If you came here looking for our Japan blog, you can find it here on my other site – https://ilikestuff.org
This one is too full and won’t let me upload any more photos!
Singapore times – coming soon….
Hey ho how are you all? Yes we are off on another mini adventure. This time to Singapore. It’s just a brief visit of 1 week. Basically we needed to visit somewhere hot after an extended Winter back home.
So here’s the thing, unfortunately this blog has begun to run out of space and uploading photos is not really working anymore. So I have decided to do the Singapore blog over at my other blog “I Like Stuff” and as my blog is predominantly (these days anyway) a food blog, and as Singapore is predominantly a food destination, I figure it’s perfectly acceptable.
We have had a big day today and it is late now and I am too tired to do and update, so you will have to wait til tomorrow. Sorry.
In the meantime you can have a nosey around all the old posts on my blog I Like Stuff
Bonus content! A lost day in Reykjavik
I was looking through the blog the other day, trying to relive the memories and hold on to that holiday feeling for one day more, when what should I notice? We didn’t leave Reykjavik the day after the 3rd Wilco show! No, no, no! We had one last wet, rainy day in Reykjavik to wander the streets and say our good byes to this town.
We actually considered going for a drive some where. I was keen to go to nearby Mt Esja, but …. The weather. Yes, it was horrid, just for a change and we figured we wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway. Thus we decided to hang out in Reykjavik for the day.
We spent some of the morning packing up our stuff so we could make a quick getaway the next day. Then we decided to try to walk down to an ice cream shop that we hadn’t quite made it to the other day. God knows what we were thinking…who wants ice cream in this hellish weather? We walked and walked and got wetter and colder….before abandoning the plan and headed to a food van up near the church that sold lamb dogs. It was cold and raining and we had to stand under a nearby closed shops awning to avoid getting even more wet, but if this wasn’t the single most delicious thing I had eaten during this trip so far….well….I don’t know what was. So good.
Another look at the church through this cool frame.
We then made a hasty retreat in to a nearby cafe for caffeine and warmth. Good coffee.
We were actually quite drenched at this point in time and the cafe wasn’t quite warm enough to dry us off, so we decided to head back to the hotel. It was already mid afternoon by now anyway…not quite sure where the time went today. On the way back to the hotel we saw some cool street art and bought this pastry thing from a bakery.
After a change of clothes we headed out again and down to the lake where we saw some white swans, sculptures and more rain. We also went and said our goodbyes to the Harpa centre
We saw this *almost* Wilco Star Wars cat in the window of the Harpa centre.
For dinner, we decided to go back to Reykjavik Fish and Chips because I wanted to try their fish and chips. Steve got the seafood soup, which by all accounts was tasty, but very small.
We considered going and having one last beer at 12 Tonar, but it just wasn’t quite the same without Piper and Brett. Miss you guys!!!!
One last wander around as the sun was slowly setting before heading back to the warmth of our hotel.
Reykjavik, what a city!
Homeward bound
One last breakfast in Germany (and it was a good one too)
See you later Munich Airport!!
We had a bit of time to kill at the airport and I foolishly didn’t stock up on Haribo products at the supermarket before I went through security (Pro tip: the shops in the airport after security are rubbish. Go to the Edeka supermarket and stock up on any last last minute snacks/souvenirs)
Time for one last coffee. We wanted a snack too, but there was nothing too appealing.
Then on to the plane. Premium economy for this leg.
In flight meals….this one was quite tasty…
Even in Premier Economy, this felt like a long flight. As we flew out in the morning there was little chance of getting any sleep which always makes flights go faster. The cabin lights were dimmed in an attempt to make us sleep, but this just meant I couldn’t open the window blinds whilst it was still light outside lest someone chastised me for letting streaming sunlight in to their eyes (yes, this has happened before) which was disappointing because I like looking out the plane window – especially flying over mountains and the like. We both read a lot and watched some random TV shows and movies.
