The Big Journey

So, now that I have a nice relaxing Sunday to myself and lots of time on my hands, I’ll attempt to share all of the anecdotes from our Austrian journey with you. At the beginning of the week, we all piled into the Polo and headed off to Graz, where we had a free place to stay. Frances, a fellow English teacher at the HTL, offered her in-laws’ second apartment to us. We had quite a time finding it, spending about an hour driving around the one-way streets of Graz completely lost until we eventually found ourselves on the map and Eric did an excellent job of steering us to the Goethestrasse. The hardest part about navigating in these cities is that the streets are not all on a grid like in America. Me: “Which way do I turn??” Eric: “Umm…. Left-ish… no, not that one! The other leftish one!!!” Mom from the backseat “WE’RE GOING TO DIE!!!” We did eventually find the place and a parking spot. The apartment was absolutely amazing. It was actually two apartments that would be called “Altbau” in German, meaning pre-WWII construction- so, high ceilings, wood floors, and all of the furniture to go with it. Frances’ in-laws were extremely friendly people, and they collect art as a hobby. As a result, it was somewhat like staying in a museum. Here are some photos.



When we weren't being wined and dined in our decadent surroundings, we wandered around Graz enjoying the sights and doing a bit of shopping. I must say that I like Graz better than I do Vienna. It is Austria's second largest city with a population of about 300,000. As a result, it has almost everything that Vienna has to offer but with a wonderful small-town charm. I think I might want to live there someday.

We also went up the Schlossberg, which is a little mountain with a clock tower in the middle of the city. Unfortunately it wasn't a very clear day, but here's Eric in front of the clock.

And the view from the tram back down the mountain.

The shopping in Graz was truly world class, and Mom even bought me an early birthday present- A Tracht Anzug! This is a traditional Austrian suit. It's a nice dark grey, but instead of having a traditional collar it has a simple green felt band around the neck and has very nice silver buttons. I wore it to the Schulball this weekend and everyone said I looked like a Styrian. It was fantastic. After our stay in Graz we piled into the car again to take a scenic route through the Alps on the way to the hotel in Bad Ischl. We stopped in this pretty little town on the way for a photo op.

The route was very beautiful, and at the highest point I saw a sign saying that our elevation was 1,500 meters above sea level. The driving was a bit interesting... trying to pass semi-trucks while going up a mountain in an economy car with 3 people and luggage in it on a two lane road is a bit scary. Third gear and full gas would barely do it. I'm just glad I didn't kill anyone.

OK.... I think I've had enough for now. More on Bad Ischl and Salzburg to come.