Some Funny Memories & The Bartons Arrive!!

Very exciting. This afternoon we pick up Mike & Leanne Barton who will be arriving on the fast TGV from Paris. They will be staying with us for about 2 weeks. Fingers crossed for good snow and/or bright sunshine.

Nothing much to report today, other than Graeme and I found ourselves in a mad rush to get the flat in some semblance of order after arriving back from Slovakia and then having to head straight out to meet Mirielle and her family at Megeve yesterday.

So instead of too many words, I thought I would reminisce on our recent travels with some funny photos that I haven't been able to include in the blog so far...!

1/ Visit the Bad Hole...I don't think so!!

Slovakia: This is a serious advertising sign that we found in the car park when we visited one of Slovakia's old castles. Hmmm! I'm not partial to spelunking (look that one up!!) at the best of times. But nothing, and I mean nothing would make me go into a cave called a "Bad Hole!" What were those Slovakian marketers thinking? Well I suppose, if General Motors can name a car "Chevy Nova" which means "No Go" in spanish [which, by the way, was one of the worst sellers ever in South America ], it figures that the Slovakian owners of this venture may not immediately think what their name means in English. Good luck getting any english speaking tourists to this attraction!!

2/ Dana talking on the phone!

Slovakia: Telephone reception at the Hromadka household is a little dodgy. This is Dana talking to her friend on the mobile. With the increase in use of mobile phones, Tibor and Dana haven't installed a landline. Their internet is wireless and they use their mobile phones and the major form of communication. But mobile reception is not that reliable! Sometimes to use her phone, Dana has to lean way out the window and risk serious frostbite to her extremeties (it is -12C!!). But the hilarious thing about this particular photo is that she is talking to a friend who lives two houses down. Graeme and I joked that if she rigged up 2 tin cans and connected them with a taut piece of string, she'd be able to hear her friend just as clearly. Don't think the joke translated...! Dana & Tibor were obviously never a girl guide or scout!!

3/ Cool Cat...Grrrr!!

Vienna Austria: When you spend a whole day wandering around a city's streets, you're bound to come upon some good stuff. There's no stories to these photos. We had great fun making up our own theories over a cup of coffee !!

Boredom, Tedium and Long Distance European Travel

1/ Sleet & Snow- standard driving weather for the Oxleys!!

Does anyone else find long distance car travel incredibly tedious? Two hours after leaving Vienna this morning, I am already squirming in my seat. Then I’m looking for something to eat, not because I’m hungry but because I’m bored. Chewing gum is usually the cure ..either that or I may as well as add a kg per 100 km to my waistline. A couple more miles down the road and I’m attempting to play Vortex on the Ipod incredibly badly. While I blame the bumpy road for my poor reflexes, if I’m honest, I have to admit that my reactions are terrible and no matter how much I practice I am never going to be good at computer games. Next, I torture Graeme with pleas to play “I spy” in French, or even worse I beg to put the Michel Thomas Learn French on the radio. At this point, Graeme usually pulls into a roadside café for coffee and cake!

2/ An interesting Austrian roadsign!

The weather is typically horrendous. Driving wet snow, grey skies and really poor visibility. The good news is that Tuesday has proven to be a good day to travel. Very little traffic and relatively few trucks meant that driving was fairly straightforward today. Well that was until our route through the mountains to Innsbruk were closed due to heavy snow.

3/ People walking on the footpaths in southern Austria. The snow is so deep, they are walking in "snow trenches"!!

Trust us to choose a route that was closed!! There has been some serious snow right through Europe over the last week and we are looking forward to getting back amongst it in France!! But today, our enforced detour added about 2 hours to our driving as we had to re-programme an indignant Penelope (the “GPS”).