During some turbulence just outside of Singapore, I took a chance on looking out the window and saw massive strikes of lightning which was a bit freaky and some crazy ass cloud formations that I tried to capture in photo form, but failed. Here’s one of the shots any way.
We only had about an hour or so stop over in Singapore- just enough time to buy some Tiger Balm, Meowing cat ears and eat and incredibly over priced (and rubbish) yogurt and croissant. Luckily I still had some Nutella and honey stashed in my carry on to enjoy with the croissants. Pro travel tip #2: pack mini Nutella/jam or similar in carry on (in a plastic bag with any other liquids) for inflight meals that include croissants or rolls and no condiments. Packets of salt and pepper are also handy as these seem to not be provided anymore.
And then before we knew it, we were home again. Tired and unsure of what day or time it was.
We picked this one up from the Cat Hotel and she had had such a nice stay that she didn’t actually want to come home.
Thanks for joining us on our holiday everyone! Hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing. Hope to be travelling off somewhere again soon! Stay tuned for our next adventure…..
Home, is where I wanna be, but I guess I’m already there….
Well folks, the holiday is very nearly over. Today we are leaving Ramsau bound for Eitting, Germany (10 minutes from Munich airport) to get ready for our long flight home tomorrow.
But first, we shall have breakfast Pur Styria, because we were there yesterday buying things and the breakfast looked good and we decided we needed to have a least one breakfast out here.
After breakfast, it was back to the chalet to pack up and say our goodbyes to the alps.
We packed up and left Ramsau bound for Burghausen, Germany.
We drive up and down many mountains and through tunnels and over bridges and along the border of Austria. We joked that it was pretty much my home because it was right on the cusp of both Germany and Austria. Just like me. Then we saw this huge castle. Burghausen castle, *just* over the border in Germany. It is the longest castle in the world, apparently. Or Germany…one or the other anyway.
Steve failed to give way driving down a very tiny little road and a car towing a horse float came the other way and we very nearly got trapped. We now understand that on these teeny tiny roads there is a sign just before with a red arrow going one way and a black arrow going the other way indicating who is to give way. Very easy to miss if you don’t know what you are looking for. Anyway…we managed to get past the car and horses.
At this point you are probably wondering to yourself, why no photos? Well I will tell you why. We have exceeded our data limit on WordPress and it therefore won’t let me upload any more photos. In fact, I am not entirely sure it will let me upload this text. Fingers crossed it will. So you will just have to imagine for yourselves. Or you could Google “Burghausen castle” if you would like to see it.
So we made it through the town and up the hill to the castle and managed to snag the closest car spot to the castle. Awesome! And parking in Burghausen is FREE! Also awesome.
We walked in to the castle grounds and they were really cool. We were hungry so we found a nice spot to sit and ate our tasty rolls that we had packed for such an occasion.
After lunch we walked around some more and saw some more castley things. Then we walked down a lot of steps and saw some goats (“The Goats of Castlemaine” – that’s a joke for maybe one or two of you out there) and we kept following the path around which led us in to the old town.
For some reason which we couldn’t quite work out, most of the shops in old town were closed, but there was a few cool vintage stores that we looked in. We had coffee and cake before climbing the stairs back up ti the castle.
Just as we were about to leave to continue our journey, we popped in to a cute little woodwork shop. It had the coolest stuff, all hand made by the guy out the back. I ended up buying a wooden butter mould which I am excited to try on my return to Oz.
Back in the car, we headed back on the Autobahn and we were soon in Eitting, where we would be staying for our last night in Europe. It’s a tiny town about 10 minutes from Munich airport.
Hotel was cute and nice but town was tiny and I wasn’t super keen on the one place that was open for dinner, so we drove to nearby Erding and had dinner at Erdinger Brewery or something like that. I tried one last time to have a really good Schweinsbraten meal, but, eh…it was average once more.
Then back to hotel to finish packing and get ready to fly home in the morning.
What a difference a day makes…
Yesterday we were wearing tshirts and eating icecreams….today….we can’t even see the alps through the rain and fog.
Luckily some of the shops in town would be open today and we did want to check a few of them out, so I guess a rainy day is perfect.
