A Game of Clue in the Alps

Greeting from the Austrian Alps! I just got back from a miniature vacation in the Alps, and let me tell you, the view was amazing! The mountain peaks touch the clouds, it’s very beautiful. We went with Leon’s friend Junis and his mother to a little bad and breakfast for 4 days. I honestly have to say that it was by far the most boring vacation I have ever been on, and will most likely not be going on one similar to this ever again in my lifetime. I think if you want to visit the Alps, you should take a day trip. That’s really more than enough time to climb a mountain, capture some breathtaking pictures, and enjoy a stunning view. The thing is, I probably would have enjoyed the vacation more, had we had our own car, but unfortunately we didn’t. Junis’ mother borrowed a car from the ÖAMTC that Eva wasn’t allowed to drive. The day we arrived, Leon, Eva, Junis, and I went up the street to the area where they had activities for children. Junis and Leon played on the go carts while I jumped on the trampoline followed by a short lounging in the hammock. Eva and I then had a ping pong match, which didn’t turn out that well since the table was on a slope. The ball always bounced in the wrong direction. On the way back to the bed and breakfast, we saw some adorable kittens. They were so cute a fluffy, I could have stuck one in my suit case and taken it with me! The second day, we went mushroom picking up in the mountains. Climbing up the mountain through the woods was not that easy! Junis, Leon and I were a team and Eva, Caro (Junis’ mom), and Henning (a man from Berlin) were a team. When we finally got to the top of the mountain, we ate at a resteraunt with e view so beautiful I can’t even begin to describe! Afterwards, we made our way all the way back down the mountain back to the house on the slope where we stayed. Later on we went down to Radstadt in the valley and shopped a little for clothes for Junis because his mom forgot to pack shirts for him! On the way back up, we stopped at some farmers house and his wife let the two boys ride on their horses. The next day, it rained so much…it was a perfect storm. As I said before, we were not allowed to use the car, and It was so freaking boring their (theres absolutely nothing to do) that Eva and I went on a walk. Eva had a plan of how to get to the little town in the valley. Take three guesses as to what that brilliant plan was. We walked in the pouring rain for twenty minutes (it was so very cold because we were on top of a mountain and soaking wet). After I was about ready to turn around, we arrived at the farmers house. She knocked on the door and invited herself in. She asked if they would be so kind as to give us a snack and some water. You could tell the people weren’t exstatic about the idea, but they did let us in and give us something to munch on. Eva then proceeds with pulling her pants down, taking them off, and hanging them on the chair to dry (this may be normal in Europe, I don’t know). How its Eva, the farmers wife, the grandmother, and I in the dining room together. The whole time im thinking to myself, WHAT THE F**K is she doing! Then she goes on to ask if they would be so kind as to drive us down to the town in the valley. I think the only reason they said yes was to get rid of us! So this was Eva’s brilliant plan of getting us down to Radstadt! Quite a unique plan , isn’t it! When we got there, to our suprise, all the shops were closed. That’s how it is on Sunday in Europe, every store is closed. So that was our cherry on top of the pie! What a wonderful day that was. Thanks goodness that we left the next day!
Today was rather eventful aswell! We spent the night in Gerasdorf( Eva’s house in the Suburbs of Vienna). We woke up, ate breakfast, and Eva and I went over to the Junkyard to dispose of some garbage. On the way back, we stopped at a gravestone store, and asked about prices for Opas gravestone, which is three years overdue. I learned that that white stones are not advised becase they turn yellowish after a while and that all the black stones come from Africa…I bet you didn’t know that! We got back and Eva prepared a salad for lunch. She mixed some vinegar with water and salt in the attempt of making a dressing. She tasted a spoonful of it, and claimed it tasted funny. She looked at the Vinegar bottle, only to find “Putz Essig” written on it. In English this translated into “cleaning vinegar”. Now none of us knew what this was. Apparently Mr. Lazo, one of my Grandmas caregivers from Slovakia had made up a cleaning concoction composed of vinegar and cleaning fluid. We rushed to the Hospital so that Eva could be checked out. I am now sure that the criminal is Mr. Lazo, in the kitchen, with the Poison!!

Hakoah

Appologies for the long wait, I was very buisy finding my way around town. Eva, Leon and I joined a Jewish Spors Club (for swimming) a couple of weeks ago. Its a rather unique institution. When you pull up in your car, their is a 2 foot thick metal gate with steel poles that stand infornt of the gate. You must firt scan your membership card, then the 3 steel poles lower and the gate slowley opens. The whole time, we are observed by about 50 cameras. After driving through tht e gate. the gate shuts behing us, ultimatly locking us inside Hakoah. After parking, we proceed inside and once again scan out membership bands to inable us to enter the sports facility from the parking lot. The front desk staff friendly greet us as we proceed down to the chaning rooms. Our wrist bands must be scaned in order to gain access to the locker rooms. When we are changer and ready to enter the pool, we walk through a corridor, scan our bands, then the door swings open and frees us into the open area that is fences in what resembles a barbed whire fence. If the door is opened without scanning your band, a siren goes off!!! Then its time to have fun! We sit down in our lawn chairs, make ourselves comfy, and try to relax as we are stared at by 20 more video cameras. Literally, from the pool area alone I spotted 10 cameras, and im sure thair are hidden ones aswell! The accomadation could be describes as a four star insane assylum! Its got a very welcoming aura about it!

Circus Time!!!

As you all know, the weather in Austria has not been the most desirable in the last couple or weeks, but I am happy to announce that the weather has changed! Today was a rather hot afternoon, of course nothing compaired to Virginia. The appartment has to air conditioning unit, so it feels like a sauna...NOT very pleasant. I confronted Eva and convinced her to go out and buy a fan. So, leter on, Stadion Bad was calling my name, so I decided to walk up to the pool and take a dip. I tanned for a while and swam just a little befor returning home at about 3 PM. Eva got back from work a couple of hours later, so we went shopping...for the fan. On the way home, at about 8 O´Clock, we saw an advertisment for a Circus that is in town. We stopped by, looked at the cammles out from, and went to the gate to ask about tickets. The show had already started, but the owner told us that we could pay 5 euro per person and seat ourselves after the intermition. So we saw an hour worth of animals jumping around and people performing stunts all for a total of just 15 Euros, quite a bargain, right? The show ended, and we went home and proceded to assemble out newley bought fan. As we were screwing it together, Eva exclaimed "Aufpassen, das ist ein schweres Werkzeug"...translated - "be careful, thats a very dangerous tool". She was reffering to the screw driver. I couldnt help but laugh. With a comment like that youd imagin she was reffering to a chain saw!