Catching up to do

All is good here in Scotland. yes, Scotland. Where did England go? After a few nail-biting hours, Auntie Chris, Graham and I stumbled upon Karl at the Buxton Bus Stop. We had this whole elaborate plan set up for where Karl should go and where we would meet him and what he should do if we're not there in time.... it was a thorough plan, stressful to say the least. Graham and Christine were both a little nervous about Karl being out on his own in the streets of England but I assured them that Karl probably couldn't be happier than to "sink his teeth" into traveling by getting lost and wandering about.

Lucky for us, however, he only needed to hop on one bus. I was sitting anxiously in a corner "Fish 'n Chips" restaurant sipping coffee staring down bus after bus when all of a sudden he bumbled off a bus earlier than expected and I got to bolt outside in the snow yelling to him to make sure he didn't jump on another bus before I caught him.

In the days leading up to and following Christmas, all four of us did some sight-seeing of Derbyshire where Graham lives. To be more exact, Graham lives in Ripley which is located in the county (?) Derbyshire in the region called The Midlands, north of London. Got all that? We spent quite a few afternoons and evenings exploring the local pubs. Places like the haunted "Dolphin," the local "Pear Tree," and the millenia-old "Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem." The last of which was carved into the side of the mountain...ok, big rock....in Nottingham on top of which stood the Sheriff of Nottingham's castle.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Derby cathedral (pronounced D-ar-by, don't ask me why just do it). As far as I can tell, England certainly knew that if you were going to buck the Pope in Vatican City with all his pomp and circumstance, you better dish out a good load of pomp yourself. That's my way of saying that the churches built by the Church of England are quite impressive. Unfortunately I can't post a picture of my own right this second but I can cheat with google images. We attended the service on Christmas Eve and listened to the choir sing numerous traditional English songs like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "O Little Town of Bethl-ee-hem," and "Hark the Herald." I think I blended pretty well using my amazing choral skills to disguise my american accent. Karl on the other hand barely sung until "God Rest Ye.." (his favorite) during which he belted out in all his mid-western glory.   : )

inside of derby cathedral

Christmas day was filled with gift-opening, cracker-popping, turkey-eating silliness. Karl and I went for a morning ramble with the neighbor, Ken, which we enjoyed thoroughly. Here there are these public footpaths that are physically marked by only a few small signs but mostly, the people know them by memory. Some of the footpaths have their roots in the days when the Romans settled in Britain. The paths crisscross every which way. Sometimes they follow the road but mostly they cut across fields and even through people's yards. The adventure ended in town at "The Pear Tree" pub for a few pints of what they dub, "real ale." Real ale is essentially the English way of saying that they are drinking locally brewed, old style beer as opposed to its mass-produced, commercialized counterpart. i guess. its good, what more matters?

ken and karl

Karl and I bought Auntie Chris a wooden duck. She liked it : )

Boxing Day was a bit of a let-down. We had planned to go to Matlock Bath and watch the river raft races that are a tradition in the area to celebrate the holiday. The holiday which no one really knows why its a holiday. Usually, people make their own rafts and float down the river. Meanwhile they try and push each other off, get things thrown at them from the people watching on the bridge and shoot back water at the on-lookers.... apparently there was a tree in the river that caused them to cancel the race.  Or as some locals said, there was a "twig" in the river that they used as an excuse to cancel the race because it was so cold. So we went to a pub and played pool instead.


Jumping ahead. We just went to London for a whirl-wind two day adventure! My battery is running low however and so I'm going to hang you in suspense for a little longer. Karl and I parted ways with Graham and Auntie Chris in London and took a night-bus up to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Hogomany (New Years) festival. After which we will head back down to visit Janet and Dave. The trip seems to be both winding up and winding down at the same time.

Whew, I'm behind

And this one will have to be short because in 30 min we are leaving to go rescure Karl from the bus stop. So far, England has been all about confusing bus journeys and change of plans. Oh yea, did I mention I'm in England? Im in England. The last week I spent in Austria was amazing. In summary, we saw Kati's friend, Ina, perform for the first time with her band. We went to Slovenia! (small country just south of Austria) We went back to Steyr and then on to Kati's family's cabin in the Alps. It was a good thing she didnt take me there right away because I probably would not have left. THe snow was at least thigh-deep and we went for two long hikes up the mountain to the ski lodge at the top and so we could toboggan our way back down. ok. so im not the best toboggoner but I did improve the second time we went down! At least i didn't roll off the sled, sacrificing both myself and Kati to the mountain.

