Austrian Sommerfrische

While Mr. Burli is off in Poland (just for another day, but then on Saturday he has his high school reunion - just for the boys/men who went to his technical high school), we are keeping busy  enjoying the beautiful weather here. A week before we flew here we checked the weather and were certain we were going to have a rainy, cool vacation, but so far it is not too hot and hardly wet (and everyone is complaining that it is too dry here). All my worries about rain jackets and warm clothes were for naught - thank goodness!

JT has learned all sorts of things already (not all of it good), so I should try and remember that he is only 5 and if he is whiny, doesn't want to eat the food, etc., it is only temporary! 

We went to Burg Hochosterwitz the other day with Oma and Opa. (First I had to conquer my fear of driving the rental car on all these twisty, narrow roads - the landscape is very hilly here, the streets are usually hardly wide enough for 2 cars, and people who live around here drive crazily.) JT was certain it was going to be a small castle, but I think he was amazed - this is one neat medieval castle! It has 14 gates (built in the 1500s) leading up to the top and served as a protective castle where the locals could hide if the Turks were coming.

Unfortunately, we managed to lose Oma and Opa who rode up the elevator while we hiked up - apparently Opa overlooked the (large) sign pointing to the museum and instead went around the back of the castle and sat lower down waiting for us to hike by. We were too quick, I guess, and were already at the top - waiting at the museum, the souvenir shop, the restaurant (where we had ice cream, cake and coffee), and constantly checking the elevator exit to see where in the world the grandparents had gone. 

Evenntually we gave up and decided that they must have been too nervous to ride the elevator, and lo and behold, there they were a little ways down, still waiting for us to come up the mountain. Poor Oma!! She was so worried that we had fallen down or something. And poor Opa! I had told him beforehand that we would meet at the top and that there was a restaurant there, but somehow he didn't think to walk around the side of the castle and up a short flight of stairs. Luckily we made up for it (I think) with a stop at the Autobahnkirche (a church) where JT dutifully made a cross on his forehead with holy water and learned all about the crucifixion from the paintings of the 12 stations of the cross. (Try explaining religion in a non-religious manner to a 5 year old - not easy!)

The next day we visited Mr. Burli's cousin. Again, I had to throw caution to the wind and take a short drive on the autobahn and then stop at the gas station. Luckily the man who I asked to help unlock the gas  lank didn't laugh at me too long. Then we headed up another windy road (after taking the wrong turn out of the traffic circle and then circling back). Erika has the most amazing garden with cherry trees, blueberries, raspberries, all sorts of flowers, and vegetables. The kids picked a whole container full of raspberries and blueberries and ate at least as many as they put in the container!

Erika has a cute Austrian house and I love how she has decorated. I especially like the entryway with the paintings of the Kaiser, the animal skulls, and the stuffed birds. I would love to find some similar things at a flea market one of these days.

She also took us up to her boyfriend's little cabin up higher on the mountain. JT helped water the flowers and feed the neighbor's chickens, and Tiny moo'd at the cows as they walked by, bells clanging.

It is so beautiful that it is not hard to understand why people don't want to leave. (Well, adults, anyways. I can imagine that as a teen/young adult it would be pretty dull.)

P.S. 

So what not-so-good things did JT learn? Well, last night at the farm, Onkel Miche's farm helper was there and he and his wife were smoking. What are those things in their mouths, he asked. There is another plus for California - he has never really noticed/seen anyone smoking!

And really, the boys aren't misbehaving, they are just being themselves. It is simply difficult to continually entertain JT (who is now watching Jimmy Newtron in German and laughing hysterically - perhaps he can learn some German that way - oh! and I also had to explain about Greek gods after a different cartoon episode) and run after Samuel and relax at the same time. But the scenery helps! And I just need to remind myself to enjoy them - they are both so sweet.