Austria – “Oh my god! What are you doing here?”

We boarded the train from Salzburg – destination Vienna. 3 hours later we were greeted with Bee’s Oma (Grandmother) at the station, all smiles and hugs. It was so fantastic for Bee, not only to see her grandparents for the first time in 4 years, but also for them to meet the elusive (because it’s a one hour drive from Melbourne to Vienna?!) Gerard for the first time...

Arriving in their 10th floor apartment we opened the door to find Bee’s parents, John and Susanne, standing there! Well, guess their New Caledonian Christmas cruise they led us to believe they were on took a slight detour via Europe – they had this planned for 6 months! Wow, Austria surely couldn’t bring any other surprises could it? Shock aside, it was so fantastic to have all the Scheubeutl/Womersley contingent of the family together for what we hoped would be a white Christmas.

Needless to say, we had such a lovely time over the festive period in Vienna:

• More Christmas markets (where mulled wine, punch and roasted chestnuts were a must in front of the Radhaus (Town Hall), a perfect backdrop).

• Dinner at the Donauturm, the revolving restaurant, 150m above the beautiful city centre.

• More dinners at Greek, Chinese, Austrian (believe it or not) with the family – oh and don’t forget a spectacular buffet on Boxing Day (fair to say their may not be any seafood left in Europe after our mammoth effort)!

• Strolling around the streets of Vienna, taking in the sites of the Hofburg, St.Stephens cathedral, Opera House and museum after museum... Absolutely stunning architecture

• Catching up with the Couston/Commerford clan for some antics at the, shame to say, Aussie Bars for some Ashes action – laughs, wrestles and cheers and some pretty funny snaps!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were, of course, also enjoyable and needless to say ‘well festive’ events. All in all Austria would have lived up to the expectations without the surprises that occurred and we both look forward to heading back to see the ‘other Austria’ (a la Sound of Music) around the end of Summer!

Austria – “Would Bad Gastein have been as good if we didn’t get ENGAGED?”

Enough said! We had such a wonderful time in Austria, for several reasons. Not only was the experience of the snow and returning to Bee’s homeland enough put a smile on both our faces, a very beautiful and unexpected ring blew her right away too....

We arrived in Salzburg (Austria – finally!) to -10C, ready to start our five day snowboarding adventure. After a Schnitzel, Stiegl (Austrian beer) and a good night’s sleep we boarded the train to Bad Gastein, part of the Gastein Valley. The scenery we passed was absolutely beautiful; snowy mountains, snow on wooden houses, snow lightly falling, footprints in the knee deep snow.... you get the idea! After checking in to one of Europe’s Best Hostels (and it was), we dumped our stuff, hired our snow gear, got the 10 layers on and we were off!!

Now, we probably should now mention that Bee had never snow boarded before. Gerard, well, his only boarding experience was in the early uni days on a boys trip, wearing a full body suit, stackhat and somewhat of a daily hangover... Two amateurs let loose! And we did well, slow and steady, fall and pick yourself up, slip and slide. But gradually there was an improvement and we can actually say we were having a blast! The breathtaking scenery also made it light work, nothing like we have ever seen – making Mt.Baw Baw (our only other skiing experience) look like a little mound of man made snow (or ice - take your pick)!

The combination of purely being in Austria, being at 2000m with breathtaking landscape made it the perfect place for Gerard to be the true romantic that he is. Bee was caught totally off guard but of course did not hesitate in her answer (actually she did hesitate with ‘Your shitting me aren’t you?’). We shared a bottle of Moet & Chandon and had a lovely Italian dinner to continue celebrations. A special mention must go to the old Italian Austrian waiter who congratulated us by informing us his third marriage of 18 years recently broke down – what a heart warming thing to say to a newly engaged couple! On a brighter note, Bee did score us a couple extra shots of Jager by flashing her ring around so that kept the party going (or finished it – whichever way you look at it!!) The next day we did find out that both of our crushes - Andy and Megan Gale had called stumps but, as they say timing is everything. Jokes aside, we are both so happy and thank everyone for their congratulations on our engagement.

The thrills and spills of Bad Gastein continued, as did the sore and bruised body parts! The Thermal Pools were a perfect way to relax those aching muscles, the warm water and array of saunas doing wonders. Nude saunas, by the way – now that was interesting!

We got through our snowboarding week relatively unharmed, with minimal tanties (including a couple ‘face fulls’ of snow from some cheeky teenagers) and with tears of both sheer pain (Bee) and overwhelming joy (Bee). We boarded the train back to Salzburg happy but tired, ready to meet Alex and Happy, sons of one of Bee’s Mum’s friends. Strolling around the streets of Salzburg, drinking mulled wine and beers at the Christmas Markets, catching up on life at a local bar – what a perfect way to finish our Part 1 of Austria! Who would have guessed what was around the corner in Vienna....

London Living - the Saga continues...

So believe it or not, we are still finding things to do in London despite the increasingly cold weather! Who would have thought?!
 

The Winston Churchill Bunkers (part of the Imperial War Museum) were very interesting, with the dugouts, dorms and chamber rooms still depicting the exact same environment as it was during the First World War. It is amazing that the bunkers were so close to 10 Downing Street and not even fully bomb proof!
 

Shimmy shimmy!! Bee had her end of term belly dancing cabaret show one icy Sunday evening. It was such fun to be up on stage and she even attracted some paparazzi in Gerard and Jamie with their new whiz-bang cameras.... why are there dozens of shots of attractive females and glitzty costumes???? Hahhaha. Jokes aside, great evening and Bee is much looking forward to starting Level 4 in January.
 

Work talk. Boring. We know it is, but we have been enjoying the flexibility of teaching and the variety of experiences different schools and year levels are giving us. Next year we will most likely continue working at a number of schools on a regular basis throughout the week to keep us on our feet and allow us to keep doing what we came here for!
 

The below freezing temperatures and snow of late have also provided us with an opportunity to go ice-skating at Hyde Park’s ‘Winter Wonderland’. Let me say, Gerard is good... really good – watch out Blades of Glory (minus the fluoro lycra)! We are happy to say that there were no spills, icepacks or stretchers needed and that the mulled wine, Paulaner beer and Bailey’s hot chocolate went down a treat afterwards! PS. Bee scored a bargain – 6 QUALITY perfumes for only 20GBP!!! See Gerard!!!

Gerard is unavailable / unwilling to comment.