THere are some great pictures from that but I am on Grahams computer so I wont be able to post them at the moment.

Alright! I need to get us moving out the door! As far as we now, Karl's flights took off and landed nearly exactly as planned so if I'm lucky, he is scooting across England at this moment in a big ole bus. Pretty soon, this trip will really be Away WE go and not just Away Me Go.

: ) 

Tour de Osterreich Part II

Wait there's more!

I kid you not. After Salzburg we traveled onto Bad Ausse to stay with Eva and Roland. On the way we made a quick stop in Bad Ischl. Even though it is Salzburg that has "salt" (salz) in its name, Bad Ischl is where the majority of the salt mines are located. At least this is what Kati tells me and we've already established that she could easily be making things up.... still a nice town. We went to see the summer home of Empress Elizabeth, "Sissi" and company. I especially liked the grounds, or at least what we saw of it cause it was very snowy. There were little gazebos everywhere and a beautiful view of the mountain. We didn't tour the house, but I did take an unauthorized shot of the antlers mounted on the walls.

which reminds me of a story. I get myself into quite a bit of trouble by not knowing what the german signs are warning me not to do. Or at least, my chaperones get into trouble. When shopping in Graz with Eva, we went into a shiny shiny store filled with ornaments. I immediatly went up to one pile of pretties and plunged my hand forward only to knock the sign that apparently told me not to touch. The woman came over and yelled/talked/scolded/coddled I don't know, she was speaking to me and i stared blindly at her and then said my famous line "ich spreche kein deutsch." Poor Eva came to bail me out and then she turned on her, my babysitter, because she should have controlled her little non-german speaking american friend. oh well.

So after Bad Ischl we went to Bad Ausse. Eva and Roland made us homemade soup. It was very yummy, I'm always happy with soup in my stomach. Little did I know there was more to follow. We had Egg Kanoodle is what the name sounded like to me.

Then we were off to find the Krampus. Before we were fortunate enough to find him, or rather, them, we went to a little village tucked away in the mountains, Purg. I loved this little place. They had their advent market throughout the entire village and even in peoples homes. Very warm and cozy with another amazing view of my favorite mountain. I believe Roland said its the tallest, free-standing mountain in Europe. I even saw llamas there.

Eva, me, Kati and mountain in Purg

We should have just stayed there cause afterward we went to the Krampus festivities. Here's my best explanation. You know St. Nicks' or December 5th or 6th or whenever it is? well, in Austria they continue to recreate the old tradition of St Nicholas year after year. Before St. Nicholas comes and gives you your gifts though, the Krampus comes and beats you with a whip to make sure you really are a good kid. The children are suppose to pray and then the Krampus leaves them alone. Lovely story.
Lovelier still if it simply remained a story.
We waited in the streets while these men dressed as whips came down the street, cracking whips. Big ole horse cracking whips. They were followed by a few other characters but it was hard to keep track because then the Krampus guys came with their whips fashioned out of sticks and ran into the crowd. This is not an organized thing at all, as far as I can tell. You just stand there, they come at you looking like a bunch of characters straight out of "Where The Wild Things Are" and hit you. The more you resist or freak out, the more they pursue you. I only got hit real bad one time, but that was enough to leave whip marks on my leg for about 6 days now. Maybe it was because when they were beating me I was cursing like a sailor and not praying. It took all I could muster to not try and punch one of these stupid boys in the face. Good thing I didn't try cause their costume were so big it would not have worked.

best "in action" photo i could get cause it wasn't light enough for video and i had to watch out for these little buggers while taking pictures

Eva got it much worse but im not sure if she wants a picture of her leg on my blog

I was pretty annoyed when it was all said and done. Good to see I'm not a coward in these situations. Funny that in American Haunted Houses I curl up in the fetal position at the thought of being hurt, but when Im actually hurt I want to kick some... well. yea. We couldn't leave right away because by this point the Krampuses had scattered and if you ran too quickly to your car they'd attack you. eventually we did though. Eva and Roli were attacked pretty bad while I lingered back and Kati quietly hid behind another car. The rest of the tradition follows that the Krampus go around from house to house and entering to scare the kids. lovely

I assure you that is a very nervous smile. Roli asked him to take a picture with the Amerikana. Which freaked me out cause I thought he was going to whip me even harder.