First stop was a small local produce store called Pur Styria – stocks all manner of food items and I wish I could’ve bought one of everything. Instead I bought some more salt and some food items for dinner. We also decided to visit tomorrow for breakfast.
Next stop was Loden Walker. Now Loden Walker is a wool clothing manufacturer that has been making clothes since the 1400’s or some such craziness. Keen folllowers of this blog may recall our visit back in 2018. Back then I left with what was to be my greatest purchase ever in the form of a green wool coat. In fact, I brought it on this trip and it features in some of the photos. I love that coat. It is so warm and awesome. So had to go visit again to see what else we could find.
The shop itself is a set amongst the trees and mountains and it’s a lovely place to visit. It was foggy and cold there today though.
We spent quite a bit of time, but I luckily could not find anything to buy. Steve found a cool hat though. We also went and had a look through the factory once we translated the sign and realized we were allowed to.
Loden Walker also has a restaurant and we decided that 11:30am was close enough to lunch time for us.
We ordered so much food, but we actually ate it all because it was really delicious.
It was quiet in the restaurant. Not sure if it was because it was early or if, as previously mentioned it was “dead season” around here.
We spent most of the morning hanging around Loden Walker before heading back out in to the cold.
Steve and his new hat.
We drove down the mountain and in to the nearby town of Schladming. Most things were closed there too, because apparently this is also a ski town. We walked around a bit, trying to see if there was anywhere worthwhile to have a coffee. We were also on the hunt for croissants, but we failed to find either. Cute town though.
We went off to visit another woolly clothing shop that’s been there forever – Steiner 1888.
They also had lots of very nice things (also very expensive things) and although I wanted to buy everything, I bought nothing. But Steve managed to find a jumper he liked.
We headed back up the mountain to Ramsau and went back to our chalet for a coffee. We gave up on the idea of finding one anywhere. After our coffee and a brief respite, we went of the go for a bit of a walk. The weather was still pretty crummy but at least it wasn’t really raining.
We walked around some fields and paths. We had early luck with a squirrel sighting, and although the signs promised fauna a plenty, we saw not other wild life. Actually that’s a lie – we saw a deer and a hare very briefly. And some chickens. And a cat.
We chanced upon one more open clothing store and this time I was in luck and snaffled myself a cool new jacket (that was even on sale)
Walked up another hill and explored some more. This is where we saw the deer and hare. No photos sorry, they are too quick for me.
Then it was back to our chalet to drink my Radler beer and have some dinner. Our last night in Austria 😢
Should’ve brought the Crampons
We were blessed with another sunny day today. I know, right? 2 days in a row!! What is going in here?!?
As everything in Ramsau was still Geschlossen (including the cable car ) we decided to go for a drive to the nearby-ish Dachstein Krippenstein. The cable car was having its final day of operation for the season…wait for it…TODAY!
It was about an hours drive away through scenery so beautiful it didn’t look real. It really does look nicer with the blue skies.
When we arrived there we were relieved to see that the cable car actually was open (we never fully trust the internet- it’s been wrong on many occasions) We went to buy our tickets and we’re informed that there was 2 metres of snow at the summit!!!! OMG! That’s a lot of snow. They suggested we hire snow shoes to walk around in it but at 40Eu a set (on top of the 35Eu cable car ticket) that would make for a way too expensive trip. We turned down the add on sale of snow shoes and hastily made our way to the cable car. As we waited for the car to fill with people and ascend the mountain, we realised that it probably would’ve been a very clever idea to have brought our crampons for our shoes. Yes, the ones we packed in our suitcases lest we needed them. Yes, the same ones we have been carrying around for the last 5 weeks, and yes, the same ones we haven’t used once. Today could’ve been their big day, but instead they were sitting in my suitcase back at the hotel.
Heading up the mountain was steep and to be honest a *little* scary.
Super cool views though.
