Our second home for over a year would say so long after many great memories. On the agenda for the last visit (for this trip) was some quality time in Hans and Gerty’s shack just outside of Vienna in Ollersbach, a nice couple day trek through the Wachau and of course Hans’s 75th birthday celebration.
The days spent lounging, dining and talking in fluent German and English were so very relaxing and exactly what we needed. Wasp collection counting was a particular interest with Hans and Gerty’s collector, obviously being of a higher quality red apple juice, out smarting the wasps on numerous occasions, just edging out Bee and Gerard’s collector on the less potent green apple juice. Talking about juice, the farms in Austria put on a great local spread for about two or three weeks a year for the locals lucky enough to be in the know how. Cider flows and fresh ham of every variety is available during this time at the actually place of production, that just happens to land itself on top of a hill (mound in Austrian terms) with a sunset view to go blind for. A visit to delightful Erlauf ‘See’ (lake in German), Mariazell (one of the most famous churches in Austria) and numerous villages in the Ollersbach region capped off a great few days.
A particular highlight of this trip was Hans’ birthday celebrated in true Austrian style with a family gathering at a wine festival - bringing in some of the best food Austria has to offer. Schnitzel wasn’t the choice this time, but after the ‘soft sausage’ it will be top of the list for the next visit... It was great to meet and see so many of the clan and share stories of travel and life at home on a fantastic afternoon.
Last on the list was two day trek through a region made famous for ‘housing’ Richard the Lionheart in his time in exile (be it for a couple months, it still happened!) – the Wachau. Durnstein itself was the starting point and after a quick bite and load of supplies it was off to climb some mountains that towered over the Danube river. A great couple of days, but relief was finishing, partly because of the feet but partly because we wanted to get back to Vienna to spend some more time with Hans and Gerty before our final goodbyes for 2011... Sob sob!!