Right?

We went and got a warm, spiked drink in the next town but I honestly did not even want to get out of the car. This is the kind of holiday I want to enjoy at home, with the doors locked.

So, on to Vienna the next day. In Vienna we stayed with another friend of Kati's, Pauli. We had a good time sight-seeing, sipping cafe melange (milk and espresso) at a Viennese Cafe, Cafe Haweka and dining at an African restaurant. We saw the National Library, Parliment, Stephensdom and visited all three H&Ms within blocks of each other. My favorite was the Naaschmarkt though. A long, narrow market where many Turkish and Asian dishes are sold. I would have been overwhelmed if I knew what the vendors were saying to me. Kati and I bought hummus, pita bread, olives, a grape leaf wrapped around rice and an eggplant wrapped around feta cheese. delicious.

Inside St Stephansdom

All three of us ate supper with Beth Hagedorn in the evening. We all enjoyed getting to meet my "someone," ( I kept calling her my Aunt and then when I tried to explain how she was related to me people would get confused. so she became my "someone," in a loving way). Anyways, good food, good company, good conversation. I wish I could have had more time with her.

Naschmarkt!

I also wish that after dinner we went to a nightclub until 7 am. The following day was a terrible day and a terrible end to our trip.....Homesickness coupled with a bad night and a hangover led to a pretty low point in my trip. But, there's no place to go but up now, is there? Since Vienna, I've been pretty incredibly lazy. I spent the first day sleeping and nursing my wounds in front of the television, watching Friends. Today I went rock-climbing once more and tonight Kati and I may go see Singin in the Rain at the opera house, if its playing. A few low-keyed days are exactly what I need.

Tour de Osterreich

Yes, I am still alive! Last Wednesday, so Dec 1st I believe, Kati and I set out for the first stop on our week long trip, Innsbruck. Innsbruck is the capital of the western "providence" (im not really sure if that's the proper political word for the region). It's tucked away in the Alps and therefore known for its lovely mountains and winter sports. We made the four hour trip from Graz to Innsbruck in 7 hours or something because we had some car trouble as soon as we entered Germany. We made it however, and had a mechanic look at the car and turns out a little martin (some sort of weasel thing) had been knawing away at the wires. Easy enough to bandage up for the rest of our trip.

In Innsbruck, we stayed with Kati's boyfriend Simon and his family. We did a few touristy, and a few non-touristy, stops in the city. Seriously, I dont think I've ever shopped so much in my life. Unfortunately, there was a lot of fog that day and I couldnt see the mountains. But, lucky for me the sky was clear when we left on Friday and I could see them as we drove away.

Advent Market in Innsbruck

This is a house that was turned into an advent calender

Then came Salzburg. Well first came a designer outlet mall....where we bought nothing but a hairdryer : ) Couldn't afford much else. So we were lucky enough to find some space in a hostel and spent the next two days in Salzburg. You know, "the hills are alive." Yup, this is the land of the von Trapp family. I didn't make Kati suffer through any Sound of Music tours but I did read a bit about the story behind the musical. I didnt quite realize that the musically inclined family really did exist and even escape to the US before Hitler claimed Austria for the Nazi's.

Back to Salzburg though, whew was this a busy little tourist town. Between it being the site for Sound of Music and Mozart's hometown the crowds were thick as we walked through the streets.  We started the morning with the Festung Hohensalzburg, a castle that has been around since.....um...ok we did an audio-visual tour but those things really arent my thing so the details are sketchy. Its been around since at least 1000 AD. Really a gorgeous building, just a real challenge to get to and pretty filled up with tourists.

Then we wandered around and saw some other sights by literally following the crowds of old people being led around town by their tour guides. We stumbled upon Fraulein Maria's convent this way as well as Petersfriedhof (i just googled it and found out that the von Trapps hid here, why travel when you can google) and even the Christian Catacombs. I liked the catacombs--cheap, fascinating, and left the way they pretty much always were.

That little hole up above in the side of the mountain is the catacomb.

