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Song of the Month: September

Monday, February 9th, 2015

I know I’m waaaay behind, but I’ve been busy and will attempt to catch up over the next week or so!  Let’s go back in time to September 2014…

That month brought us visitors from the US, and we spent a great week with them eating & drinking our way through northern Italy, Austria, and finally ending in Germany for Oktoberfest in Munich.  This month’s song was hard to pick because there is always music playing at the Wies’n.

Song:  “Hey Baby” by DJ Otzi

Why: Because it’s one of the few songs in English and a total earworm (this is word we stole from German by the way… Ohrworm).

Here’s one of the “tents” we visiting during a fun night in Munich!

Posted in Germany, Living Abroad | No Comments »

Song of the Month: June

Saturday, June 21st, 2014

Song:  On the Road Again by  Willie Nelson

Why: I can’t think of a better song to describe our travels this month, and I’ve always liked it anyway.  There is a 410km (that 255 miles!) bike trail from Salzburg Austria to Grado, a beach town on the Adriatic sea in Italy. It’s called the Alpe-Adria trail.  Last year I wrote about a day trip that we rode from Villach to Venzone, but I really want to ride the entire length.  While I don’t have time to do it all at once, we decided to ride sections whenever we have a few days.  A 3-day weekend this month gave us the chance to ride from Salzburg to Spittal, 160km.  The trail initially follows the Salzach River, so it’s nice and flat, but eventually if you go south you will have to cross the Alps.  The hardest section was on day 2 with an uphill finish in Bad Gastein, but the views from the waterfall there made the struggle worthwhile.  The trail cheats a little and takes an 8km train through a tunnel, rather than climbing 1000m over the mountain.  (The train is really cool – you can drive cars onto it or bring your bike).  You are then rewarded with a very long downhill glide into the valley.

The weather was beautiful, but unfortunately the hottest weekend we’ve had all year.  A nice side benefit though, is that when you are riding all day you can eat whatever you want, including many stops for ice cream! The pace of bike touring really allows time to soak in the scenery, plus the trails and side roads that you take give a totally different view of the countryside than what you get on the highways in a car.

One of the views we were treated to as we rode up the valley:

Another “country road”… (that’s me on the right)

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad, Travel | No Comments »

Eat. Pray? Love?

Sunday, January 19th, 2014

Eat. Shop. Watch.

That might be a better title for our trip to the US for Xmas.  We went to visit my aunt who lives in Florida to meet up with my parents to spend the holidays with family in a warmer climate.  It was a well needed break from the winter weather that already started here.

The trip went by so fast, but gave us a little reminder of life in the US.  I haven’t been back in 14 months, and Eric even longer.  It was a little surprising how fast you can forget little things like the fact that shops are not only open every day (even some on Christmas!), but also early and late.  There are so many choices in what to eat and what to buy that it’s nearly impossible to decide.  We first restocked our closets with new clothes and shoes.  Then we “restocked” ourselves with movies in English and every sort of food from steaks to bagels.  One night the family even made a seafood buffet with lobster, crab, scallops, and shrimp – not something we get very often in the mountains.

The weather didn’t cooperate much for beach days, but we did manage to find a sunny afternoon in Key Biscayne and Miami.  After a relaxing week, it was back home to winter with full suitcases and full stomachs.  Thanks to my aunt for letting us stay!

Here are the spoils from a good day of hunting:

Posted in Living Abroad, Travel, US | 1 Comment »

Better Than Coal

Sunday, December 1st, 2013

I finally finished up the blogs about our summer… just in time for winter.  The first snow is on the mountains and the air is cold, but there are other signs that Christmas is coming.  The markets are open selling roasted chestnuts and gluhwein.  There’s also one more that goes into the “only in Austria” file…  Bauhaus is the local version of Home Depot, but in addition to tools, building supplies, and paint they also sell this:

In case you don’t recognize them, they are the giant bells worn by Krampus, St. Nicholas’ devilish counterpart who scares kids into being good.  So, if you are still working on your Krampus costume, you know where to get ’em.

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad | No Comments »

On Top of the World

Sunday, November 24th, 2013

I have written about hiking quite a few times, but there’s something special that I don’t think I have mentioned before.  Austria is a very Catholic country and on many mountains there is a cross at the very top of the peak.  It’s called a Gipfelkreuz, or a “summit cross.”  Not all mountains have them, but it’s always very satisfying to see one when you are hiking and know that you really reached the very top.  They also make for a nice backdrop in photos to prove you made it.

With that in mind, here’s a few of the Kruezes from Summer 2013…

View from the top of Mittagskogel (this is the big flat-topped mountain that you can see from Villach)

Peak 1 of 2 in Saalbach – it was a double header day:

Peak 2 of 2 in Saalbach!

At the top of Hochwipfel

On Bad Kleinkircheim

Posted in Austria, Living Abroad, Travel | No Comments »

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