Ain't Nobody Got Time for That

Being a trailing spouse has kept me busy... too busy to blog as I intended. So, here's a recap.

Relatives from Berlin arrived on Midsummer and we celebrated properly over a beer and

GrüVe gespritzt (Grüner Vetliner wine mixed with sparkling water) or two, including an excellent local meal at Wirt am Graben in Linz. 

Dining with Uli's Aunt and Uncle

Then, we headed to Wachau, the gorgeous wine region along the Danube that is south of Linz for the day. We stopped in Melk to have a look at the monastery there before finding a proper wine seller and sampling together with some jause. As an aside, jause (pronounced YOWSA) is my favorite Austrian word so far. It is generally a plate of various pork products as a snack eaten together with beer or wine. Jause.

The monastery in Melk

Wachau wine and jause

Then we spent part of a day in Hagenberg, where Uli teaches. We ate lunch and then split up for afternoon adventures. I took a two-hour hike in the hills and enjoyed a pretty path. We met up again in the evening for a hefty Austrian meal at a typical beer garden. The meal was memorable (I had some tasty "rustic" spätzle and we finished with some local schnapps) but even more so was the cute Jack Russel sitting across from our table. One of my ongoing debates with Uli is whether or not we can have a dog someday. I would have loved to take this one home.

Forest everywhere on my walk around Hagenberg

Beer Garden schnapps with Wolf and Gisela

Such a good dog!

Breakfast with our guests before they departed and we headed into the city for some additional exploring... Coffee and cake, of course. We also took the historic city train to the highest point overlooking Linz, the Pöstlingberg. What did we do from the top? Why, we took the dragon express in the Grottenbahn, a sort of throwback train through a village of elves that was first imagined and built over 100 years ago! We met up later with friends in town and took a long, meandering walk back home through music festivals and beer gardens.

The Grottenbahn entrance

Postlingsberg at night over the city

And then? We enjoyed brunch of arepas with a Venezuelan-Austrian couple in Linz before taking off on a lake tour of upper Austria. We drove into the mountains and saw three gorgeous lakes (too cold for me to swim, but the Austrians took a dip!) and ended up in Salzburg for a brewery visit.

With Jeremiah and Noah at Traunsee

The beer garden at Mondsee

The historic brewery where we stopped for dinner (and some "liquid bread")

Yesterday, we spent the day in Vienna to meet up with friends from our time in Indonesia (it is a small world, isn't it?). We meandered the city, stopping at cafes, and enjoying conversation with like minds. Such a beautiful city, we caught some tourist points along the way and even made a dancing video for a friend's DC Fringe Festival play.

With our friends Joy and Andreas in Vienna

So that brings us up-to-date more or less. Yesterday, I did some shopping in town at a new local shop and enjoyed my first pumpkin seed oil ice cream cone (pumpkin seed oil is really a thing here and the ice cream was much yummier than it sounds. Today we took one of the Stadtwanderweg tours (Number 6) along the Traun river and Weikerlsee, which was hot but pretty. Then, off to the city to sample some ice cream.

Pumpkin seed icecream

Tonight meeting up for dinner with friends after a refreshing swim at the local lake (the best cooling off strategy I've found during our stay). I would write more, but... ain't nobody got time for that!