After this we wandered around and found Mozart's birthhome and residence. Not really all that exciting. I took pictures of the houses but we didn't go in and do the tours. What can they really say? This is the chair where Mozart might have sat (actually its a near-identical replica recreated for this money guzzling museum) and contemplated such and such masterpiece. So, we stayed outside. To take a break from the tourist-filled streets we went to a restaurant recommended in my tour guide, AfroCafe. That was lovely. I have no idea what my meal was called, it had rice, peppers, snap peas, and something white and wiggly. Sprouts, maybe? Dunno. yummy, quirky little restaurant.

We finished our last night in Salzburg with a little trip to the Mirabell gardens and had a little rummy punch.

check out my boots

Happy Thanksgiving and all that good stuff

I've nearly been in Austria for a week! Time has gone rather quickly now that I can't understand a lick of what people are saying (turns out I can't speak German) and Kati has taken the ropes. She is spoiling me royaly here in Graz. She's given me her big comfy bed, all the tea a girl could ever want, and a new sightseeing adventure everyday it seems.

PUMPKIN PIE as a part of our thanksgiving festivities.

We've explore Graz a bit and headed out to her hometown, Steyr, over the weekend. While in Graz Kati is busy doing research for her degree in psycology. She is evaluating how different activities affect the mood (at least that's her research in a nutshell). Lucky for me I get to go climbing at the rec center and on walks through town throughout the week! When climbing I opted out of spotting for anyone. It seemed like a bad idea to have a little American on the floor trying to figure out what someone is yelling to her as the climber is falling. So i just climb.

Main area in Old City Steyr

Turns out that Kati's shower is broke. The deutsch is kaputt! As a sidenote, Kati and her friends have come up with a number of jokes based on my very very kaputt German. Anyways, we've been able to find a shower or two but the point is that you really, really appreciate a good long shower after its been taken away from you.

Want to hear my german? Ahem.
Ich spreche kein Deutsch aber ich spreche Englisch. (i dont speak german but I speak english. very handy)
Ich bin Amerikanerin (I'm an American! not that i really need to tell anyone that)
Christkindl Markt (Christ child.. market... ok this is the name of the little christmas markets they have in nearly every town during advent. Honestly I can't remember what it means exactly. Christ child? Chirst angel?... Kati keeps telling me and I keep forgetting)
Entschuldigung (excuse me/sorry. very helpful when bumping into people at the store or apologizing for the fact that I can't understand what you are saying)
Achtung! (Warning. Good for when an avalanche is barreling down on me)

Chriskindl Markt

Today I am going to a free German language course so maybe I will have a few phrases to add to that! This coming week Kati and I are making a little tour of Austria. From Graz we'll head to the west and stop in a little town called Innsbruck, then we'll go to Bad Aussee (uhhh, this was the correct spelling for the town I called "polosi") to see the KRAMPUS!! just wait till I tell you about that, and then on the Salzburg and Vienna. Sounds like a lot, but Austria is pretty small. So long as the snow doesn't get too terrible we should make good time.

I'm off to rock climbing! I will come back and add some pictures later. maybe. if you remind me : )

By the time this gets to you I'll be in Austria! And hopefully in one piece. This morning I woke up to catch the bus outside the hostel at 5:30 like the nice little man at reception told me to. When I bopped (more like stumbled) downstairs he greeted me with a "Good Morning" and a good rant about the situation in Ireland. I was quite content to listen since this was the first time I had heard anyone say much about it, apart from the media. He apologized in the end for talking my ear off about such heavy things, but I tried to assure him that I didn't mind, I just wished that I had more than 10 min. He had been sitting up all night working the night shift listening to talk radio and needed someone to talk to about it. Reminded me off someone I know....

The airport. Flying is a stress. I just don't like it. I feel like security is out to get me, the airline doesn't want me on their flight and the plane is bound to snap in two. Well, I was doing pretty good today. Security is BREEZE here, I literally made it to the Dublin airport (after a long cold walk up a hill cause some french gals and I wrongly followed a girl who look like she knew what she was doing off the bus), checked my bag, and went through security in all of 20 min.

 It dawned on me while sitting there that I had to catch a second flight. When was that flight again? Right, two hours after I arrive at London-Stansted. Wait a second....two seperate flights. Crap. A little too late I realized that I need to collect my bag and start the whole process over of checking my bag and going through security. crap crap crap. I must have looked like a nervous wreck cause one Irish woman offered her help after the flight attendants kind of blew me off, then another Irish guy I was sitting next to assured me that the airport was that big and I had "loads of time," the guy on my left grabbed my bag. And it was all fine in the end, one near heart-attack later. I'm a spaz.

