December 17, 2012-
Good morning!
It's what….4:30 AM!?! Well, I guess we managed to sleep in an extra hour and a half. I think we'll watch some German TV until it's time to head to breakfast at 7:30 am.
A few more views of the breakfast room:
Opa just called (good thing he lent us that phone!) and he asked if we could change our schedule for today. We'd originally planned on going to Muerzzuschlag with him today and going to Mariazell tomorrow but he asked if we wouldn't mind swapping our activities. No problem!
Mariazell is a great little town- maybe an hour's drive away. The church there is interesting and there is a shop that sells the best lebkuchen.
Our favorite lebkuchen store:
Rats! We missed the Christkindlmarkt! The stalls (behind us) are all closed.
We walked around the impressive cathedral before figuring out it was open for viewing. We didn't take any photos of the interior of the cathedral – it was as lovely as ever with several real trees with a few Christmas decorations (only a handful of straw stars) – very minimalistic but also very lovely in its simplicity.
We all ate such a large breakfast that we're really not hungry for a full meal. Let's stop in at Pirker to stock up on their lebkuchen and eat a treat there.
I think a little walk up the mountain would do us all some good. Plus, we just can't get enough of the FRESH AIR! It's such a nice change for us from the smoggy and stinky place we live now.
I'm not familiar with the lay-out of Mariazell but it appears the little road we were walking up adjoins a ski slope. I wonder why the lift isn't running and why there is no one here. Perhaps not enough snow??? Or maybe it's closed on Mondays??? Oh well…Annika rediscovered Penguin Sliding (that's what she calls sliding on her tummy down a snowy slope).
Our parking meter is about to run out of time so I think we'd better head back to the car. Plus, Mark and the girls really want to try skiing in Turnau. Good idea!
It looks like we've got a few hours left before the ski lift closes in Turnau. There is a ski rental place right down the street from our gasthaus….which we've rented from before. The gentleman running the rental store makes renting skis a breeze.
There are two ski slopes in Turnau but only one with snow. (how strange that there is so little snow here!!!)
I'm not going to go skiing – my tummy is giving me grief and I don't feel like going tumbling skiing down the mountain. 😉
Ava played in the snow while Mark and Annika went skiing. And I just watched everyone. :-)
The ski lift closes in a few minutes so let's go ahead and return our skis to the rental shop. We've asked about where we can eat dinner tonight and it turns out that we have to wait about two hours until dinner time. I think we'll hang out in our little rental house and watch cartoons in German.
Dinner at the nearby restaurant/gasthaus was uneventful. It was an adequate meal – not stellar – but it was food. It's not late but we're ready to crash for the night.
Tomorrow we're taking Opa to Muerzzuschlag.
Good night!!!