Old & New

This post is meant as a final goodbye to Richard and Dane (ok, final might be a bit dramatic as I know that at least Rich will be back someday and Kathi and I will be stopping by Maryville this winter). Anyways, while they were here we visited the military museum and some old anti-aircraft towers in the Augarten. After walking around the city for awhile later in the day and seeing all of the historical buildings, Dane asked how much damage Vienna saw during World War II because everything seems to have been left in such good shape. Well to help give us all a better idea of what happened back then the first picture I have posted today is of Stephansdom in 1945. The second is a more recent shot of the cathedral. As in many European cities at the time, several if not all historical sites saw incredible amounts of damage if they were able to survive intact at all. Luckily for all of us today, the governments of these countries were able to have the sites restored using many of the original building materials creating what we see now. Gotta love that human spirit.

Vienna Too

Richard and Dane have been gone for more then a week now but I figured that I had better make one more post about there trip with some pictures from Vienna to prove that they visited this city too. I think these two pictures sum up their stay pretty well. We went to lots of different restaurants where we enjoyed many good eats (drinks too) and the rest of the time we messed around and had a good time. And as Dane found out, you have to be careful when you turn your back to Richard.
We enjoyed your stay guys, come back again when you have the time. And in the meantime we will prepare for our next guests, my mom and Gregg, who will be visiting later in September.

More Uncle Matt

Just a short post tonight for me to finally release some information that I received a few weeks back. I will soon be adding to my arsenal of nieces and nephews with the addition of a little one from Peter and Magdalena. Only after they shared their happy news and I let it sink in did I realize how many languages are going to be flying around this little family combination that we have going on here (and by here I mean here and there and everywhere that I have family located). We will all be able to shout and yell anything we want at reunions and there will be no reason to believe that anyone is having anything but a good time.

Congrats to Peter and Magda!

Melk

Before heading back to the city after driving through the Wachau we stopped at Stift Melk for a visit. It is an abbey that dates back to 1089 and it provides nice views overlooking the surrounding town and Danube river valley. There is a small museum inside but we mostly enjoyed the view, library, and accompanying church.
As you can see by checking out these views offered from the abbey, the monks who lived on the grounds didn't have to look far for a few extra benefits of the lifestyle they chose.

Wine Country

On Sunday we took a trip into Austrian wine country (The Wachau). It is quickly becoming my favorite region in Austria as it is such a beautiful area and only a short distance outside of Vienna. We ate our lunch at a little restaurant on a vineyard where we enjoyed what we were drinking so much that we ended up going home with seven bottles of Riesling (seven between the four of us so don't be worried about alcoholism).We drove through the entire Wachau all the way to Melk (which I may post some pictures from at a later time). After lunch we stopped at Dürnstein where I showed Richard the castle that I had planned on holding him captive. He enjoyed all the things sharing his name in the city since as I mentioned in a previous post Richard the Lionheart was held there 800 years ago.A few of today's pictures were taken by Richard so I want to make sure to give him some credit for what is shown (I think his are the first and the last posted).

Venice - Take 2

Richard and Dane left this morning to head back to Missouri. Kathi and I had a really nice time and I think the guys were able to see a lot while they were here so I hope they enjoyed their vacation. Now that they are gone I'm going to have to use this opportunity to catch up on my sleep as they wore me out which I found out while trying to stay awake at work today.

The new pictures that I am sharing are once again from Venice. They are all focused on a gondola ride which some people find too expensive and touristy these days but I still see as a necessary addition to any trip to the city.

We also made it to the Wachau, Melk, the Kahlenberg, to Martina and Martin's for traditional food (thanks for that), and random other places in Vienna during this past weekend so I will have a few more pictures to post throughout the week.

Venice - Take 1

We were in Venice from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday evening, therefore we have many good pictures of the city. This was my second visit and its uniqueness still amazes me. There simply is no other place like it.

The first picture today is of one of the many channels. It is probably part of the Grand Canal because of its size but I can't fully remember where I took it.

The second picture is of 'the guys' off to the side of St Mark's Square.

Next on the list is Dane eating his first bite of pizza in Italy, and finally is Kathi posing for a shot during our gondola ride. More pictures of Venice to come next week.

Hochosterwitz

Before heading to Venice on Sunday we decided to visit another castle in Carinthia. The castle Hochosterwitz is a pretty impressive site located on a small mountain in the middle of a valley. The castle hasn't seen many changes over the past 500 years and is guarded by 14 gates, each of which employs its own treacherous form of defense. Local legend says that the castle has never been captured and I have found no evidence to suggest that this information is incorrect. If you look closely at the picture of one of the towers you can see Rich and Dane manning their position in the window. Below you can see Kathi and me enjoying the view that is offered from the safety of the castle on top of the mountain (really it's just a large rock outcrop).

Warmed Up

I'm back from our long weekend down south and I am tired. When Rich and Dane return after also visiting Rome I can only imagine how exhausted they will be. While we were gone we stayed a couple nights in Carinthia, hopped over the border for dinner in Slovenia, visited a few Austrian castles, hit up an Alpine slide, had a family grill out, stopped by a firefighter festival, and escaped to Venice for a few days.

