Wiener Christkindlmarkt

One of the best things of Christmas time are the Xmas markets. In Vienna they pop up everywhere, from tiny ones that are only know to the locals to the big ones that are frequented by thousands of people every day. In my opinion the best big one is the Christkindmarkt in front of the Viennese Townhall (much better than the one in front of Schoenbrunn Castle, where the prices are extremely high and the atmosphere is quite cool).

We have been there on Sunday night, and it was a pleasant surprise that there were not too many people. I guess they are all waiting for first snowfall, then of course it is extremely romantic, especially with minus degrees which are nowhere to be seen at the moment. Still the Christkindlmarkt in front of the Rathaus is a lovely place to go, especially in the evenings.
Check out http://www.christkindlmarkt.at/Wiener-Christkindlmarkt.6.0.html if you want. They turn the Rathauspark into a lovely Christmaspark, with lots of glittering deco in the old trees, and there is an ice skating rink that provides additional entertainment for young and old folks!

They sell everything that is related to Christmas, and the atmosphere is quite peaceful either. Especially since the town banned things not related to Christmas there. So no kitchen staff, no knives or hunting guns.... but decoration and of course things to eat everywhere.

I can recommend any of the dozens of Punschstandln, where you get the finest, warmest Punsch in the world. They add new kinds every year, and I hear that the Punsch experts cannot wait every year what new sorts they have invented again. This year they say one of the best new ones is the Red Bull Punsch! I cannot argue pro or con, I have not tried it. But my recommendation is: If you want to try Punsch go there where you can find the largest crowd.

And then of course there is the lovely view of the townhall....

And right across the street, next to the Burgtheater, you find the famous Café Landtmann, where they have a lovely Christmas tree every year.  http://www.landtmann.at/  Even though it is right in the centre of Vienna and actually a very traditional place to go, you can hang out there for hours with just a coffee or tea and nobody will bother you. A really fine old-fashioned Viennese coffee house!

I hope you all had a great 1st of Advent!

So much fun for Euro 20,-

Whoop, whoop, my new camera arrived! I purchased it by auction on Ebay for Euro 20,-, and it is a Nikon COOLPIX E 4500. I only wanted it to shoot okay photos, be small and light and don´t mind if it catches a good bump now and then because I wanted to carry it around all the time in my bag so I am always blog prepared. After it had arrived the other day I just dragged it around with me for the day and shot lots of diverse photos, and I must say the outcome is not bad at all! Even Stefan was surprised, and of course he is used to DSLR cameras. Have a look-see yourself...

Indy in the mist whilst our daily walk.

The kiddos waiting for Mummy to finally shoot the bl... photo.

The sepia function. Lovely, lovely, lovely - I love sepia photos. Sooo cool!!

A part of our main university. The Humanities are housed in there and many humanities lectures you will find inside this building. Believe me, it is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. But I do not have a wide-screen option on this camera - or at least I was not able to find it yet.

One of the collonades at the Uni. Of course not many people to be seen outside at the moment, because it is quite cold. This photo is a bit blurred, and I cannot say why, I need to work this out somehow.

Irko, my mother in law´s dachshund, definately not my kind of dog-breed, but cute anyway. He is always happy to see me, but in fact he is happy to see anybody and also likes to go to the vet´s!!

And here the view of my in-law´s house this afternoon.

To sum it up, as much as I can say so far I am not unhappy with my new Euro 20,- camera, what do you think? In fact I wanted to buy the new IXUS 200 for Euro 250,-, which is sooo lovely and small and cool, and you just want to own it because it looks so smart. But on the other hand this one does not mind a bump and still is not bad either! So I might save my money for some other reason..... *smile*.... and knowing me I guess you know what else I could want....

The Kiddos and the kids

Sigi and I have been knowing each other for many years, when we both started working for the AMS, the Austrian Unemployment office. This was ...hmmmm....many years ago, I am not going to say the exact number, because...uh..there is this sudden blur in my brain. We do not see each other very often, at least as far as I am concerned I am far from seeing her as often as I want to, but when we do it is always a lot of fun, good conversation, catching up on each others news and, right, somehow food is also envolved usually.