When we made it to the top and got out, Steve remarked “that’s not 2 metres of snow!” as we looked out the door at maybe 5cm of snow, we realised everyone was walking to another spot. Oh….we have to catch a second cable car – we weren’t at the top yet. So we lined up, got on the next cable car, got rudely shoved by a horrible man who thought he and his children were more important than everyone else, and continued the climb. We started seeing more snow almost instantly.
At the top it was like a Winter Wonderland! We were hungry though, so we made a beeline for the cafe and got some lunch. I had goulash soup and Steve had cheese spaetzle.
After lunch we went for as much of a walk as we safely could sans snow shoes or crampons.
We wished we had skis and/or snowboards.
Eventually we had to go back down the mountain. Can’t stay there forever, as much as we wanted to.
We had a quick wander around the middle station before heading all the way back down.
The plan was to stop in nearby Hallstatt for an afternoon coffee. But as we approached Hallstatt the madness began. Tour buses, traffic controllers and exhausted tourists sitting on the side of the road. Heck, even people trying to hitch hike from where they’d parked their cars to the centre of town (and vice versa) it was insane! Insane I tell you! Thousands of tourists in this one tiny little town. We kept driving as there was no way in hell we were going to get a parking spot. So our dreams of getting a coffee were dashed.
As we drove out of a tunnel on the outskirts of Hallstatt, we noticed a small cafe/kiosk that was actually open by the side of a lake and decided to pull over. We ordered a couple of coffees and sat by the lake and enjoyed them. They weren’t the best coffees in the world, but the location was pretty great. And it wasn’t that busy.
And I couldn’t resist these icecreams!
We decided to drive on to the nearby town of Ausee. It was a really cute little town so we stopped and had a walk around.
And although we were already full of coffee and icecream, we could not resist the lure of the delicious looking coffee and icecream and the cafe in the main Platz. We just got your basic run of the mill icecreams, but man, they had some SERIOUS icecream sundaes that were huge. And my favourite thing of all of this – not a child in sight. It was only adults eating this insane amount of icecream.
We had to head back to Ramsau after this stop. We didn’t really want to drive up the winding mountain roads after dark.
We didn’t really have much for dinner back at the chalet, so we stopped by our favourite vending machine once more.
After dinner we went for a bit of walk around Ramsau. It was such a clear night, the alps looked really cool. I do wish we could’ve had a few more clear days on this trip.
Geschlòssen
Today was Sunday which means shops were closed. As we have also come to learn, we are staying here at Ramsau Am Dachstein during “dead season” which means everything is closed. The gondola up to the mountain is closed. The restaurants and cafes are closed. Many of the hotels are closed. We weren’t entirely expecting this. We knew it was quiet season but didn’t realise everything was “Geschlossen”.
As previously mentioned we were lucky to have stocked up on a few things at the supermarket. As tomorrow (Monday) is a public holiday the supermarkets won’t open again until Tuesday.
Breakfast in our chalet, because there was nowhere else to have it!
We had been lead to believe by Google that the weather for our entire stay here was going to be raining and miserable and cold. So imagine our surprise when we looked outside and actually saw sunshine! Shock! horror! disbelief!
We decided to go for a hike or two. Unsure of which one to go on, we decided to go an check out a walk at the nearby Ritterberg mountain and see if it was any good. There are a lot of walks around here – it’s hard to choose.
When we got there we couldn’t help but imagine what it’d be like when the cafes etc were all open. Still, we don’t need things to be open to go hiking.
We decided to give the walk a go. The full hike was like 12km – so we figured we’d just do part of it. We started walking uphill and immediately came across some snow.
Lots of uphill walking here. We kept going and admired the views as we went, and dreamt of one day going skiing and snowboarding again.
We started to see more snow. We weren’t quite sure if we were going in the wrong direction as the sign posts were a little confusing. At some point we decided to continue on with this walk and make a day of it.
Started getting some really nice views and more and more snow.
We kept getting higher and higher and just when we thought there was no more uphill walking to be done, we would encounter another hill. Eventually the whole path was covered in snow and I was beginning to wish I’d worn my hiking boots and thicker socks.
