Blogs from Lower Austria, Austria, Europe - page 10

Thursday, 8/07 Today we had our excursion to the Melk Abbey in the Austrian countryside. We had to get up early to make it to the train station in time to catch the train at 9:45am. I was making my breakfast, and I really wanted some toast. They have REALLY good jam here, and I want to eat it all the time now. I had one slice of bread left, and it was moldy, so I had to eat some of my other stuff. When I panic-shopped the first day, I don't think I thought to check the dates of the bread. But I have been a more scrutinous shopper since. We took our regular U-bahn line to the train station, and got on a train resembling a nicer version of Amtrak. We had a "group ... read more

Geo: 48.2271, 15.3296Breakfast - today, they served a warm cream cheese strudel topped with raisins. Most likely, it was leftover dessert from yesterday, from the guest house's restaurant. It was soggy and probably microwaved; it was decent but might have been very good had it been fresh. They had some really good plain buns; I cut back on the meat and cheese today and instead went pretty hard on the homemade preserves. There were also some good poppyseed buns, but they were pretty bad with the preserves - I didn't notice until too late, but there was tons of salt sprinkled on them. Everybody in Hallstatt must have high blood pressure with the amount of salt they ingest!On the boat to the train station - somebody finally guessed that I'm Chinese, and not Korean or Japanese! ... read more

Unseren letzten Tag auf Cuba beginnen wir mit einem kräftigen Frühstück und, nach dem Packen, legen wir uns noch einmal für ein paar Stunden an den Strand, um uns langsam zu verabschieden, und ein letztes Bad im Meer. Noch ein schnellens Mittagessen, denn schon um 2 Uhr werden wir vom Taxi nach Havanna abgeholt. Die Taxifahrt verläuft problemlos, bis auf den Schluss, denn wie sich herausstellt finden sich auch die Taxifahrer ohne Hinweisschilder nicht zurecht. Nach 3-maligem Nachfragen und einer kurzen Geisterfahrt auf der Autobahn, kommen wir doch gesund am Flughafen an. Noch schnell Rum im Duty Free eingekauft und jetzt freuen wir uns auf unsere upgegradete Sitzplätze in der Comfort Class. Martins Magen knurrt schon! Wir fliegen pünktlich ab und man hat wirklich viel Platz und einen eigenen Fernseher. Wir schauen uns gleich "Ratatouille" an. ... read more

Gah, I'm going completely nuts... Today I tried out 4 different suitcases and after packing and unpacking and packing and un... I finally found the best one and weighed it... It was TOO heavy!!!!! So unpacking it was again and getting rid of unnecessary ballast. My heart is bleeding... I have to leave behind loads of grand clothes...Some essentials like an additional towel and most terrible,some pairs of SHOES have to stay behind as well... *sob* And after all those sacrifices it was still too heavy! Finally I ended up weighing HAIRDRYERS!!!!!! and packing the lighter one... I weighed hairdryers... I can't believe I did that... That's sooooo sick!!!! I still can't imagine you're allowed to take 23kg, only... I'm going there for a month... 4 weeks!!! It's impossible to pack everything needed for a month's ... read more

The prettiest part of the Lower Austrian Danube is the wine growing area, the Wachau. We cycled into a pleasant bit of rain which kept the temperature comfortable through the afternoon. Stayed indoors in Melk with a 2 bedroom apartment on the Danube rented from a Glenn Clark look alike who did not give us a receipt for our payment. ... read more