Day 6 - Youth Orchestra Premiere

Bahnhof - train station

Green signs = Point of Interest (like the bahnhof)

white signs = highways and streets

blue signs = autobahn

the ‘beta’ symbol = a double ‘s’ - not acceptable in words that aren’t proper nouns

Breakfast in the monastery. Then Tante Carole and I listened to the rehearsal some before heading off to Mini-Mundus in Klagenfurt. I found it very cool to see the world’s greatest buildings in mini (most of which are European, but they did have the CN tower). Also, when I say mini...most of them are still taller than me. Mmm...raviolis for lunch and then rest till the concert. 

Boote - Boat, and sounds like boat but with a little extra on the end.

There was poison Ivy in my raviolis. The Youth Orchestra was amazing. I really enjoyed the song they played with Uncle Rainer, and ‘Ma mere l’oye’ . Katelyn, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here to hear that one! The violins were really cool and the flute solo was amazing!

Wassa - water (‘w’ makes a ‘v’ sound)

Day 5 - The Fortress in Villach

Mother and Baby

Lowly monkey trying to get in on the food action

the Fortress in Villach

View from the Fortress

Spezi - mixture of coke and lemonade or fanta

Katelyn, you’d be so jealous! We went and watched Uncle Rainer practice with the Youth Orchestra. It was lots of fun. Then we went to look at the Berguine Landskron Fortress ruins. Here we saw the Japanese monkeys and the birds of prey; very cute monkeys, very cool birds! Then I went for a swim in the Ossiacher See (‘see’ in German means lake, ‘meer’ means sea). Walking alone in a town I didn’t know reminded what Edda said yesterday. She thinks I shouldn’t go to Italy because it’s hot, stinky and dangerous; she says, I should just stay in Austria (although I think she was joking, mostly). The water was nice, really clean for a lake of its size. The fortress is in Villach. But ‘V’ in German sounds like ‘F’. Flugel - wings. Tante Carole beat me at crib. And I met the conductor and his wife. They’re from France, and Tante Carole was right, he really does talk too fast to know wether he’s speaking French, English or German...

Day 4 - Travel to Ossiach

View of the Ossiacher See from the Monastery

Achtung - warning

Wilkommen - welcome

We were getting ready all morning. Once on the road, we ate bologna sandwiches (Dad, you’d love those). We also made a stop at Tante Carole and Uncle Rainer’s friend, Edda’s house. Her house was built in at least 1743; she can’t find any documentation for before that. She made some delicious strawberry cake. Then we were back on the road, headed for Ossiach. The lake in Ossiach is beautiful. It’s in a valley and it’s green everywhere. We are staying in a monastery, a really nice old building. The concert with the Youth Orchestra and Uncle Rainer is in two days.

Day 3 - Vienna

Stephansdom

First District

Royal Palace

Today I slept late. Ew. Tante Carole and I went walking in Vienna, and she told me about history and legends of Vienna. I took 400 pictures. I really like this house, except sometimes when it gets cold at night. The style of their house is called Jugendstil; it’s kind of like the Art-Nouveau in France. I also saw the “Spanish Riding School”, the Cathedral, the winter palace (because Vienna stank in the summer), the city palaces and the oldest church in Austria (still in use). I found my favourite room upstairs; Uncle Rainer’s music room. You should see their piano, Katelyn. It is a grand piano! It sounds beautiful. Too bad I can still only remember the first two lines of “Hey There Delilah”. Also, Germany beat Ghana at soccer, but they both move on to the next round. How weird. I forgot some things: today at lunch I ordered a proseco orange by accident, which happens to be an Italian bubbly wine in orange juice. Oops. I also walked past the most famous music store in Vienna, I might go back to get a souvenir for Katelyn. Katelyn, I noticed something else you might like, but not at a store. Uncle Rainer has six pillows in his music room: two violins, two violas, one cello and a double bass (all to scale)!

Day 2 - First Day in Austria

Walking in the Vineyards

I was very nervous at the airport, there was so many people, but Tante Carole found me. She made a delicious lunch of potatoes and white ‘aspergle’. Mmm...the sauce was delicious. It had butter, onions, white wine, milk, flour, curry, salt, pepper. Then I took a long nap (not really, but I slept!)

We walked through Perchtoldsdorf and then down through the vineyards. I learned:

• Gruss gott - a greeting
• Heurigen - wine house. ‘Heur’ - means this year, referring to this year’s wine. (Maryn, you’d love these places)
• Strawberries with balsamic vinegar (and fresh pepper)

Day 1 - My Flight

My flight leaves at 11:50 PM, one hour from now. I just spent the last 20 minutes wrestling with my bag because I broke the zipper. What a dummy. My family has all left, but I’ll see them again in two months. Airports are boring in the middle of the night.