With no firm plans where to spend the night, we have ended up in Chur, NE Switzerland just over the border from Austria. Graeme is convinced we asked the lady at the information centre to book us a small bed & breakfast, but we have ended up staying in an incredibly bizarre 40 room hotel cum sports complex. It’s clean and quiet but it has all the charisma of an army barracks. Sniffing the air, I swear I could smell the liniment from the last tennis team who stayed here.

The hotel is focused on sporting activities and the restaurant overlooks the 5 indoor tennis courts. Luckily the food in the hotel restaurant was edible and while dining, we were entertained by a women’s double match being played out on the court below our window. The women were of a similar age and I was reminded strongly of Wanaka summer tennis battles with Daphne, Sally and Anna. I’m looking forward to getting a racquet back in my hand when I get home, even if it will be the middle of winter.

We really had only one mission tonight, dinner and sleep. I can’t wait to get back to our little flat in Araches. Fingers crossed for at least clear weather for driving tomorrow. We passed right through the beautiful Tyrolian valley today and didn’t see a thing except the tail lights of the car in front!

A beautiful, beautiful Vienna!

1/ It's hard to imagine that there was a foot of snow on these same streets less than 10 hours ago!!

It was a magical arrival in Vienna last night. Soft snow was floating down and all the streets were blanketed in white. Without any help from Penelope (who went into a complete meltdown over the one way road system), we found our way into the centre of the city and a good little hotel tucked away in an ancient one way lane. Accidently discovering the city's oldest restaurant, a hangout for Mozart Snr and Jnr, we enjoyed a delicious schnitzel. I mean to say, "What else would you order in this town?" And still the snow continued to fall. It was at least a foot deep when we turned for the walk back to our hotel.

And yet...in the morning.. it was a like a dream. All Vienna's streets had been swept clean of snow. Using a combined attack of snow ploughs and hoses, the busy workmen had cleared every last flake of snow! We had a double take when we threw open our curtains to greet the morning. We were so disappointed. The city had looked so special last night garbed in its white gown. It's a bit like the princess had returned to being cinderella. But I guess the reality of daily operations in a city under snow are less than special and hence the super-human clearing effort.

Vienna is deservedly one of the best cities in the world. Aneki.com rates Vienna as the world's fourth best city for quality of life, behind Zurich, Geneva and Vancouver. Not hard to believe, especially if you are a lover of music and art. As you walk around this beautiful city, every turn brings to life a different and equally spectacular vista. Incredible churches, concert halls, civic building, parks and fountains. Words really cannot do this city justice.

2/ The Austrian Parliament. But check out the building perched on its roof!

While the city was bombed late in the WWII it is fortunate that more destruction didn't occur and the Viennese were committed to spend the time & money to restore the city's heritage. The city positively brims over with music concerts, theatrical performances and art exhibitions....except on Monday 23 February!!

2/ The Concert Hall Feb Timetable. Note the gap for 23 Feb!!

For some reason, tonight is one of the only nights in February when hardly a note will be played in the whole of Vienna!! In desperation, we returned to the visitor centre early in the morning to confirm that one of the only possible concerts is a small ensemble performing Strauss and Mozart classics. Since beggars can't be choosers we took ourselves off to the concert this evening to hear the classics by Vienna's most famous musicians - Mozart and the Strauss Bros.

The concert was definitely a tourist offering. Combining a small orchestral ensenble with an occassional operatic performance and dancers - the show was surprising good. I guess when you enjoy Vienna's depth of talent in musicians, opera singers and dancers, even the middle of the road were excellent.

Vienna is a city that is not done justice by a one day visit. This is a place I would love to come back to. I would love to spend a week, wandering through museums, listening to the awesome music offerings and luxuriating in all the cultural experiences this town has to offer. I would like to press my ear to the stone buildings and listen to their stories. Maybe some day!!?

Both Graeme and I are sad to be leaving this breathtaking city...! We're also dreading the thought of more driving!!

Salzberg and 7 Degrees of Separation

What an inspired idea to stop a day in Salzberg! We've had a great time.

