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Published: March 28th 2012
Jumping for joy
She was just so excited to see me again...Well when you last heard from me I was headed to Graz to meet up with an Austrian friend of mine named Kathi, whom I had met not long after arriving in Cairns thirteen months ago...
So after checking out of my hostel in Vienna (tuesday 12th August) I took a metro into the centre of town, then another metro to the Südbahnhof (south train station) for my three-hour train ride to Graz in the south-east of Austria - where unfortunately within ten minutes of arriving I had copped a fine of sixty euros ($100 AUD) for riding a tram from the train station into the main square without a ticket - which of course Kathi had managed to do for the last two years without ever getting caught!
Once Kathi had arrived we dumped my bags at a friend of hers' place and went for a walk around the city - which is the second-largest in Austria, but much smaller than Vienna - though clearly Kathi hadn't seen a great deal of the city herself (despite having attended university there for the last two years) since we ended up at the tourist information office, where she even spoke
Zig-zagging stairway
The footpath up the side of the Schlossberg english to avoid being recognized as a local! I must admit though she took me on a guided tour that was definately the most entertaining I have had so far - we even managed to see the criminal museum in the basement of her university that wasn't actually open, but someone had forgotten to lock the door!
After meeting up with a couple of Kathi's friends we went for a walk up to the top of the Schlossberg (Castle Hill) to check out the view of Graz at sunset, including the surreal-looking KunstHausGraz (Art Gallery) which the locals call the friendly alien and which, sitting in the centre of the old town beside the River Mur, looks like a cross between a spaceship and a mutant's bladder! Likewise the Murinsel, an amphitheatre/ restaurant shaped like an open seashell on a man-made island in the middle of the river, which also looks amazing lit up at night.
With one of her friends being the guitatist in her band, and with Kathi having been away for the last month, I was treated to a musical reunion of sorts; before we collected my bags and jumped in the car for the
Quiet country lane
The road to the Sauberg one-hour drive to Kathi's parents' house in a small town in the countryside called Kirchbach.
The next day Kathi and I took a couple of pushbikes for a ride around Kirchbach, and to give you some idea of how small the town is we dropped into a nearby house to pick up the key to the local chapel (where Kathi managed to play the tiny organ while I pumped it full of air) and saw the cows that our milk came from in a neighbouring farmyard - definitely not the sort of things you would ever get to experience living in the city! That night we headed back into the town (Kathi's family actually lives on a hill just outside Kirchbach called Sauberg - which literally translates to Pig Hill!) where a small gathering of the townsfolk had gotten together for a traditional Austrian dance, and where I was eventually coerced into dancing with Kathi's mum - much to both Kathi's and her father's amusement!
The following day Kathi and I again went for a ride on her parents' pushbikes, and ended up at a local swimming pool where we spent the afternoon alternating between cooling off in
View from the Sauberg
The town of Kirchbach the water and then warming up again in the sun; while Kathi took great pleasure in telling everyone about my dancing exploits the night before! And just for anyone who hadn't seen me completely embarass myself, we ended up going along to a concert at the local community hall that night where I once again wound up dancing - though at least this time I had a few beers under my belt and wasn't quite so worried about stepping on Kathi's feet as I had been about stepping on her mother's feet the night before!
Friday we spent most of the day inside on Kathi's computer where she tried valiantly (though ultimately in vain) to steal all of the good music from my iPod and pollute it with some of her rather dubious musical tastes; before driving to a cinema in Graz to see my first ever 3-D film in German! (which incidentally was about the wildlife in the Okavango Delta in Botswana) After that movie had finished we managed to sneak into the adjoining cinema in the hope of seeing Kung Fu Panda... but ended up having to sit through The Chronicles of Narnia 2 instead - talk
Hilltop town
Straden, on the way to Reigensberg about getting our just desserts!
Speaking of which, we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner afterwards, where I'm pretty sure there must now be a picture of both Kathi and I behind the counter to remind the staff not to ever let us dine there again! Let's just say that I've never laughed so much in my whole life; while Kathi almost stopped breathing at one point because she was laughing so hard whle trying to eat her pan-fried, honey-smothered banana balls! (and yes they really did taste as good as they sound!) Eventually we headed home to Kirchbach, where unfortunately a fierce storm had pelted the town with hail and destroyed the local pumpkin fields.
After a sleep-in on saturday, we drove to a town about an hour away named Reigensburg, where a castle over nine hundred years old sits precariously at the top of a cliff; and where there was a three-day, medieval-themed festival on to celebrate the full-moon. Well, that was the plan anyway - until Kathi typed the wrong destination into the GPS navigator in her dad's car and we ended up within a few kilometres of the Slovenian border...!
So after
Fertile valley
Aerial view of Reigensberg and the surrounding area making me solemnly swear never to tell another living soul - or at least not her parents - we belatedly turned around and made our way to Reigensburg for the full-moon festival, where there was traditional Austrian clothing, music and dancing; as well as performances of everything from jousting to hunting, with the grand finale being a spectacular display of fire-dancing.
Sunday started with a trip to the local community hall - where there was a celebration being held in honour of the 125-year anniversary of the local fire brigade - for a breakfast of Vienna Schnitzel, which thanks to Kathi's dad was washed down by a glass of beer, accompanied by a shot of Schnapps, and followed by two glasses of white wine! (and no - I don't drink wine!) After then being introduced to half the population of Kirchbach by her dad - including the local member of parliament - Kathi eventually rescued me and we headed back to her house for the rest of the day; which ended with a little guitar and singing session - though it was a little one-sided since not only is Kathi a much better singer than me, but a better
Medieval revelry
Jousting demonstration in Reigensberg guitarist as well!
Having thoroughly enjoyed Kathi's company - not to mention her parents' wonderful and generous hospitality - for the best part of a week, I had to begrudgingly accept that it was time to move on; and so after bidding her parents a fond farewell on sunday night, I caught a lift into Graz with Kathi on monday morning. But with a couple of hours to spare before my train to Salzburg was due to depart, we still had time for one more little adventure - a visit to Schloss Eggenburg, Graz' very own rather understated 'royal palace'.
Although the interior of the building was supposed to be closed to visitors, with Kathi working her considerable charms it came as no surprise that we were able to not only sneak a peek at one of the impressive ballrooms, but in doing so got to witness a classical pianist working his magic on the keyboard of one of the castle's grand pianos! A leisurely walk around the estate's landscaped gardens followed - leading to the rather comical sight of Kathi trying unsuccessfully to catch one of the resident peacocks - but as time waits for no man
Fond farewell
One last picture in front of Schloss Eggenburg it was soon time to head to the train station and say our goodbyes.
And so my week with Kathi has come to an end, and I once again find myself heading off into the distance; but without a doubt I have had the most fun of my entire trip during this past week. To have someone as free-spirited and light-hearted as Kathi for company every hour of the day has been an amazing blessing, and just goes to show how something small (like giving Kathi some milk for her coffee and starting a conversation with her over breakfast when we first met in Cairns) can grow into something really beautiful.
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