The Adventures of Mrs. Muller: Day 4 & 5 - New Year’s Eve and Day!

New Year’s Eve 2018

We stayed very close to home on New Year’s Eve. It was weird to be away from Scott Babe, but he was touched with the New Year’s Eve card I mailed him a day before I left for Austria. ♥

Spar grocery store in Gmünd:

Alcohol is cheap here!

British cheddar next to the local cheese.

I was definitely eyeing this, but Scott Babe hates Monopoly. :(

Our cart. Getting ready for tonight!

Gmünd again, but this time for lunch:

For lunch, the five of us drove to Gmünd -- the village next to Trebesing.

When I visited back in Feb. 2016, this fortress restaurant was closed like many others due to winter break. It was open during this trip. :)

The classic Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of my favorite foods. I ordered it!

And this, too. No surprise, huh?!

This was DELICIOUS.

Pumpkin soup with Schlag.

Wolfgang's pork chop.

Nicole and Sven both ordered the Spätzle with speck and cheese.

My Cordon Bleu was delicious.

Uncle Wolfgang with Angelina :)

Before this trip, I hadn't seen Sven since I left as an exchange student in 1990.

To the cellar!

I'm told that this was the toilet. Yikes! (The board you sat on had a hole that let everything just drop to the ground, into a pit.)

Dessert at Nußbaumer:

Zodiac sugar! I'm Virgo!

I laugh when seeing that Herring Salad sign in the background. This dish is popular during New Year's and, way back during my study abroad, Sven and I got extremely sick from my host mother's leftovers of it. That was the only time I got sick. Her Austrian and Italian cooking was top notch, but refrigeration was another story.

It's almost midnight!

Austrian white wine :)

Angelina eating solid food for the FIRST TIME!!!♥

Wolfgang did a lovely job on our Häppchen! (small bites!)

"Silvester Show" (New Year's Eve show!)

Clip of Nicole above.

The neighbor below us put on a great firework show!

Champagne and Rummikub!

Vati gave me a pig for good luck!

It was difficult to be away from Scott Babe and especially on a holiday. I had surprised him with a New Year's card I mailed to him before my flight. He was very touched. This pic with Ginger was just taken as I'm working on this posting - July 21st.

New Year's Day:

Morning view from the balcony :)

Katschberg Ski Resort:

Wolfgang and I drove a half hour to Katschberg for lunch and sledding.

I can ski, but as I get older, I feel safer on a sled! We were on track at this point. After we parked the car, Wolfgang asked somebody which direction the sledding was. From here, you can see the arrow pointing to "Rodelweg" (sledding path).

I'm not sure at what point we screwed up. The following pictures would never have happened if we were going the direct route.

"Rest a little!" written in the local dialect.

The Katschberg Advent trail.

Love, Believe, & Hope

My pics don't show the sweat and agony of literally walking up this steep ski slope! I must have stopped every few feet to take a breath.

Each heart represents a couple that tied the knot at the chapel.

Gamskogelhütte:

I was told later that evening by a family member that these two items don't go together! I was taken aback and thought, "Whose vacation is this?! Not sure when I will be back. I'll order my favorite foods, thanks."

1850 meters (6070 feet) above sea level

The sledding was fun, but the trail was much too short.

Kremsbrücke:

We stopped in the village of Kremsbrücke on the way home.

We had a drink at Gasthof Glanzer, built in the middle of the 16th century under Emperor Ferdinand I as a tollbooth between the then Habsburg Carinthia and the Archdiocese of Salzburg.