I really
should stop leaving it so long between entries but time keeps getting away from
me!
Hmmmm, now
to catch up……the weekend after I last wrote, Josef was at a basketball game so
I decided to go for a wander to the shop by myself to get some absolute essentials
– an apple, cotton buds, rice crackers and lollies :) ! Snow was lightly falling and it was so nice
just to walk in it for a little while, even though by the time I came out of
the shop it was dark (which happens by about 4:30pm!). And I did ok, though I didn’t know I was
supposed to weigh the apple and get a price sticker for it, so I got to the
checkout and the lady handed it back to me and shot off something in German –
of course I had no idea what she was saying.
I told her I didn’t understand, so she took it and put a sticker on it
herself – opps!
One day
last week we went for a hike up to the ruins of an old castle,
Scharfeneck. It’s only a short drive
(walkable distance) from Josef’s parents’ house, and takes about half an hour
to walk up there….which is a bit creepy, it’s kind of right into the woods
through a path, so all you can see on either side are tall thin trees, with all
the leaves on the ground. We climbed up
to the top of some of the ruins and the view was incredible – you could see so
much in every direction, and probably even more if it had of been a clearer day
and not quite so foggy.
I think it
was Wednesday morning when I looked out the window and there was snow
EVERYWHERE, I was so excited! I remember
Sunday had already been cold, because we were standing around at the local
Christmas market and it was freaking freezing.
It was soooo pretty, snow was covering everything and was still lightly
falling…it’s really cool how everything seems to be much more quiet when it
snows – though I guess it actually is because the snow soaks up some of the
noise. Not that there is a lot of that
in tiny Mannersdorf!
On Friday
we went on a road trip to Salzburg
– about 400km and a 4 hour trip with a stop for lunch imbetween. Much different a drive than to home……you just
basically keep driving on a big freeway – 3 lanes in each direction for the
most part, and travelling at about 125km or so (much faster than home!). There was a lot of snow around but the main
roads were pretty clear. Salzburg was awesome –
such an old town and lots of interesting things to see. We walked up (and up, and up) to the entrance
of an old castle there and looked around one of the churches – there is no way
I can explain what the inside of the old churches look like here, except to say
that they are unreal. Absolutely
beautiful, but SO excessive. Lots of
wandering around Salzburg,
except it was freezing (about -6 degrees) and by the night time we were pretty
tired so just went somewhere close by for dinner. The next day I wasn’t feeling too well so we
left at around lunchtime, except it had been snowing even more and the roads
were really icy and in places there had been so much snow that you couldn’t see
the lines any more, especially as it started to get dark….and on a 3 way
highway that was pretty scary! There
seemed to be an accident up in front of us at one point, so we got off the
highway and went through back roads for awhile and came out in front of it - Josef
did a great job of driving through it all, I think it took us almost 6 hours to
get home because everything was so much slower.
Yesterday
(and still today for that matter!) there was still a bunch of snow around – I
think I stepped out and it went halfway up to my knee from where the wind had
blew it into a mini hill outside our door – the rest of it was probably about
6cm deep or so. A group of us drove and
then walked through the woods to the local ski hill (I look SO sexual in
Josef’s brother’s ski pants……not….!) – except we couldn’t slay down it because
we didn’t have a sledge! Another
time! Except I think now we are supposed
to get out of the minuses by Christmas time – no white Christmas for me – but
I’m hoping maybe by New Years we might get some more. It’s fun, but dressing is so hard – tights,
jeans, and another pair of trousers plus 2-3 jumpers and a big jacket STILL
doesn’t seem keep you warm!
I think I’m
finally caught up for now – I have some photos but can’t upload them yet
because I forgot my camera cord. But
it’s on its way – thanks mum! – so I should be able to post some to Facebook
soon. For you guys without Facebook, I
can post the link so you can still look at them. And until next time, I’m happy Christmassing
through my journal again…..for the second year in a row…..mum has booked me in
advance to be at home next Christmas! So HAPPY
CHRISTMAS everyone! xoxoxoxoxoxox