After a couple of hours walking we decided to stop for lunch. Luckily we had cleverly packed some rolls to eat. if only we had a coffee too.
More snow and more views. We were quite high up the mountain by this stage.
And finally we realised we had reached the summit! Woo hoo!
Sorry for all the photos but how can I choose between all these? Just amazing views from the top.
It’s all downhill from here! Plenty more snow to trudge through though.
We eventually made it to the top of the ski lift area.
We still had a bit of a walk to get down the rest of the mountain, and we had to criss cross through a steep snowy path to get back on to the downhill trail.
After about 3 hours and 12km’s we made it down the mountain! What a great hike. By this stage we were desperate for a coffee and supplies were running low back at our chalet. Luckily we found one place open in the town and promptly got ourselves a couple of well earned coffees.
We went and chilled at our chalet for a bit. We had quite tired feet and legs but it was such a nice day so what to do but go for another walk?
No more mountain climbing though, just a lovely track by a stream with mountain views.
As we finished our walk and went back to the car, we noticed this little hut in the car park. Curious to know what it was, we opened the door and looked inside. We were surprised to find it was a mini supermarket with fresh local produce. There was a vending machine containing sausages and cheeses and more. And jars of muesli, cookies, chocolates- all of which were paid for on the honour system. A small box was set up where you pay after you write in the notebook what you bought. So good. We didn’t have much cash on us, so we bought some muesli and decided to return tomorrow for our dinner supplies.
Beers on the balcony in the fading sunlight. The weather was so beautiful today and the alps just looked so awesome with the blue sky.
Dinner – sardines and cold meats because that is all we had in the fridge. Not complaining at all – it was delicious.
The alps as the sun was setting also looked spectacular.
Tour De Schnitte Part III (the bonus edition)
So today we had to leave Slovenia. There was no getting out of it now. We were getting to the tail end of our trip and 4 days in the Austrian alps were beckoning.
We still, though, hadn’t managed to catch a boat to the island in the middle of Lake Bled. Today was one of the very few sunny days we had experienced thus far – and we knew we would be driving back in to the rain and cold in the alps. And so, we decided to spend a good portion of the day here before heading to our next abode.
Checked out of our chalet that I swore never to leave. I’m sure they wouldn’t notice if I stayed.
We sadly farewelled the best accommodation we have ever stayed in and vowed to return, before driving down to Lake Bled. We had hoped to catch the 10am boat to the island, but missed it by mere minutes, so we had to wait for the 11am.
We didn’t know how to buy tickets and were a bit worried we might not get on the boat (we are always the last to know the system of these things) so we hung around the boat stop longer than we probably need to, but we did quickly nip up to the church up in the hill and have a look inside.
Bled castle was looking exceptional on an almost sunny day. As was the lake.
We got on the 11am boat ok. Somehow there was magically the perfect amount of people to fit on. And you pay for the tickets on the way back apparently. There were other boats to the island – you could row yourself, but that sounded a bit too keen (it’s quite far) or you could go on a group boat that is rowed by a man, but that looked a bit too Disneyland so we opted for the electric boat (the quickest and cheapest option)
It was such a nice day, and lovely on the water.
Got to island and well what do you expect, but more amazing views! we were glad we waited for such a nice day to go over to the island.
We walked up these stairs to see the church. We didn’t end up going inside the church as it had an additional fee, and also we didn’t have loads of time, so we just admired it from the outside.
Also, we got distracted by icecream. I don’t know what they are doing in this country, but their icecream is next level.
After an hour wandering around the island we caught the boat back to the mainland.
By this stage we needed lunch, so we went to the nearest cafe that served Crème Schnitte’s. We scored a great table in the sun with views that you would ordinarily have to reserve 5 years in advance. This country is the best.
It was nice to have some sun. I think we have developed a Vitamin D deficiency over the last few weeks.
Made the mistake of going inside to use the bathrooms and thus saw the vast array of cakes and icecream they had to offer. That icecream!!!