This Saturday afternoon Sigi and her gang (Karli, Stefan and Paula) came over to meet my gang (my Stefan and the kiddos), and I was curious how it would work out. It was great! Karli, Stefan and Paula were really good with the kiddos, rather quiet, respectful, absolutely brilliant! Why cannot all kids be like this? And why cannot all the kiddos in the world be as curious, wonderful and loving as mine? Gee, the world would be such a perfect place...



Us and the food that was involved this time. We had Raclette, and I guess we all liked it. In my opinion the perfect food when you come together, you can chat, munch away, prepare your own just the way you want to. And I promise, next time I will buy much more corn!

After lots of food "Exercise with Indy"followed. He is a maniac with his balli, and Sigi´s three musketeers did him a great favor when throwing his balli for him over and over. Indy just spoiled the fun a bit because he usually never delivers to anybody else but Mama, which held up the entertainment a bit. This photo I pinched from Sigi, because for some crazy miracle we do not have any photo of the "Exercise with Indy"-entertainment, however this could have happened. Sigi shot her photos with her eyephone - I cannot believe the good quality the photos have!

Lily and her fan Paula. She is great with cats - very gentle, stroking them only very lightly, not trying to pick them up - but very persistent in following them around the house! *smile* Even Lily thawed.

Sigi had brought wonderful Guglhupf, which was consumed right after exercising with Indy. Of course Dessa was convinced that Sigi would cut it just for her. The Guglhupf was yum, yum, so soft and fluffy... I have to confess, I had two slices (and the kiddos had a taste of it too). But on the other hand I guess everyone had two slices.

Paula looking cute with her Guglhupf. When I said to her "Look cute for this photo" she pretended not to know what I mean - and then looked double cute! I hear she knows exactly what she wants and does not hesitate to inform her family about that - right you are, Paula, you cannot start early enough! Life is hard, so the best strategy is to know exactly what you want and live it!



Evidence of the PS3-session. I am a Lara Croft-fan and have played all of her adventures, but otherwise I am not patient enough for computer games, and if I have some spare time I rather read or hang out in Facebook (Gosh, reminder: I NEED to do some detox). But it was so much fun to watch the kids picking it up so quickly and go to PS3-places where Stefan and I have never ever been!

Oh no, don´t go. It was so much fun! Depression is spreading..
And much too soon they were gone again, and all that was left was the presents that Sigi brought along.

Thank you so much for all the presents, my lovely deco moose and napkins, the great bottle of wine (which will be gone very soon too I suspect), the wonderful cake - and most of all for the good times you spent with us! Please come back soon, it was a perfect afternoon! We just hope you and your gang had as much fun as we did... 



Toys for the kiddos

Oh goodie, the toys for the kiddos (and a few other kiddos we know) have arrived! I feel a little like in a toy store. Happy that they are here, I usually try to start as early as possible with Xmas shopping, and the possibility to buy some of it online is very welcome. You know the "quiet, contemplative season" - die stille, besinnliche Zeit - has started...

In the department stores and on the streets blinking lights, a zillion of goods and people rushing in and out of the shops, between meetings, in breaks or in the evenings, before the shops close, but hey, lets go for some Punsch on one of the Christmas markets! More lights, goods, people rushing here and there. And the profs in the lectures are hectic too, so many things to say and do before Xmas holidays. Let´s talk about this quickly, before the New Year starts, and get it over with, and some essays are much too urgent to postpone them, so let´s squeeze them in now. And all this because "the silent night" is coming up.

Of course don´t forget the Xmas parties. They are everywhere, and please, let us start them in November, so we can squeeze in more, but please schedule them for very late in the evening, employees need to struggle for this one more order, this one more contract fulfillment, one more outgoing bill. Overtime? Yessir, what did you expect? Gosh, I forgot, need to pick up that present before the shops close, but will be back at the office for one more go at the computer. We need to be ready for "the silent night"!

