St Anton in the Clouds

St Anton is one of my favorite places on the planet, so of course it was one of the stops on our trip. This time it was a bit different than I'd ever seen it. Thanks to the heavy snow last winter and cool spring, there was sill snow on the mountains and most of the huts were closed. So there was no return to Darmstädter Hütte this trip, but we made some new friends and got a taste for the mountain life! 

Aufsteirern

From the second I boarded the train at Wien Meidling, it was so familiar. Buy a ticket with my ÖBB youth card, stop in Wiener Neustadt, over Semmering, downhill to Brück an der Mur, then home...

Darmstädter Hütte

After a late night at the mountain film festival, we weren't in a rush to get out the door Friday morning. At 11 Andreas (Herr Birkl) came home from work, picked up Christoph and I, and pointed the car up the Moosthal towards Darmstädter Hütte.

The sun breaking through

Victorian Christmas

Our family Christmas present from Oma and Opa this year was a two-night escape to one of my favorite little cities: Victoria, BC. We hopped on the ferry on Sunday afternoon from Tsawassen to Schwartz Bay. At Active Pass, we were so close to shore that we could see individual Christmas lights on the island houses.

As we unpacked in Victoria, Mom pulled out a surprise. A Christmas mug for each of us, wrapped in very cute aprons, and a whole box of our traditional sugar cookies with frosting! Normally the four of us would have frosted them weeks ago, but being all over the country means we almost missed out entirely. The evening was spent watching How to Train your Dragon and ingesting… er, sampling… copious amounts of sugary goodness.

In the morning we walked around the inner harbour to breakfast at Shine Cafe. It was cute, crowded, and wonderful. We were all rather ravenous and chilly from teh brisk breeze (not complaining, though - it held the clouds at bay!), and after a few cups of coffee, our wonderful breakfasts arrived. Omelettes, hashes, and for me, a full UK breakfast with mushrooms, toasted tomato, banger, eggs, and a delicious blood pudding!

The rest of our morning had no agenda, and we meandered into quilt shops, Murchie’s tea and coffee, Munro’s Books, finishing our Christmas shopping. Our wander back home took us through the Empress, where we checked out the festive Christmas trees, and into Parliament, where they had the biggest Christmas tree yet.

In the afternoon we had a girls date: West Coast High Tea at the Grand Pacific Hotel. It was so much fun to sit around, without distractions, and catch up with Mumsy and the sisters! It was dark when Dad picked us up and we walked to our horse drawn carriage for a Christmas light bedazzled tour of downtown.

Between rounds of NERTS (the sisters skunked me), dad prepped the enchiladas. In the morning he was up early to make our favorite Huevos Rancheros. Before we got on the Sidney ferry bound for Anacortes, Mom took us by her old apartment and the UVic (University of Victoria) campus.

Sisters visit!

My sisters' birthday presents this year were tickets for a weekend in Charleston. The best part? Smalls (the youngest) didn't know that Em (middle) was coming! Em doesn't much like surprises, so it couldn't be a double surprise ;)

Anyways, I left campus a little early on Friday to pick Smalls up from the airport. She crashed for a sleep cycle or two at Hotel House while I finished up work. By the time she was showered, we were both rather ravenous. BBQ was in order! Off to Sullivan's Island for some Home Team. After inhaling mountains of pulled pork in mustard bbq sauce, we wandered our way to Fort Moultrie and the beach. It really wasn't the greatest weekend for history lovers to be in Chucktown, since all federal sites (Sumter and Moultry included) were shut down along with the rest of the government. We still saw the fort - and one of the mines that once protected the harbor!

We walked back from the south tip of the island along the beach. It was a beautiful day, especially for two girls looking forward to winter in the rainy PNW!

From Sullivan's Island, we swung by Shem Creek for another view of the Low Country.

finally, we made it to downtown and heard BlueBilly Grit, Cranford Hollow, and the Grasscals at Charleston Music Hall. They were all a lot of fun - it was the sort of concert where you just lose track of time. Where BBG and the Grascals were more traditional bluegrass, Crandford Hollow was Americana. They presented some of their "Low Country Stomp," which had the entire audience bouncing in their seats.
The night finally ended at midnight when we picked up Em (surprising Smalls!) at the airport. Well, it would have ended... we spent the next 2-3 hours catching up ;)

No rest for the weary... Boone Hall first thing in the morning! The Avenue of Oaks should look familiar if you've seen Gone with the Wind...

As beautiful as the house was, the best part of the visit (IMHO) was the Gullah presentation at one of the old brick slave cabins. Our introduction to the culture of the Gullah Geechee corridor had us all enthralled by the rhythm of its oral tradition and singing along with gospel songs. It also made us appreciate how "high on the hog" we were living for the weekend!

Our timing was just right for a walk through the market before catching a ride through town with two new long-eared, four-hooved friends. Charleston on Saturday afternoon is alive with tourists soaking in the architecture and history and sunshine and good food.

