May 12, 2023 by blainie

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.

May 9, 2023 by blainie

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.

From our hotel car park – very different view from yesterday

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 😢

May 7, 2023 by blainie

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!

Featuring yogurt from Slovenian vending machine

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.

An Almdudler would’ve been nice at this stage but…Geschlossen!!

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.

May 6, 2023 by blainie

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.

This photo really captures my grey hair 😆

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.

Let’s get another good look at that Schnitte

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!

May 3, 2023 by blainie

sLOVEvenia

Today we would be venturing in to new territories- Bled, Slovenia. Other than a quick trip over the border to a winery 5 years ago we had never been there so didn’t really know what to expect. To be honest, I chose Bled because it was advertised to me on Facebook a few years ago and it looked so beautiful that I started following the official Bled, Slovenia FB page.

After breakfast we bid adieu to Erwin and Irmgard. Thanks for having us!

BUT, before we head in to Bled, we had to make a very important stop. Visiting my Aunt Grete and Uncle Leo. Since we were last in Austria they have had to move out of their home in Graz and in to a Seniors Care Home. Luckily, it was actually located on the way to Slovenia. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to find them when we got there or it would be too tough with our lack of language, but when we found the place and walked in the front door, they were sitting right there!

It was so lovely and special to be able to see them and we wished we could’ve stayed longer, but we really enjoyed the time we had and to be honest, it really was a highlight of our trip.

We left them to have their lunch and continued on our way to Slovenia.

After a stop at a service station for a snack, and a quick trip on the Autobahn, we were in Slovenia. We tried to have a stop in Slovenia’s capital city Ljubljana but found it difficult to find parking so had a quick stop by the river before heading on.

We were tempted to visit this Dino park, but no.

And then we made it to Bled – actually our accommodation was in nearby Ribno and OMG it was the THE BEST PLACE EVER! And the mountain views and everything and it was all a bit much really.

Our accommodation was a “glamping” treehouse and it was so cute and so cool and we instantly wished we could just live here forever.

We went for a bit of an explore and started walking up the side of a mountain until it got a bit high and Steve got scared.

We braved the buffet dinner because, well, there was nothing else nearby and we had no idea where we would go anyway. BUT it was REALLY, REALLY good and all the food was delicious and no one coughed on it too much (we got in early just to be safe)

We went for a bit of a wander after dinner and looked at the crazy big mountains. Pretty sure that’s the Austrian alps. Or it could be Italy. Who knows really. There’s too many countries around here.

The treehouse look even cooler after dark

It’s official – we have a new favourite place in the world – Slovenia.

April 30, 2023 by blainie

Erwin and the chocolate factory

This morning Erwin and Irmgard took us to a cool castle perched atop a hill (mountain?) It had a cool elevator that took you up to the top.

It was a pretty awesome castle. And really old. I mean, I know most of these castles are old, but this one is even older. Riegersburg Castle is it’s name and it’s rumoured to have been here since 1138. Crazy.

I’m not sure what is happening here – but it don’t look good

Cool weapons…. (as used by my Dungeons & Dragons character)

We had lunch at the castle cafe and then headed to the Zotter chocolate factory. It was a really cool factory with lots of interactive bits and lots of tasting stations. Oh, and this cool robot cat delivering treats to the masses.

It had a farm with various animals like pigs and alpacas.

And this hella weird “children’s theatre”. God only knows what this was all about.

These will be in your nightmares tonight….

We had an excellent coffee (and icecream)

More chocolate factory exploring…

On the way home we did a quick drive by of another castle but didn’t get out of the car, it was too late in the day.

Dinner was Grenadier Marche – a carb-o-licious combo of pasta and potatoes. Really shouldn’t work, but it does. Delicious!

And a Puntigamer beer.

April 30, 2023 by blainie

On to Voitsberg

Leaving Graz today and headed about 40 minutes away to Voitsberg to visit my cousins Erwin and Irmgard.

It was a rainy, miserable morning in Graz. We had breakfast and coffee at nearby cafe Tribeca.

And one last look around the town before checking out. Not sure when I will be here again. Graz was my mum’s hometown so it was nice to spend some more time in it. But other than that, I wouldn’t recommend it as a must visit destination. Actually reminds me a lot of Perth in some ways, funnily enough.

It stated raining quite heavily as we headed back to the hotel to check out. The hotel didn’t offer parking (even though their website said they did, and we asked about it like 6 months ago…but anyway) so we only had street parking, which it turns out is quite hard to come by around here. So our car was a bit of a walk away. I went back to the room to organise our stuff and Steve went to get the car so we could load our stuff straight in the car. Anyway…you can tell a story is coming up here can’t you? Check out was 10:30am. It was literally 10:31am and our security cards stopped working. So Steve couldn’t get back in, and I couldn’t get all the luggage down in one go by myself but if I closed the door I wouldn’t be able to get back in!!! I thought that was a bit harsh, but I guess hotel policies are policies. Though, never had that happen before. Luckily there was a cleaner hangin about and she was able to open the door and let me back in to get the rest of our luggage. Phew!

