That was Christmas...

Out went the tree and Christmas was over. Once I can get picassa to discover that we have other pictures uploaded on the computer, I will post some more. In the meantime, I will let you know that it was cold in Austria. We had snow! The wood-burning stove worked great. Everyone thought we all had colds the whole time. (We didn't. It was cold and the homes have a different dust so we were sneezy all the time. I think I calculated that I used 10 tissues a day while we were there. Mind you, they were Austrian 4-ply crazy-thick tissues, too, so one tissue can take more than a little sneeze.) Some of the food was good, other dishes were so-so. And if I would have had to eat another "Suppe voraus" (that is the required soup appetizer), I would have screamed. I prefer to drink water and not salty soup. And yes, cold water, please. (Opa had to secretly tell Mr. Burli to not give JT any more cold foods since eating food that is not body temperature is just awful for one's health.) But mostly we had fun. And did I mention that wood-burning stove? While it was a bit annoying to have to light a fire in the morning in order to warm up the place, it was nice to sit in front of it and relax and read, especially when someone else had already brought the firewood up.