Walking towards St Philip's Episcopal Church.

the Calhoun Mansion

After our carriage tour, we went back and meandered our favorite spots on foot. I love the cobbled streets and wrought iron gates in Charleston, from Longitude Ln to Chalmer's north of Broad. In between we visited Goat. Sheep. Cow., a mecca of cheeses and cured meats (and possibly Smalls' new favorite store). 

In the evening we enjoyed a wonderful meal at Slightly North of Broad (SNoB) and a nighttime wandering of the pier. And gelato. You can't forget the gelato. 

Sunday was low-key, with a short wander of King St. and another stop for BBQ before shipping the Sisters back West. All in all, it was an amazing weekend, with almost enough sister time to hold us 'till Christmas!

Our adventure in pictures

I finally uploaded our pictures to Picasa!

To view the album directly, check out the album online here.

Travels so far (Paris-Basque Country)

That was getting a little long, so here is the second part of our week in overview

Bas took us to Hallum (where Opa's family came from) in the morning and then dropped us off at the train station in Leeuwarden. We spent the afternoon going to Paris, with a short layover in Brussels on our way.

Mylene and her friend Aman picked us up in Paris and treated us to a FANTASTIC 3 course French dinner (i ate frogs legs while sipping Bordeaux and watching the Eiffel tower sparkle) and a driving tour of Paris by night, complete with drop off service at our cute little hostel.

oh blast, I am out of time. More to come!

Vienna 2: St. Stephen's to the Prater

Outside of the cathedral we met up with one of Mediha's friends who is studying in Vienna. She led us to the Hofburg, winter palace of Habsburg emperors and home of the Spanish Riding School. My group wasn't exactly full of horse lovers and the horses were not performing, so we jumped over to the rest of the palace. We decided to buy a combined "Sissi" ticket for the Hofburg and Schönbrunn and started with a tour through the imperial silver collection. The pieces were mostly from the 19th century and completely extravagant. Upstairs we walked through an exhibit on the Empress Elizabeth of Bayern. She married the crown prince Franz Joseph I when she was 16 and a little bit of a spitfire who spent as much time away from court as possible, mostly  riding and travelling. Her exhibit continued into the private apartments, which were my favorite part. There were no photos allowed inside, but you can take a virtual tour on the Hofburg website!

   We were absolutely ravenous by the time we had walked down to the Naschmarkt and chosen a place for the girls to get some Wiener Schnitzle. After we re-charged we headed to the closest U-bahn station- where I  found my first Starbucks in months! I dragged the girls in so they could smell the Seattle aroma of strong black coffee- they brew it strong in Vienna! I sipped my tall black on the U-bahn on our way to the Prater just outside of the Innenstadt. The area is an amusement park built around a giant ferris wheel, which was built in the park near the turn of the century.  We didn't go up, but we had fun and ate Mozart Kugeln! 

   Esgi and Mediha both had their cameras out- pictures to follow when we swap! 

Lisa visits Styria!

   At 1:00 on Friday I got on a bus to the airport, where I was waiting for Lisa Chen when she stepped off the plane from Glasgow. We stopped at Cafe Binder (where Ruth and I had our first espresso) to treat Lisa to Austrian coffee and Cremeschnitte! We dropped our gear back at the apartment and headed into the city to meet up with friends for coffee at the Star cafe. We went wandered home and talked in the kitchen with Ruth and Mikel for a while before setting the alarm before going to bed.

   Saturday morning: got up and walked down to the market. After some Apfelschnitte and cider we got on the bus. First stop: Hundertwasser Church. So many tiles and colours, absolutely beautiful and kinda funky. We spent about an hour there, went on a tour, etc. before loading back on the bus for a trip to the royal stud farm at Piber. All of the horses at the Spanish Riding school in Vienna come from this farm. The foals are super super cute, and there was one black one who will remain black for his entire life. The Spanish riding school always has one dark Lipizzaner in Vienna. So much 

better than most places, we could pet any horse within reach. The foals are trained for three months in harness and three in saddle. The best in attitude, conformation, and athletic ability are taken to a raising farm and then to the school. Piber lipizzaners that don't make the cut are sold- between €10,000-30,000. All of the horses that we met were so friendly and well-mannered, I just wanted to sit and hug horses!

   The last stop was a thermal spa in Köflach. Lisa and I were both battling sicknesses, and our five minutes in the "Dampfsauna" were the perfect thing to get rid of Lisa's headache!

   This morning Lisa and I did a quick walking tour of Graz before she had to get on a bus. We stopped for tea next to the Stadtpark and then found the double-winding gothic stairs in the Burg/medieval royal family's living quarters. We hiked up the Schloßburg, across the Murinsel, and back through the streets to catch the bus at Jakominiplatz. 

The photos from this weekend are in the photo gallery. There is also a video from Piber posted in the Video gallery. I will add Lisa's pictures when she sends them to me!

I'm thinking about transferring this website over to a blogspot format. Thoughts, opinions, preferences? E-mail or comment :)