If Salzberg was human, she'd be a beautiful aristocratic and well travelled woman. Classically beautiful, cultured and clever, but also possessing a warm charm. In understanding the importance of retaining its history, Salzberg has created an enduring income stream from tourism. Now, there's an idea?!

1/The incredibly beautiful Salzberg

2/ Interesting patterns in the snow!

We'd decided to take a walking tour of Salzberg and duly met up with our guide at the local tourism office. It was a freezing day but at least the snow had stopped and the sun was making an attempt to shine. Unfortunately, our guide had the personality of Attila the Hun. I can only suspect that he was annoyed at having to translate everything into English as we were the only non German speakers on the tour. He spoke so rapidly that we were often left pondering what he had just said. Questions were not encouraged and he scowled and scolded if anyone dared to speak while he was holding court. It was a shame, because I'm sure that if we had been less intimidated we could have learnt a lot more.

3/ A tour of Salzberg with the world's grumpiest guide!!

But as the tour wore on, we learned that the German speakers were also having a hard time understanding the guide! He was speaking in German (with a thick Austrian accent) just as rapidly as he spoke to us in English. In the rare moments of silence as we walked between the various sights, we struck up a conversation with a lovely young couple from northern Germany (Hans & Lina) and also a young Austrian teacher, Angelica who was taking her pupils to Salzberg in the coming week.

We were all relieved when the torturous tour ended and we could head to a warm cafe for a coffee and cake. Hans, Lina and Angelica joined us and we whiled away and hour or two getting to know each other. Would you believe it? Angelica had lived in Christchurch for 2 years and knew Wanaka well. She had also spent 3 months on Stewart Island and we knew many of the same people. Aaah..the rule about 7 degrees of separation must be true!

Angelica needed to head home, but we joined Hans and Lina for a walk to the Castle and around the town, talking and taking pictures along the way. Hans and Lina have a cropping farm in the north of Germany. They speak perfect English, shaming us with their ability to speak more than one language.

4/ Hans & Lina. May we meet again someday.

Hans & Lina gave us a fascinating insight into their way of life and the farming issues in Europe. We learnt a lot about growing sugar beet! But they are well travelled and interested to know more about NZ and Australia. A keen hunter, Hans was very interested to hear about the hunting opportunities in NZ.

Afternoon stretched into evening and we were enjoying each others company so much, we headed out to dinner together. We were still reluctant to finish our conversation when the restaurant dimmed its lights and began locking up for the night.

We have swapped email addresses and hope that we will meet again some day.

Antipodeans Know Nothing About Traffic!!

1/It's bucketing snow! Let's just slow to 100km/hr!! Great !@##!! Idea!!

WE WERE WARNED!! Hubert constantly warned us against travelling on a Saturday (especially in the school holidays). Now...we know why!!

I vow and declare that I will never, ever, complain about heavy traffic again. Not word of complaint will escape my lips if I am stuck in traffic from Auckland Airport, not a moan or groan about Melbourne footy traffic nor will I curse if I am stuck on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Australians and New Zealanders know nothing about heavy traffic!

2/ That's four lanes at a standstill!!

Today, we, along with the entire Dutch population decided to drive east through Europe. Leaving on Friday morning from Araches, it’s taken us 2 days and 16 hours of driving to travel less than 600km! Our route has taken us through Switzerland, Lichtenstein (can’t remember this part), Austria, Germany and back again into Austria. To top it off, it has been snowing heavily for almost all the journey. Yesterday was the start of the French (Paris), British and obviously, given the predominance of NL Number Plates on the road, - Dutch school holidays. The Autobahn from Munich, east to the Innsbruk turn off was at a standstill for most of the day. At its worst, it took us over an hour to travel 5 kilometres. That’s walking pace! Even when we decided to pull off the road for lunch at a petrol station, it took us over half an hour to negotiate the carpark!! It was chaos.