The first picture I have posted was taken from where we stayed in Carinthia; I am sharing it to prove that we provided the guys with some nice Austrian scenery. The second is of Rich and Dane providing a lookout for castle Landskron. The third is of Rich and Kathi trying to keep dry as it was a bit rainy during our first day in the mountains, and the final picture is of Elli showing us how to work an Alpine slide. Thanks to the Sarnitz and Stadler families for helping us provide our guests with a nice Carinthian experience. During the next few days I will share more from the Alps and then some pictures from Venice too.

Just Getting Started

Richard and Dane have been here for about 48 hours now. They have seen Stephansdom, the Hofburg, and Schönbrunn; plus they have eaten at Schweizerhaus, found themselves a kebap stand, hit up a cocktail bar, grabbed a beer at an Irish pub, and snagged a bite to eat at Vapiano. The airline delayed Rich's luggage, but only slightly as it arrived before we even had a chance to go to bed the first night so everything has been working out really well so far. Now we are going to head south to see what's happening down there and to add to the guys 'countries visited' list, so I will be back with pictures sometime during the middle of next week. Have a nice weekend!

The Bone Collectors

Richard and Dane are on their way to Vienna and are scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning at 10:00. They will receive their proper welcome in the evening by The Bone Collectors at Schweizerhaus. The Bone Collectors are the newest professional eating team to hit the Austrian scene. The team is currently made up of myself and Martin but we are willing to consider new applicants pending their performance with stelze and beer. Let us know if you are interested.

As for new posts on the Married Life, things will probably be slow for awhile as I hang out with Rich and Dane for the next few weeks including a couple days out of Vienna. I will try and put a few new things up while they are here but you will have to wait for them to leave before I get back on a regular posting schedule at which time I will share some pictures of our adventures.

Salzburg Sunday

Today Kathi and I went to Salzburg in the morning with our friend Hari so we could pick up his Kathi later in the afternoon from the airport in Linz (she was returning from a month of studying at Oxford). I was excited to check out Salzburg for the first time and live out my Sound of Music fantasies. The city is quite nice and I look forward to returning again in the future as our visit was quite short and I didn't have time to sing all of the songs from the soundtrack. Luckily we had a few locals (cousins of Hari and Kathi) to help make sure that I didn't miss any of the important sites during my singing.

On the way out of the city Hari took us to Hangar-7 at the airport. It is the property of the guy who owns Red Bull and admission is free. Inside of the hangar are several airplanes and cars that are part of his personal collection along with a small restaurant. It was a pretty neat place to check out and it seemed odd that all of the items are one man's toys.

Sixty Years

Today we drove to Styria with Martina and Martin to attend the Austrian Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary. Sixty years is a long time to be married and I congratulate them on a great accomplishment. We had a nice time in their little mountain village with most guests dressed in traditional clothing. The food and company were a great compliment to the day. Check out some pictures below (by the way, Oma and Opa = Grandma and Grandpa in German):

Oma & Opa with their daughters (my mother-in-law is on the right)The church where the day began

Mario with his gift for OmaOma showing the cake with her wedding photo on it (picture taken in 1947)
Sebastian playing on the slideKathi and me all dressed up (the picture was taken by Mario)

Transforming Into The Weekend

Last night I watched Transformers which was quite enjoyable. The movie helped me relive some childhood memories and now I want to go buy an Optimus Prime and play with toys again. - - - Indy had his yearly checkup this morning and he passed with flying colors so he is approved to continue hauling us around. Obviously none of this was a surprise since we just bought him but we are still proud of a job well done. - - - This weekend we are heading down to Styria on Saturday for the 60th anniversary of the Austrian grandparents. Then on Sunday we are heading out to Salzburg with Hari which I am quite excited about as I have not visited the city yet. Between the two events there will be no time left for sleeping in but it will also provide me with lots of weekend entertainment and pictures to post on the good ol' Married Life to share with all of you.

Hofer

Well nothing exciting happened today so once again I am left posting about whatever pops into my head at the moment. The good news is that while the day was not exciting, it did go by quite quick so I must have kept busy or something.

Now I am going to tell you about Hofer. It is a small grocery store type place where you can get all sorts of things for a good price and so many people shop there that stuff is always fresh. I consider it our form of Walmart in Austria, even though it is only about the size of the lawn and garden center. You can basically get anything at Hofer, but the catch is they have new ads come out twice a week and each ad offers something different. A good example would be that I bought an air mattress for €13 there last night. So it is kind of like if Walmart was a lottery based store. It is not open 24 hours a day nor 7 days a week and you are only allowed in two aisles at time which you do not get to choose, so you have to keep up with what's going on to see if that new electronic dart board you want out of aisle 17 is available today. It is a lot more exciting then it sounds, you do not need to feel sorry for us. Besides they have inexpensive beer and wine, excellent juices, and all sorts of bio products with no chemical additives.