I nearly biffed it in the airport a couple times on those crazy little speedy-flat-escalator-thingies. Looking like Fry on his first day in New New York.... tourists.

While waiting for my second flight I learned how to say "Attention, please. The fire alarm has been activated..." in german and french as the alarm went off over and over and over. My heart was still pounding so this nearly put me over the edge. But I do enjoy learning new languages. I used to stare at the Warning signs on the Brother machine at Ultra, trying to translate the german and french. I even learned how to say "Caution, operator of this machine should not be staring idly at this warning" in French. no kidding.

I land in Austria at 2:30 pm (7:30 am at home). Kati and Eva are to pick me up at the airport. It'll be good to have a hug and not have to lock up all my stuff at night! I'm sad to leave Ireland. The country was beautiful, the city energetic and the people friendly and warm. But! Already, from the people on the flight, I can tell I'm going to love Austria. Especially the part where I can a full, complete shower with warm water. Kati, if your shower is broke, this is not the time to tell me ; )

-----i wrote the above on the flight. Since then I have met up with Kati, had a pleasant evening eating pizza and meeting her boyfriend and friends. Turns out that when we arrived at her flat (apartment) the landlord had left a note saying not to use the shower cause the apartment below them was flooding!! I guess Europe is against me showering. Too bad, we went to her boyfriend's and showered there! It's 9:00 here and I'm off to bed. Guten nacht!

Final Adventures in Dublin

You can never have a down day when the people that bump into you in the street follow it up with a "sorry love" or a "sorry dear" and a pat on the back.

Today was a wandering day. I was anxious to get to my new hostel so i packed up and hit the road only to find that i wouldn't be able to get into my room for another 4 hours. lovely. i dropped my bags, reluctantly, you never know who's watching them, and meandered off into the streets to shop.

I got an adapter. yee haw. i asked the guy what would happen if i used a hairdryer with it. he said my hair would explode. ok actually he said it would go "poof." I told him i would just stick to "shaking off." BUT. lo and behold i dried my hair tonight for the first time and my hair did not poof or explode. i tell you, drying my hair and curling it felt like heaven. a grungy traveler is not a happy traveler.

i ditched the map today and just wandered. worked out pretty good. I went to St Stephen's Green park. Unfortunately, Irish weather finally caught up to me and its been cloudy and gloomy all day. The last four days were filled with sunshine. But, i was happy to find that the Irish don't discriminate against cloudy days. They put up Christmas lights, wear bright red jackets, and hit the town. I've never been a city girl, but im starting to understand the comfort one can find in streets filled with people.

That being said. I might kick someone very soon if I see another couple making out in the street. At first I go "aww" but pretty soon that's going to be followed up with a "hi-yah." I've never understood why people say "Paris is for lovers," or whatever, and I'm not sure if anyone has ever said "Dublin is for lovers..." but I'm starting to get a sense of what the phrase means. Either that or I'm just very aware of my missing half. Whatever the case. Lovers beware.

On a brighter side, I stumbled into a little farmers market today. It was a bit like an international farmers market to be honest. French bread, Japanese something, Mediterranean olives, Spanish oranges... I had a scrumptious little thing called Wicklow Way from a farm-raised such 'n' such Irish farm. They heaped cooked cabbage on top of split-roast? pork on top of pan-fried potatoes. yummy.
 

That little rendezvous opened up the flood gates of my shopping. Not really. I still have yet to go over my daily budget (super proud of that). I just allowed myself to get whatever my little heart contented today. Including my first Irish Coffee.

This baby is one of four window displays outside of a store on Grafton Street. It depicts the Irish tale of King Leer's children being turned into swans.

speaking of swans. this is St. Stephen's Green Park

My new roomies are Spanish. At first I was too enthralled with my working curling iron to engage with them. Then I was shy to try and talk. Finally I bit the bullet and opened my mouth. Much to my surprise I wasn't half bad and they're sweet girls. We especially had a good time when a couple of young gals from New York and Boston bopped in and we could chit-chat behind their backs. It was all in good fun, I assure you.

Final note. If you want weird people to leave you alone, be weider. For example, meet my little monster. He protects my luggage and keeps me company around town. I don't like taking self-pictures so expect to see a number of shots of this little bugger instead. I haven't been bothered yet.