As we had already had icecream that day we opted for cake instead. But I am still regretting not getting some of that icecream! Although the range of cakes was choice anxiety inducing, we HAD to have another Crème Schnitte. But also got this pink yogurt cake thing. We really didn’t need 2 cakes, but sometimes you just have to.
Of course all of the food, coffee and cakes were delectable. And once again we were surprised because we really weren’t expecting them to be. Yes, Australia has made us a bit jaded.
After a quick stop at a souvenir shop (I bought some Slovenian salt) we had to leave our new favourite place and head back to Austria.
After a drive through a large tunnel in the mountains, we were back on the Austrian side of the alps.
We saw this amazing castle from afar.
And before we knew it, we were high up in the mountains again and freezing cold. To think, just hours earlier we were wearing tshirts.
We swiftly learnt that we had arrived during “dead season” (after Winter season and before Summer) – which meant almost all the restaurants would be closed and our hotel was not serving breakfast. We cleverly realised that the next day would also be Sunday and the shops would not be open – so we quickly raced down to the local Billa with only and hour to spare and bought some supplies for dinner and breakfast over the next couple days. We also discovered that Monday was a public holiday, so we were pretty much on our own for the next little while here.
We cooked up dinner in our accommodation, and it was damn good too!
Tour De Schnitte Part II
Another day, another breakfast.
After breakfast, we checked out of our tree house and in to our new chalet. The staff we kind enough to let us check straight in, so it was a quick move from one room to another. The chalets were much bigger than the treehouse and also super cool, but I just loved the treehouse so much.
And down the path and across the car park to our new digs. Wish we could stay even longer.
The new chalet had a very awesome mezzanine level. There is also a pool area that is used in the Summer. At the moment though, it is just filled with frogs, who incidentally are very loud.
Whilst we could’ve happily spent the entire day just hanging out in our cabin, we decided to go for a drive and explore a little more of Slovenia. We decided to head to Kranjska Gora, which was about an hours drive away and part of the Triglav National park, and by all accounts was “Ser Schön”. First stop was a waterfall which was pretty cool. But we have seen waterfalls in Iceland now, so you have to try pretty hard to impress us.
We walked up to the lower part of the falls. You could actually walk on a ledge behind the falls which sounded pretty cool, but not all members of the party were keen to do this, so the plan was aborted and we headed back down the hill.
At the bottom of the falls was a very clear stream. Very pretty around here.
We stopped off at local supermarket Mercator to pick up some bread rolls and salami for lunch. I love going to supermarkets in different countries, have I mentioned that before? Probably.
Next stop was Lake Jasna. We were a bit dumbstruck with the beauty of this place. Wow. Lakes, mountains…just stunning. We walked around a bit, and then sat on some benches by the lake and had our lunch. It was cold ish but occasionally the sun would come out.
This is not even close to the amount of photos I took. I couldn’t stop taking them, but it is so hard to capture the beauty. I’m sure it still looks nice in the photos, but it was even more amazing IRL.
The awesomeness was just everywhere to be seen. Everywhere we looked – BAM! – awesome!!!! We walked around for quite a while taking it all in.
Then it was coffee and Schnitte time. We went to a nearby cafe who, earlier were kind enough to let us use to the bathrooms despite us not being customers. Actually I got the weirdest look when I asked, sort of like “of course you use them, why wouldn’t you?”
It starting raining while we were in the cafe, and it was starting to get quite cold. We also had a bit of a drive back to the hotel, so we had one more look around before heading off.
We stopped briefly in the town of Ribno before getting back to our accommodation and found this vending machine selling local produce. We promptly bought some yogurts and cheese to take with us tomorrow on our trek back in to Austria.
Hot tub time back the accommodation with added mountain views!
It really is super cool around here.
After dinner we went for a walk around the mountain. We saw cows but no hedgehogs or deer.
All the chalets have song title names. We got “Welcome to Paradise” but I really wanted “Far, Far Away” which is a Wilco song, and even if it wasn’t named after the Wilco song, I have decided it is.
Oh by the way, I’m not leaving this place.
A whole thing of candy 