But, I must say, this hotel was dreadful. I mean, if it was a hostel and it was like $50 bucks a night, it’d be fine, but let me tell you it wasn’t that cheap. There was no hand soap in the dispenser in the bathroom and when I equiped about this, I was told that the two teeny tiny bottles (like 10ml AT MOST) were meant to suffice as body wash, shampoo AND hand soap. OK…….also no tissues in the tissue box and the place just looked grubby. So don’t stay there if you ever find yourself in Graz, ok? I mean, I’m not painting a great picture of Graz here am I? Bad food, bad accommodation….

Yuck! (Probably doesn’t look that bad, but it just felt grotty)

So, in the car and we were on our way, but we felt like some morning tea because all we do is eat, apparently. We stopped off at Billa and got some Milka chocolate and a rather bad supermarket coffee (I mean what were we expecting really?) and consumed them in the car on the side of a road. Classy.

Then on to Voitsberg. We took the scenic route which was lovely and we were greeted with Schweinsbraten and coffee for lunch.

After lunch, we went to Piber and went for a walk around the Lippenzaner Horse stable. These are fancy dancing horses that are all white – except they are black when they are born! It was a nice hike around the area.

April 30, 2023 by blainie

What to do, what to do?

Sunday in Graz. All the things are closed. I had forgotten this happens in Europe. We decided to go for a drive but couldn’t really decide on where.

First up though, breakfast. We bought croissant’s yesterday to have for breakfast.

But we had no coffee. And there was no way in hell we were going to buy a coffee from the downstairs cafe again. Luckily we found a decent cafe called Tribeca nearby and went and enjoyed a coffee there.

After coffee, we decided to pay a visit to a nearby-ish sculpture park that sounded interesting. It was about a 10 minute drive. When we got there, there was a whole lot of craziness going on at the stadium/arena/camping area/god knows what just near it. People dressed in costumes, drinking beers at like 11am etc etc We presumed it was some sort of music festival. How wrong we were. On later investigation we discovered it was actually the final event for the Austrian Darts Championship. Obviously. They take this stuff seriously here.

Anyway, we were just here for the sculptures, so we parked and went and had a wander around. It was pretty cool.

We spent more time there than we thought, so it was already after lunch by the time we left.

We decided to go for a drive to the town of Bad Radkersburg- a hour or more away. We were considering going to the Thermal Baths there, and the plan was to stop for lunch along the way.

We started driving and realised we were quite hungry, so we stopped at a place that looked good. The menu sounded good and we were all ready to have lunch. Then came the bad news. We didn’t have a reservation and they were all booked up. Damn Sundays in Austria!

So we continued on our merry way and we couldn’t really find anywhere we wanted to stop. We went the “scenic” way instead of the Autobahn which was probably a mistake because it took FOREVER and by the time we made it to Bad Redkersberg it was like after 3pm and we were both ready to kill due to hunger. It was a really nice sunny day and we found the centre of town which had like 2 cafes in it, because, well it’s not a very big town. At this stage we pretty much would’ve eaten anywhere so we went to one of the 2 cafes. We went inside but it was empty but apparently it was open. Then we realised that all the customers were sitting outside because it was a nice day. We stayed inside regardless. I ordered the asparagus soup and Steve got the asparagus risotto. (Asparagus is in season here atm) Steve felt he needed to right the wrongs of last nights risotto. So, luckily, for everyone involved, the food was really good! Thank fuck for that.

Oh we had coffee too. Also good.

When we left the cafe, the whole town was going wild for ice cream again, so we just had to be a part of it.

We walked around the town a bit and up to the Thermal Baths. They looked really good, and we regretted not being here earlier (damn you sculpture park!) because it was already nearly 5pm by now and we didn’t really have time to go to the baths.

Our car on the streets of Bad Radkersburg

We were right on the border of Slovenia here. Basically across the river is Slovenia.

Gave up on the dream of the thermal baths and decided to head back to Graz.

Stopped at this town – can’t remember it’s name

As we drove back to Graz the weather became quite stormy with some serious lightning strikes in the sky. It was raining and quite late when we got back in to Graz. We just had dinner in our very stylish (not) hotel room. But of a random day today. I felt like we didn’t really achieve much, but we saw some nice country side and sculptures and ate some good asparagus meals.

April 29, 2023 by blainie

Tough Old Pig

What to do in Graz today? We had forgotten that in this part of the world shops and many cafes/restaurants are closed on Sunday, and many are also closed on Saturday or close at 1pm. Guess which two days we were in town for? So today being Saturday we decided to head in to town and look at some shops. I remember Graz having some cute arty shops so I had hoped to visit some.