Madness.

I don´t know how you feel about it, but I could do without all the glitter and blinking lights, the grinning Santas and the zillions of goods waiting out there, if only there was a chance for this one real "silent night".....

But hey, the toys for the kiddos arrived.
  

The kiddos have fun

Always when we are in Styria we try to let the kiddos have as much quality time as possible. Not that I do not always try this, but as you know there is a huge difference between living life in the fast lane as one basically leads it at home, when everyday life is very demanding, and life in holiday mode when you get up late, and the only decisions you need to make are: When and what do I eat and how will I plan the rest of the day?

This time the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so the decision to roam the fields with the kiddos was very quickly done. Of course very intense stares, yawning and excited panting helped a lot.

The countryside in the area in Styria where we spend a lot of holidays is beautiful. There are plenty of walks just minutes from our appartment and the ideal day goes like this: Morning walk with the doggies in the woods behind the house; immense brunch; field trip with the doggies; early dinner; then tv or time with friends and watch the kiddos being absolutely wasted and sleeping like stones from early evening on.

This walk took us along the "Obersdorf-Rundwanderweg", a roundtrip you can start right behind the house, follow the path for an hour or so and end at the "Eselsalm", a pizzeria/little restaurant right in the middle of the Rödschitzmoor. Moors (and I do not mean the people called "Moor", har, har) are a very important part of the landscape there, and the kiddos have their fun too.

Indy hardly ever gets out of the water, no matter if it is a little spring, canal, or lake. And of course no matter if it is Summer or Winter.

Even Dessa is tempted to go for a little water-experience now and then. But only if the bank of the river is very flat. And the water is not too deep. Then she jumps in, shuffles here and shuffles there, and then she stands very quietly like one of these asian buffalos and simply cools down. *zzzzzzzz......*

And the good news: Indy realized this time that there is a close conncection between a spring, a current, dropping down your stick into the water and not finding your stick a few seconds later at the very same place. This time he simply started with barricading the whole canal so the stick could not escape. Maybe he will find a solution that is a bit more elegant next time?

Then a short rest in the sun to relax after some heavy duty fun....

... and then back into the car and home for some big meal and some good healthy sleep. To dream of more exciting places to go with mom and dad...

Der Toplitzsee

Today I want to entertain you with some info/photos of the mysterious Toplitzsee or Lake Toplitz. It is a little lake in the Salzkammergut and in fact bears some resemblance to the famous Loch Ness in Scottland. First the lake is not accessible very well because it is situated in a mountain basin with very steep hillsides around. Actually there is only one point where you have easy access and only one small road leading there.

Second the lake is very deep, more than 100 meters, and very dark, due to the depth and the mud you find on the bottom which usually rests there in complete silence and can be stirred up quite easily. It contains no oxygen below 20 meters so the fish you get live in this layer and cannot settle any deeper. The Toplitzwurm lives there - a worm that does not need light nor oxygen to survive.

And third the lake is a very dangerous place for divers too which makes it hard to explore the place. Over the centuries lots of timber has rolled from the steep hillsides into the lake, having sunk to the bottom but nothing rots because of the lack of oxygen, so there is basically this lose layer of easy moving wood somewhere down in the black waters....

During the last days of the Nazi regime it is said that the Führer ordered many secret wooden boxes to be plunged into the Toplitzsee to keep them secured, and indeed some contemporary witnesses exist who claim that they have actually seen this happening. The speculations are aplenty, what did the Nazi drown there? The gold reserves of the Third Reich? Money? Secret plans and inventions? Even the Russian Amber room is whispered to rest down there. In fact a large box with fake English pound notes has been rescued from the lake bottom, as proof that they actually hid something there, but not much else has been found since then. Not that people have not tried.

