A visit to Austria has been absolutely.....yep, absolutely. We trained into Graz (easily pronounced by Kiwis as we say "grass") from Czech Republic, a country we will have very fond memories of. Graz is an old town, as most in Europe are, first settled around 1200 and has over the centuries suffered the advancement of several nations and egotistic gentlemen, hell bent on being their ruler. Today it is a most peaceable town and country and one which we enjoyed walking and looking at. Graz has 6 universities and over 44,000 students so on average should have an IQ a little higher than........nah, wouldn't be wise to fill anything in there. Nicola Tesla went to school there in 1875 so they have had some bright sparks. (Threw that in for Blair's benefit).
Most of the old buildings, like those across Europe, are decorated with magnificent statues in all states of undress. We especially enjoyed visiting the largest armoury in the World. One could say that "there were guns for Africa", and there were, but most had not been fired.
After three nights in in Graz we boarded a train toward Feldbach, a small town to the east of Graz, where a young lady that we had had the privilege of meeting 15 years ago, lived. Claudia had arrived at The Grapevine in Blenheim, on her OE and looking to earn a few dollars and see what happened. Her experience was somewhat more momentus than most.....she met Thom, a young traveller from Holland, and the association lasts until today...and forever more I believe. They have two sweet little girls and now make their life in Edelsberg, as small as a village in Austria can be ( but still no goat herds to be seen, or heard!). Claudia and Thom made us most welcome and it was a wonderful experience to be able to stay with them, attend Janneke's music school concert and also visit their homely corner of our World. Fortunately we arrived on the night that Netherlands were playing Spain (the defending champions) In the Football World Cup. When Netherlands drew level just before half time, Thom threw open the window and hollered as loud as he could. I think he said "...the ball is in the net.......". That was fine, but little did he know that Netherlands would go on to win 5 to 1. This was a major upset, Thom was hoarse by the end but it made for a fantastic and memorable night.
A Sunday visit to a small festival in a nearby town with good beer, lots of dressing up and several orchestras, made for a pleasant afternoon on a warm summer day. That evening we had tea at a local winery, the finish of a fantastic stopover and weekend for us...thank you Thom and Claudia!
We left Edelsbach on Monday and took the train to Vienna, the capital of Austria. Another old city but being fairly 'cultured out' we visited their technology display and then today the United Nations Building (office) here and also had a tour of the Opera House. All interesting enough things to do.....we even got time in for a bit of geocaching. Right now we are preparing to head west again and Portugal seems to be the destination of choice. We will be there tomorrow night, 18th June.
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