Our hotel, as mentioned previously was dreadful. It wasn’t cheap for what we got (basically nothing) and the café downstairs that looked so lovely on the website, only served “buffet brunch” (?) on weekends which cost an additional 22 euro per person. Now I don’t know about you but I can not eat enough food to justify 22 euro as that equates to $36 Australian dollars. No thanks. We did buy a coffee from them however which was one of the worst coffees I have had in Europe. Thanks Graz. I can’t actually remember what we ate for breakfast?

Headed of from the hotel and checked out the local markets. Lots of good and delicious food but nothing that we as travellers could really buy. So I just had to look and imagine the deliciousness.

At least the sun was shining. Saw this huge sculpture outside the Graz Opera.

Got in to the town centre and decided it was time for wurst. I mean we were in Austria after all, and there had been a distinct lack of wurst in our diets. Bought some from a Wurstel stand and sat on some steps in the sun with everyone else.

Went and checked out the museum and the “friendly alien” building it is housed in. Cool museum, but didn’t see any exhibitions. Just looked with their shop and used their toilets.

The river has this weird cafe in the middle. Tourist trap? Probably.

There’s the clock tower again!

The sun was shining and it was actually quite warm for the first time in our whole trip. We had to find a rooftop terrace to have a coffee on. We found one on the top of a sports shop. Average coffee but great views.

Decided to go up to the clock tower again, but didn’t want to walk so we took the furnicular up. It doesn’t take very long, but it’s fun!

Nice views at the top. We don’t seem to be getting much shopping done though do we? I think most of the shops were closed by now. Oh well.

What else is there to do but to have a beer?

Daytime pic in front of clock tower

Then we decided to walk the long way down.

Had a bit of a wander along the river…

Having subsisted in cheese and crackers for dinner for the last couple of nights, we decided we wanted a good Austrian dinner tonight. We tried to find a decent place on the interwebs and everything kept recommending a restaurant called Der Steirer. So we figured we’d give it a go. It looked nice. We made a reservation online and turned up at 7:30pm for dinner.

Well, look….here’s the deal – Steve ordered the risotto and I ordered Schweinsbraten. What can I say….Steve’s risotto was very average indeed. And my Schweinsbraten was the worst I have ever had – the meat was as tough as an old shoe – or as my mum would’ve said “it was a tough old pig” 😆 I actually could not eat it and left most of it on the plate. The accompanying Knoedels were dry and tasteless also, and look it was just a really shit meal. There is no other way to put it. Worst meal of the trip by far. Very disappointing.

Graz what are you doing to me????? I know there is some good food here somewhere!!

Luckily the night was saved by ice cream. We walked by an Eis Greisler on our way home and couldn’t resist. Luckily, it was good!

April 28, 2023 by blainie

Back to the homeland

Time to leave Vienna today…one last breakfast at the cafe at the markets.

You know we are leaving a city when the sun is shining. Happens almost every single time.

We love the Karmelitermarkt- seems people open stalls and shops if and when they feel like it. My kind of market.

Oh and one last trip to Billa to stock up on food for the trip.

Our first stop today was the Vienna woods. We decided to get a quick walk in before we headed to Graz. It was more of a nature park I guess.

Love these signs in the park.

The park had some animal in enclosures (goats, donkeys etc) but it also had wild boar roaming around. The boar are apparently used to people so they are (mostly) not dangerous, but they are still wild. We had a few walk by us.

We found a castle (ruins) at the top of a steep hill we wanted to see.

It was actually a bit of a trek up the side of a hill, but it was really cool, so definitely worth it.

We were hungry by now, so sat down on some benches by the castle to have lunch. We had cleverly packed some rolls to eat.

After lunch we walked up another hill to some more castle ruins. Lots of castle ruins around here apparently.

Then continued on our journey through the woods. It was a lovely walk. We stopped for a rest in a big paddocky area on a sun bed.

At the end of the hike, you can see where we walked to

On our way out I couldn’t resist buying the cute baby boar soft toy. Also there were a bunch of school kids in the cafe screaming at the tops of their voices and running in circles through the place. It was all a bit much really.

Time to leave the Vienna woods

On our way to Graz, we stopped in a town called Baden. We actually wanted to go to the Therme Baths there, but it was getting late and we didn’t really have time. Instead we had coffee and cake at a very cute cafe. It was even sunny – so we got to sit outside in the sun.

Oh and we were quite convinced for a while that Jack Nicholson was sitting at a table a bit further up from us. This guy REALLY looked like him! But he was speaking German, so we are guessing it is unlikely.

Jack Nicholson in the background? You be the judge.

Continued on our way and stopped for a toilet break at a really cool restaurant along the highway that had some very beautiful views.

Got in to Graz quite late and our hotel was pretty rubbish to be honest (more on this place later….) We ate cheese and crackers for dinner at the desk in the room as nothing near us seemed to be open.

Even though it was getting late, we decided to walk in to the town centre. We made it all the way to the Clocktower.

On the walk back to our hotel, we were stopped by a group of guys out on a Bucks Night. I’ll let you figure out for yourselves what is happening in these photos. Needless to say, Steve took the task very seriously.