beer garden in Vienna) and then kids went back to the playground.  At about 7.30 we decided to go find them and call it a night.  Sandy, Brett and the kids still had a 2 hour drive ahead of them, and we were going to the Zoo the next day….. Or so we thought.  

5 mins after meeting the kids at the playground as the sun is going down, Zach half jumped half fell from a vertical rope ladder 2.5 meters of the ground, and as it turned out broke his right arm, with a risk of potentially having also broken the left.

Sandy got us an ambulance and 3 young guys turned up to help Zach get stabilised.  It was pretty scary at the time, Zach is wanting to fall asleep, and Brett’s asking all sorts of questions to keep him alert, Kaia’s asking to keep playing on all the apparatus that is hugely high in the air, and trying to explain in a calm voice I can’t have two broken kids was quite challenging.

Zach and Gareth were off in the ambulance, Brett and Blake took the underground and Sandy, Zoe, Kaia and I drove to the hospital.  Quite a different experience than what I was expecting.   As we are not EU citizens, the 3 ambo’s guided Gareth around the hospital to help make sure someone could help him with payment and insurance.  Sandy commented they looked like his bodyguards.

Expecting long waits, we were triaged, examined, x-rayed, diagnosed, and prepped for surgery in about a 2 hour period.  With Zach being put under, there was nothing really we could do, so Gareth settled in for a long night, and Sandy and Brett took Kaia and I home before they then had to travel another 2 hours home.

Needless to say Gareth and I didn’t have a good night's sleep texting updates to each other over night.  Zach didn’t end up having surgery for a pin to be inserted, but instead he had a half cast with a bent wrist.  The bonus?  All our medical notes are in German - should be fun to translate back in NZ for a check up right?  On the plus side according to Zach, they couldn't find his t shirt so he got to go home in an Austrian medical shirt worn by the staff. Interesting souvenir choice.

The next morning, while Zach slept with all the drugs in his system, Gareth is caught between a stand off of hospital administrators demanding payment, and an Insurance company telling Gareth not to pay.  In this situation, you only want a Gareth dealing with this.  His nice yet stubborn demeanour got the guarantee of payment to the hospital from the insurance provider, and Zach and Gareth on the long underground ride home.  This day was a right off, everyone just emotionally exhausted and lacking sleep.