The Wine Region

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Hi all,

I've been meaning to update this for a little now, and have only just had time. Last weekend was a 4-day weekend, so on Thursday, a group of 10 of us went on a little excursion to South Steiermark, to the wine region. There's not really much to say about it, mostly just pictures to show. On the trip there was me, Libor, Martyna, Agata, Thomas, Anouck, Mio, and three friends from Austria, David, Yanbo, and Milena. We made a huge tour of the major wine roads , and actually ended up in the highest place in Europe for growing wine, called Kitzeck. We stopped for lunch in a Buschenschank, which is a place that can only sell homemade food & drinks. It was alright, but not actually filling. We drank grape juice, of course fresh squeezed, and my lunch consisted of mozzarella cheese with tomatoes, which brought me back to my excursions in Italia with Hillary and eating that with Hillary in Florence. As we continued driving along and stopped to visit some castles, we actually ended up a bit farther south than we'd intended, and ended up driving into Slovenia. Well, that's kind of an exaggeration, because we ended up driving along a road half of which was in Austria, half of which was in Slovenia. Not too bad, huh?!

Anyways, that's all I can really say about it, but fear not, there will be a longer blog coming soon. We have yet again a 4-day weekend, though for me it's technically 5 because my class today was cancelled. Tomorrow morning, a group of us is headed out for western Austria, to Salzkammergut, a little bit outside of Salzburg. Going is me, Libor, Ľubomír (from Slovakia), Veronika (from Prague), and Bénédicte (straight from Paris). We're going to be in some minor cities, I'm not entirely sure where. We're renting a car, and then staying for Saturday and Sunday night in a small apartment, before camping out on Monday night, tent and all. It should be great, though it's supposed to rain all weekend. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather gets better!

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Photos

First Castle of the Day
Schloss Stainz.

Wine
Agata was very excited to have found the wine...

Schloss Stainz
And a confused looking Anouck.

Schloss Stainz
Climbing up.

Schloss Stainz
The inner courtyard of the castle.

Schloss Stainz
We couldn't go in, as we were barred by this little number.

Austria
We were there on the 21 of May, which is the day of the Ascension, and as Austria is heavily catholic, everyone was dressed up for the occassion, meaning Lederhosen as far as the eye could see.

Kitzeck
The highest place in Europe for growing wine.

Kitzeck
It doesn't look that high, but it really was.

Kitzeck
This is looking towards Graz, I believe, which is basically the end of the Alps. Had I turned around and taken a picture of the mountains behind me, you would've have seen just how high up we were.

Kitzeck
Proof we were there. Also, you can see the signs for Buschenschanken, which were everywhere.

The Cars
David was the driver of my car, in which there was: me, Libor, Anouck, and Thomas. Milena drove the blue car, in which there was: Agata, Martyna, Mio, Yanbo, and Merlin [the dog].

PRIVATSTRASSE
That means, "PRIVATE ROAD" and forbids walking or driving. Wups.

Mio
Mio clearly disobeying the wishes of the owners of the house.

The View
The view from where Mio was standing in the last picture.

Driving Along
You can see some of the Alps there, which shows you a bit of how high up we were.

Oh No...
Not good for the person who does not like making decisions, not good at all...

Klapotetz
The many decisions available, practically all Buschenschanken. Also, the thing at the top that looks a little like a windmill is called a Klapotetz, but there's more on that later.

Kitzeck
The sign proclaiming Kitzeck as the highest wine-growing place in Europe.

Driving Along
The view again...

RI
Found RI on an Austrian license plate.

Comments

[kristy]

The sign of one thousand signs is my nightmare! Can't wait to see you! xok

[Nanny]

wine country
Matthew those pictures truly showed one of the prettiest places you all have been to. Great shots.........and I am sure the tasting was just as good..........the clock always saying 12 is like we boaters......its always 5 o'clock somewhere!!!! The Austrians are pretty clever with the klapotetz.......... should erect those on some of the buildings to keep pidgeons away. Love, Nanny