Austria Trip

Our latest trip to Europe took us to Salzburg where we were joined by Debbie and Paul Clarke. They were continuing on from New York, so in fine form when we met up. We flew in the afternoon before them and had arranged to meet them the next morning after breakfast. They were driving from Vienna. We checked into our Hotel then took off for our usual explore of local sights. Just as we walked out of the Hotel and were about to cross the road we heard this familiar gorgeous call from Deborah. Their timing was perfect as they just caught us and it was wonderful to see them a whole day early.

We strolled over the river - the city is dissected by the river and has an old and modern quarter. It is so so picture perfect pretty and we were seeing it at its best in the early evening sun. We strolled along a huge evening market enjoying the gorgeous warmth, chatting so furiously that we hardly noticed anything at the market.

We drove south the next day exploring villages along the way and taking in the scenery. Geographically it is amazing in that it is valleys which rise into huge mountains. There is no rolling hills in between, just these steep high sides. Flying over it was amazing to see too. It is so groomed and the fields and alpine pastures look like they have been hand mown. The ski fields are grass slopes with trees dotted everywhere which is so different from our rock based ski fields.

We visited a Medieval castle built impossibly on a rocky hillside. How they got the materials up there is defying let alone the construction of it.

We spent that evening at a village called St Johann, which was not a very big drive from Salzburg but we were ready for happy hour and thought it silly to waste time driving when we could be drinking. Debs and Paul had carried a supply of Mills Reef Chardonnay all the way from NZ. The hotel was called Gasthof Silbergasser. It looked like you would imagine a large Swiss Ski Chalet and the entire outside was covered in hanging baskets dripping with geraniums in flower. St Johann is the largest of the ski villages and we explored a very striking Church, the Pongauer Dom, which you could see for quite a distance as you approached the village. It was unusual in that it had twin steeples at the front. We found a fabulous restaurant for dinner and had the freshest salad I have eaten out in a long time.

Early the next morning we walked up the road to the ski fields then found a cafe for coffee and croissant. The people are very friendly. Our drive took us past Liechtensteinklamm, ( can you believe the spelling) a beautiful canyon that was created about 3000 years ago by melting glaciers. Parts of the rock walls are so close together that you can only glimpse the sky through a small crack. We walked the 45 minute return journey and were pleased to have done it early as it was very very busy being the last of the summer holidays. Our destination that eveining was Passau. A very pretty little village in Germany. It sits on the confluence of three rivers, the Danbue, the Ilz and the Inn. The river was lined with tourist boats, both with and without accommodation. It was just like you see in the cruise brochures.

Our Hotel was right on the edge of the river and you could see the old fortifications of the ancient city calls and remaining towers peeking out amongst the tree lines banks. The houses were the cutest boxes a bit like Noddy books.

We visited St Stephens cathedral in the square the next day. This is a baroque speciality and is decorated with such detail it makes your head spin. It also has the largest organ in the world with 17,000 pipes. We managed to her it playing at midday. The music was a bit drab, I think we would have preferred a bit of light jazz or even something we could recognise. However we must not be disrespectful.

We then wound our way back and forwards over the Austrian and German border to get to the Village of Braunau am Inn which is famous because this is where Adolf Hitler was born. I am not sure if they ar proud of that or not. We had a delicious gelato there. I am pleased to say the weather for the whole stay was superb. Temperatures of 35+.

Our last evening. We stayed at Freilassing, very close to the airport as we had an earlish flight. Our last meal was quite funny in that we each decided to order for each other in secret. The menu was in pure German so a little tricky to ascertain just what your were ordering. The lovely young waitress understood what we were doing and was happy to accommodate this silly notion. Luckily there was not too many disasters and she guided us where necessary. Paul ordered for me and I had a mixed grill, but he also wanted to add another dish which she advised against. Turns out it was a cheese toasty!! Good combination.

We have had a continuation of a lovely NZ top up of guests since then. Lyn and Neil Laurensen and. Neil's brother David who is based in New York visited us for lunch on Monday. We provided a splendid day weather wise - in fact whenever we get together with other Kiwis the sun shines - and it was so lovely to see them. We sent them off with a list of must see Antique centres and sights. Monday evening we had the Hills stay over en route to see an Uncle in Cambridge. We took them to Voujon, a most gorgeous Indian restaurant in Banbury.

Tomorrow we are being visited by Kate and David Mountfort and then during the weekend we have Alissa Baker to stay. She is over here nursing, so we are so looking forward to hearing all their news.

That is the update now fully updated except photos. So glad to catch us with myself. I will post some gorgeous recipes next time.

Glad to hear the sun is shining finally and the blossoms starting to pop. We are home in about 8 weeks so that will fly by.

The cook and the gardener