But you just gotta love those pragmatic dutchies! We met a nice man in the lunch stop who was travelling with his sons to a rented house in southern Austria. He had left Holland at 1:30am that morning. When we met him he had been travelling for 12 hours. He was laughing and cheerful and thoroughly delightful. We suspect he may have also been high on copious quantities of caffeine. But he certainly made us feel a bit humbled and shy about mentioning our stiff necks and sore backs.

3/ Andy's usual expression while a passenger!

Long distance car travel is not for me. I am not a good passenger at the best of times. When it is snowing heavily, you are doing 120km/hr just to stay with the flow of the traffic and there are still cars roaring past you at 150- 180km/hr – I am transformed by fear into a blithering mess. Poor Graeme. He is a very good driver and he has to suffer me slamming on the imaginary brake in the passenger seat. I also combine this with full body twitching routines, regular gasping and eye covering movements as we hurtle around bends or through long tunnels. Any time we have to slow for a stoppage, I reach for the hazard light button – conveniently located in the centre of the dashboard. After 8 hours of this, we are both wrung out physically and emotionally!!

4/ I've worn the triangle symbol off this button due to overuse!!

By 3 o’clock, our plans to reach Vienna were abandoned. Instead we opted for Salzberg. It’s been over 17 years since I last visited Salzberg and Graeme 30 years. We have forgotten the city's breathtaking beauty. The consummate European tourist town, Salzberg has every thing. Incredible history, scenery, groovy bars and restaurants and of course loads of interesting shops to tempt the Euros from your wallet. Of course being the lowest of low season, we found accommodation easy to find and good value. 72 Euro for a good double room with ensuite and breakfast. The hotel Weisse Taube (White Dove) where we are staying, is over 600 years old and has been run by the same family for 5 generations. We are enjoying our re-visit so much, I think that we'll stay another night. My nervous system needs another 24 hours to recover!! We’ll drive all the way through to Slovakia tomorrow and leave the exploration of Vienna until our return home.

On the Road to Slovakia! Where are we???

1/ A: "Haven't we been in this tunnel before???" G: "Don't think so?" P (the GPS): "At the first available opportunity do "U-Turn"! "

Phew!! We’ve made it to Bregenz, Austria today after a later start than expected. At least, I think we are in Austria, but we could also be in Germany, Switzerland or Lichtenstein! Let’s face it! Graeme and I are both fairly directionally challenged at the best of times. Thank goodness for Penelope the unflappable GPS system! While we are obviously on the shores of Lake Constantine, there was no small amount of confusion getting here. We could have come here directly from Switzerland, but somehow we managed to cross into Austria, Germany and then back again into Austria. We suddenly found ourselves in a big long tunnel and then – hey presto – Deutschland! Only people with our special talent for getting lost could have done this. But as I look outside my hotel window, I have just noticed the red and white flags flying outside our hotel. I guess that means that we are, in fact, in Austria.

The town is really funky and we’re staying tonight in a quirky 3 star place called Hotel Bodensee. We had to secretly smile to ourselves when a lovely young Austrian girl showed us a couple of rooms all of which had defective lighting. We were transported back to a former life when we would do the great “room-sell” only to find that something was wrong when we opened the door to show the room. The worst was always when we'd already sold the room before and we burst in on our poor unsuspecting guests Fawlty style! Always fun! Not sure that the Austrian’s quite see the funny side of things. Certainly, our girl wasn’t cracking the same jokes as we would do in the same situation. After showing us a second room that also had no lighting, our hostess was getting quite upset. We were tired, hungry and really not sure where all this was heading, so we put her out of her misery and just took the room. While dark, it was clean (as far as we could tell in the dim light), spacious and not over the top in terms of price.

2/ More snow! Poor car - it's should be starting to sprout sleds!

A quick dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby, a quick sneak into a modern art gallery on the way home, then I will confess that it was home in bed early for us. With the snow coming down it will be another long and fairly taxing drive to Vienna tomorrow.