Prater

Following our jaunt through Augarten to look at Nazi relics, we headed toward the Prater park with the hope of winter markets and possibly an amusement park ride or two (assumed it was mostly closed in the winter).

Sweet Jeebers it was a winner. Roller coasters with no lines. Crazy high chair swings. Bonkers swinging pendulum things, and all the other theme park trimmings.

We could walk up to any ride we wanted and jump straight on. There was a decent little rollercoaster to start, then the mammoth chair swing. It's 117m high, in a chain secured with some small chains with your feet dangling around in the wind, and I was petrified. I couldn't look around, up, or down - just dead straight the whole time. Lex enjoyed that a lot.

To help calm down from this we moved straight on to the giant pendulum thing. Almost as high at its peak, but travelling a lot faster than the chairs-on-chains, with the added perk of tumbling you upside down. Loved the rush of it apart from the bit where it slows down and stops with us right up the top. Panicked a bit.

That was it for heights based rides for me. Had a play with a couple of the go-kart tracks, and then gave a house of horrors/rollercoaster a crack. Being the big horror fans we are (not) this did seem a logical decision. The photo presented to us at the end of the ride proves otherwise (pictured).

Grabbed one more indoor rollercoaster/laser show on the way out of the rides area and headed to the Christmas market for a glühwein weiß (mulled white wine). Great success for a non-planned afternoon.Read more