Wiener Neustadt, Oostenrijk

Please note that we share an account with my parents with whom I used to go on exchanges as a child/teenager. Thus, in order to avoid any confusion with my parents' account, you’ll find all the necessary information right here:

We are a family of four. My husband and I are pushing 40 and our two sons are 8 and 4 years old. My husband works in finance and I am a teacher at a local grammar school. We have got a tomcat, he is out and about most of the time. (Don’t worry if you are allergic to cats, we do have someone who is willing to take care of our cat during the exchange). We are relaxed and interested in other people and cultures. We’ve just moved back to our home town of Wiener Neustadt, which both of us initially left to study in Vienna right after graduating grammar school. We lived and worked in the capital for quite a long time and really enjoyed the vibrant city with its buzzing streets, the richness in culture and all the spare time possibilities at our doorstep, but due to our growing family we decided to slow down a bit and move to a smaller city. In our twenties, my husband and I actually spent a year living and working in Haywards Heath/Brighton and are thus, keen to take our kids to some of our old haunts.

Our flat is on the mezzanine of a beautiful building in a very quiet street. The rooms within our flat face the historic city wall on the one side and the garden on the other. We have got one master bedroom with a double bed and our kids’ rooms, equipped with one single bed and a crib, which we are going to change to a single bed soon. There is a fully equipped kitchen and quite a spacious living room, a bathroom with a shower and a bath, and a toilet. In addition, there is a small study on the ground floor, which leads directly onto our private terrace with a barbeque and into a shared garden with our neighbours (a family of 3 – who hardly use the garden). Of course, we do have a dishwasher (although only a small one), a washing machine and WIFI. We have two adult bicycles and two for children (up to 8 years old).

Wiener Neustadt is a rather small city, in which you’ll find everything that you need for your daily life – most of the shops, cafès and restaurants are situated in the town centre which is just a stone’s throw from the flat. Actually, our flat is on the brink of the town centre, the municipal park with a lovely café and well equipped playground, and the train station. Due to the latter, our home is very well connected to Vienna, within 25 minutes you can reach the capital city, the trains leave every 20 minutes.

The city of Wiener Neustadt is the site of one of the world's oldest military academies, the Theresian Military Academy, a 13th-century formerly four-towered castle, which was established by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in 1751. The Theresian Military Academy is adjacent to a huge park of several square kilometres, which is lovely for jogging or simply taking long family walks. Furthermore, there are some remnants of the medieval wall (one right in front of our living room), which was built using part of the ransom of Richard I of England. In addition, you’ll also find an aviatic museum (which shows the beginnings of aircraft in Austria) and there is a huge events hall (Arena Nova) and an indoor as well as an outdoor pool for swimming. The noble spa of Baden is only 25 km away, and you can go up the Semmering by train and use a hiking path back to the valley along the World Heritage Site "Semmeringbahn". For wine connoisseurs, the region offers a fantastic range of whites and reds from popular wine growing areas like "Neusiedlersee" or "Thermenregion" that you can taste at local taverns called "Heurigen".

All in all, the atmosphere is very friendly and we enjoy living here, both, for living in a small city with all its amenities at hand and the ease with which we can go to and enjoy the cultural life of Vienna.