Old Wedding Fotos

Well - I was doing some late spring cleaning and came across some of our old wedding fotos, and naturally stopped and browsed.
I must say - I was a good looking slime dude and mamabear was a pretty slim cubcake too. Isn't she just gorgeous???

Life has treated us well and we both have added lots of fun and experience as well as the odd kilo (I know - we have been eating way too much chocolate - and still piling through our Mozartkugel'n from our last trip to Salzburg) to our life. Wonder if I can still fit my outfit?? Probably NOT! :)

There are of course many other old wedding fotos in our store, but I fished this one out to share.
Actually some I can't share with you - as they do show well - lets just say - ol gigles here would be red faced again. Can't have that now can we???

It has been raining for last two days and tomorrow is the national scouting mudslide day!! Yah - might even take some pics . . . . .

Hiding the Loot

Wohoooo
We must have been a good boy and girl - Santa was very nice to us.
In fact we got so much we are about 4 kg over our suitcase allowance. Which is a pity cause we got a major problem!!!! Ah well there is nothing to it - we just have to eat our way through our 4 kilogram of earlier purchased Mozart kugeln!! Such sacrifice . . . .
Sorry boys

:D
hehehe

Better go an get my share from Mrs Clause!!!

White Christmas is a possibility

Hello all - here is at last a pic from the Rheine valley. Yes it was cloudy and this was one of the better surviving Castles. Interestingly enough some of them have been converted into hotels - so if you wanted to you could bunk down there and pretend you are a river pirate - on the lookout for some ships to be looted - or just enjoy the scenery and walks. The hills are used extensively for grapes and the region is well known for its vintage - as I can attest. Yumm




Yes folks it snowed heavily for the first time in Salzburg. A white Christmas is a definitive possibility. This is me retrieving our snow boots from the car for our trip out later. By the time we had walked back from the post shop and the local bakery (a 10 min stroll) the tracks we had made in the snow had been covered by the "new" snow.
It made for a challenging drive later in the evening as the roads where more like a ice ring and you had to be careful how you drove round the corners - or you need a panel beater. Suffice to say the car is still in good shape - mamabears nerves on the other hand . . . . . . .

As I sit here and write on the following morning this pic was taken, I look out the window and it is snowing heavily again. Wohooooo

LOL here is the loot. Yes boys (my boys) you M I G H T get one or two. We went to the Factory where they make this delicious delicacy's and bought in bulk - much cheaper then buying from the various shops in town. However they weigh 4 kilograms and we have a 20 kilo weight restriction from our airline. Bummer -- we just might have to eat some before we leave!!! What else can we do?????





I was told not to do "scouting" while on holiday - but I do know several Scoutlink chatters and we certainly have met some in Holland and Germany. Here I am meeting a lovely young lady who is a group leader in a Scout group near Vienna. We met in the same pizzeria that we had taken our boys to in 2002 (same bald owner) and I had frequented often while I still lived in Salzburg. The meal was just lovely and so was the company. I am afraid we did bowl over Sissi with our Xmas pressie which was unexpected by her. But the Teddy bear (complete with his own mini scarf) and the NZ Jade (handmade on that fun weekend of QEII weekend in NZ) were greatly appreciated. Now that we have instant communication (email/msn/txt) it is not so bad keeping up in touch with these folks - but it doesn't replace a meeting in person! Sigh - when will Scotty be able to beam me half way across the world????? Wouldn't it be nice??

Anyhow - all this snow must have worn mamabear out - its 9.12 am and she is still asleep! I shall have to wake her soon.

Let it snow, let it snow - mark 2

Thursday 18th Dec am

Just woke up and looked out the window - yah there is a dusting of white stuff. Forecast is for more later in the day - and all day tomorrow.
Sadly some parts of Austria have had way to much snow - like 1.5 m - 2 m. It meant that the army has been mobilized and having to clear the snow of the roofs as the weight is now getting dangerous. Also the avalanche risk has increased tenfold. and some villages are still cut of from the outside world and electricity supply is interrupted in some parts. So you see - it is possible to have to much of a good thing!

Well quick shower and then we are off to buy the famous and extremely delicious Mozart ball. Wonder how many kilos we will end up with.

Mozart Ball

The German Connection

Wohoo - had a slightly unsettled night but still got up at 7.30 - breakfast and usual getting ready to go out - packed the car with our gear and left for Aki's place. They were lovely people who arranged for us a second breakfast - a traditional German white Bratwurst - with a bretzel and Bier for the Germans and one Kiwi had a white wine and the other Kiwi had a glass of Orange juice. Then went for a walk through the local town - were shown the local church and Scout meeting place as well as other sights. Eventually we came back to their home - and it started to snow.
Aki picked up the children and we all met for another traditional German meal - 2 different local Sausages and Sauerkraut with Senf (mustard) - with slice of bread baked by a baker who uses a wood fired oven! all tasted nice and the kids showed us some of their treasures and school / kindy work!
Sadly at 2 pm we had to say our goodbye's and drive back to Salzburg! Road was clear and not much traffic so made good time and arrived back here at 5 pm.
It should be pointed out to the regular German Scoutlink chatters that there is no photoshop involved - otherwise I would be 20 years younger looking!!!!

Anyone care to guess how many kilometers we did on our round trip??? We could give the winning guess a special Salzburger Mozart kugel. Leave your guess with a comment.
We certainly did a lot of traveling. Oddly enough I'm not sure that the on board Computer is correct, it gives strange readings. We traveled heaps on the autobahn - in fact about 90 % of our European tour was on the autobahn and we certainly did not crawl there - yet the avg speed on the car computer is still 85 km - not the true avg!

Rezepte

just in case you are energetic and want to do some research, here are some websites to look up!

gluehwein
Bosna
Mozartkugel
Maroni
Kastanie