Day 19 - Steyr, Austria

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Day 19 - Steyr, Austria

Today was another great day with our Austrian friends. Today we did not meet until 2pm so it gave us a chance to sleep in as we were getting very tired. We slept in until 11 and then woke up to start our day. We had breakfast/lunch at Mcdonalds. Yes, this is not a great choice but it was too hot to eat at a cafe and McDonalds had air conditioning so that is what we chose. To be honest we were pleasently suprised with the McDonalds in Austria. Sydney and I both had the chicken couscous salad which was actually prety tasty. We also had curly fries and as it was a McCafe I had a cafe latte and Syd had a frappe. It was a very nice lunch.

The plan for today was to spend the day at the beach along the river Steyr. Walter, Manuela, the boys as well as Syd and I enjoyed a beatuiful day playing on the river banks in the very cold water. Sydney and I engaged in numerous water fights to the the delight of the 4 and 6 year old boys. Sydney even managed to turn the boys against me and and I was avoiding buckets of water from three kids. How were Sydney and the boys able to come up with an alliance against me without being able to speak the same langauge. I guess they speak kid language and no matter where you live in the world all kids know it is always kids against adults no matter how hard I try to get them to throw water at Sydney.

Manuela and the kids were unfortunatley unable to stay with us all night but it was so great to meet them. Once again she prepared a wonderful basket for us full of beverages and food for us to enjoy. She is so awesome, I have no idea how she puts up with Walter (Just kidding Walter, you guys are a wonderul couple and it is clear you love each other very much). The weather has been hot in Europe for 2 weeks but sadly in the late afternoon we had a pretty strong thunder storm and this cut our dinner plans short on the beach. The plan was to start a fire and roast sausage and marshmallows over the fire. The rain held out for several hours so we decided to eat dinner in a restaurant in town. It was good but no where near the best meal we had in Austria.

After dinner the weather cleared and we were able to go back to the beach and start our fire. You would not believe how funny it was to see two Canadians and an Austrian try and start a fire on a beach after a storm. It was not a pretty picture at all but eventually we did get it going. We had some marshmallows, I had some nice wine and Syd and I also indulged in left over strudel from the wonderful dinner the night before. Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmm. How could the night been any better? It really could not have been.

Sadly all good things have to come to an end and as happy as I was to arrive in Steyr to visit my friends, I am equally sad if not more so to leave them now. Tomorrow we pack up and head on our way to the next destination in our European adventure. This trip has been a tremendous blessing as I have had the chance to catch up with old friends and to meet new ones that I hope we will be able to see again sometime soon.

Holblinger family (sorry I know there are two dots above the o but I am no smart enough to figure out how to get them there.) Thank you so much for your wonderful hospitality. You are the perfect hosts (especially Manuela 😊 You showed us the beauty that your country possesses not just in the geography but also in the people (except the naked fat dudes on the beach, I mean, why does that big fat guy need to bend over right in fromt of me...yucky)It was actually a lot of fun, thanks for the great adventures today. We will remember the last few days forever and very much hope we will be able to extend the same to you and your family one day in Canada.

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