Summer holiday 2014: Graz

An uneventful car trip saw us arrive in Graz on Saturday afternoon. After speaking to someone at the hotel who'd been at qualifying there was some disappointment from Zach but we then headed into the city for a wander and dinner. Everywhere was busy with people in their F1 tshirts and we stumbled across a Red Bull extravaganza in the main square with a big screen, stage, Red Bull F1 car and a load of carrera tracks with cars racing round. Predictably, Zach wanted to stay there for ever but we managed to drag him away for a pizza/pasta dinner with the promise to return afterwards. All very good and we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep before the two biggest boys would be going to the Grand Prix in the morning while the littlest one and I intended to enjoy the delights of Graz.

The pizza/pasta had other ideas and I spent most of the night in the bathroom and Reuben's teeth also had other ideas and he was up crying for 2 hours. All in all, about as bad a night as any of us have had in a while.

Sunday morning, I managed to convince the big boys to go to the GP despite still feeling pretty awful (obviously Zach didn't take any convincing!) and Reuben and I managed to lie around the hotel room and not expend too much energy. Meanwhile, the biggest boys were taking 2 hours to do a 55 minute journey due to traffic and then due to the car park location, had a 40 minute walk to their section of the track. So no one was having a great Sunday so far!

Afternoon came and a couple of mouthfuls of bread meant that I felt a little better and Reuben and I headed to the park opposite so he could run around a little. Up at Spielberg, Lewis Hamilton was storming through the field and so it seemed like everyone's day was improving.

Hopeful of seeing the biggest boys soon, Reuben and I saw the end of the race and then headed back to the park for a little bit.

With the race finishing at 3.45, Nick and Zach were back at the car by 4.30 but that's where they stayed for the next 2 hours! Chaos reigned and so they settled down and read the programme and raided the car for snacks and drinks. Finally on their way at 6.30, they made it back to the hotel by 8.45pm - 12 hours after they set off! Never again said Nick!