If you are interested check the web for the lots of myths that have evolved around the Toplitzsee! I sure had fun doing that - you find everything: Murder, hidden treasures, strange things happening... But one has to say that the exploration of the lake (and the hunt for lost treasures) has definately taken its toll: People died trying to explore the Toplitzsee underwater and lots of money has been spend for - not a lot. Still it is a lovely place to go for a trip when you are in the area, especially on a warm and sunny Fall day where it looks just peaceful...

Even the getting there is lovely. Coming from Bad Aussee you park the car at the little parking area at Grundelsee, then you just follow the small dirt road into the Klamm.

After a not too long walk through wonderful nature - and hopefully not too many tourists - you finally reach the Toplitzsee.

It is hard to make photos of the whole lake, because it means following another tiny path and crawling through a lot of underwood. The best way to take photos is probably from a small boat, but they only run in Summer. If you look closely on the trailguide you see a picture of the whole stretch of the lake - it definately is a very inaccessible place.

From here the little boats venture out in Summer. Now the place is almost remote and nature can take a deep Autumn breath until next year.

The Fischerhütte, the little restaurant there, was still open, so we of course did not hesitate to walk in and have some nice snack. I can definately recommend the "Erbsensuppe mit Würstchen" and the "Guyassuppe", the staff was very nice and friendly, even though - when asked - one of the waitresses told me that they were absolutely ready for their Winter break. Tourists storm the place in Spring and Summer, and they are not only treasure hunting but also in urgent demand of food after all the "raiding"... http://www.toplitzsee.at/seiten/fischerhuette.html

All in all I have to say that we had a good time going there. We did not find any treasures (maybe because we were not looking for them?), but it was a day full of sunshine, Autumn colours and nice memories for keeps. Whatever is hidden in the black, still waters of the Lake Toplitz - may it rest in peace. Sometimes forgotten things better stay forgotten... and they certainly will help to keep up the mysterious charisma of the small and actually very charming Toplitzsee.

Halloween in Bad Mitterndorf

Hoorray, Halloween is the best time of the year! Not the disgusting version with lots of blood, Zombies and horrible things to eat, but the mysterious one with a lot of contemplating, listening to the sounds of silence and to nature that prepares to go to sleep for another Winter. This world and the next come together as close as possible, and if you look carefully you can see to the other side just during this one special night... This is MY Halloween.

This year we spent it in Mitterndorf for the first time, and it was completely different to how we spend it at home usually.  At home there is much more mystery usually, more fog, more shadows in the dark around our home - and the weather in Styria during the day was gorgeous too. (At home it is usually grey and moist at that time of year - but that is the Wiener Becken. The fog gets caught there and never gets out again until Spring. *sigh*)

 But still, even though the sun was shining and it was so warm that you could walk without a jacket, strange creatures came out early in the morning. At first you could think it is a dog and its owner coming back from their walk, but on second glance - no.

But wait until evening! "Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour close at hand! And creatures crawl in search of blood to terrorize y´all´s neighborhood...." What a happy song thriller was, and so ideal for Halloween night! Well, the creatures in Mitterndorf were not in search of blood, but in search of some happy times and good food. For a change we decided to go out for dinner on our special night.

We found just the place at the Gasthaus zur Einkehr, where we always like to go when we are in Mitterndorf. It is so small, it does not even have its own homepage, but if you want to book a table you find the number in the yellow pages.

And there the good Halloween times started!

We had great food and wonderful cold beer - and the Halloween spirit floated all around us! And after dinner we were in the best of moods, staggered home in Zombie style and continued the festivities.

Of course there was this special problem with the little canine leprechauns who were terribly fond of caramel popcorn but could not dig themselves into the bucket. Sad.

Other Halloween gremlins, appearing out of nowhere, joined in the fun too. The night was young, eerie and dark and in demand of a real party.

Of course there still was this little leprechaun-problem, but after staring, sighing and being really unhappy for a while (and after bumming some popcorn off me) they fell asleep.

So finally it was a great Halloween for all of us. The leprechauns got their popcorn and their sleep, and all the other party creatures enjoyed food, drinks and a really good time.

A late but nevertheless Happy Halloween to all of you out there - I hope you had a great time too!