Day 11

Today is our last day in Belgium. 

We wanted to do some shopping today so asked about the best place to buy chocolates. 

We got up, had breakfast and went off to to explore by ourselves.  We went into Bouillon early then discovered that all the shops are closed on a Monday!!! We wandered around and took some photos but the weather was very dull and overcast so we didn't stay long.

We then drove to Florenville where the best chocolate shop is supposed to be. Again, most of the shops were closed but that one was open.  BUT the chocolates were SO expensive that we only bought one small packet for €9!!

We decided to return to the Abbey to buy some beer as a gift for P with chocolates for his wife. The roads were very quiet and so when we arrived there was no problem with parking close by. We bought a case of beer and a small gift pack for us which contained an Orval beer glass. 

Our final trip was to the local Aldi and a Carrefour supermarket. I actually bought real French champagne in Aldi for the price of a good bottle of wine in England.  In the supermarket was a chocolate shop with more reasonable prices so I bought all my gifts here. 

We returned to the hotel and I packed, ready for leaving early in the morning. Our Eurotunnel train isn't until 14.50 but we are leaving early so we can go to the Cite Europe shopping mall next to the Eurotunnel as it's supposed to be excellent.

I also visited the grave again because today was the actual anniversary of the plane crash. It was eeire, because when I walked up to the grave the choir was inside the church practising and singing Abide with Me. 

We have had a wonderful trip but I will be glad to get home tomorrow and back in to the swing of things again. AND I'm missing the dog!

Day 10

It's 10am and I'm sitting outside Les Anges, waiting for P to arrive. The only sounds I can hear are those of the birds chirping and the wind rustling in the trees. It's such a peaceful place, I could get used to staying here.

We visited the church next door first and went inside. It's a very plain church, totally different than the ones in Austria that we are used to. I was delighted to see the glass picture on display on the lectern. When I looked at it I saw it was the one I had given to P. The one I had given to the village was in the small museum down the road and they asked to keep his in the church, so both pictures are in the village!

We went outside and visited the graves of the airmen. I left flowers and a poppy, with a dedication from Ormskirk School. 

From here we drove to the crash site where I placed a single white rose and another poppy with the same dedication. A Union Jack is placed on the grave every year for the anniversary of the crash on July 14th. 

After this P took us on a tour of the area showing us various places where incidents had taken place during the war and telling us the stories. 

We went to his house for lunch, meeting his family yet again. This was interesting as they spoke no English and my French is negligible! It's lucky that P is fluent in English!

After a wonderful lunch we were off on our travels again. This time we were taken to visit Orval Abbey, occupied by Cistercian monks who make beer! The buildings had been rebuilt in loa all sandstone,  having been destroyed during the French reformation. It is only a short distance from the French border.

We spent the rest of our afternoon here and then it began to pour with torrential rain. this brought the tour to an en end and we retrained to Les Anges, shattered. 

Day 9

Well, the final day has come for us to leave Wiadring and the farm that had been our home for the past seven days.

We got up early and were about to leave at 7.30am when our hostess came out with two boxes of eggs for us!  I was delighted  and will look forward to having them when we get home.

The weather was dreadful, torrential rain for much of the journey. That, together with the constant  stretches of roadworks, made the journey difficult to say the least. The services were all busy and we even saw a coach from Barnsley!

The drive wasn't tiring and we had both Disco Sally and TomTom Sally working together, but I didn't trust either of them! In the end we switched the latter off, as she kept losing the GPS signal. 

We arrived at the fuel station in Luxembourg after travelling for eight hours. We then had another 90 mins to go before we got to our bed for the night in Les Hayons, Belgium. 

We finally arrived at 5.15 pm, a journey of nearly ten hours. The B&B, Les Anges, is lovely and decorated in the distressed French style. The owner is very nice and had a pot of tea for us to have with our extra Cafe Schmid cake. We brought a slice for our friend P and he came to see us once we had settled in. We had a lovely evening, just chatting, which was great because we hadn't had time when we met last year. P is taking us out for the day tomorrow, he's arranged a 'programme' for us!!!

When he left we retired for the night and watched TV on the internet, just to relax after such a long day. I think we will both sleep well tonight!

No photos today, put there will be plenty from tomorrow's adventure!

Day 8

Today we had an easier day and just visited local places. 

Our first stop was at Sankt Johann, about 15 mins away from Waidring. We go to visit our friends, Robert and Anne Marie, who have a jewellery shop in the town. I needed a new watch strap, so we went there first. Unluckily, Anne Marie was not in the shop today, which was a shame, so we didn't stay too long as Robert was busy.

Friday is Farmers Market day in St Johann, and the reason we waited before visiting. Last year I found a lovely stall which sell natural toiletries - bath salts, lavender, oils etc. I especially liked an oil that I have been using instead of perfume, but I only bought a small bottle last year, just to try it. This year I wanted a larger one, so we eventually found the lady selling it. 

She makes amazing gift wrap for the items she sells, at no extra cost. She really presents them extremely well. I took some photos of her and her products. 

We then travelled onward to Kitzbuhel, about a ten minute drive. We were astonished to find that the Hornbahn (gondola lift) car park was no longer free! What was worse was that it is now the most expensive car park we have ever stopped in, so next year I will find somewhere else. Goodness knows what the people who spend the day on the Kitzbuheler Horn mountain think about that!

As usual, we walked around the town then went for coffee to 'people watch'. It's very interesting watching the world go by in this town. Just seeing the cars, Ferraris, high end BMWs, and some we don't even recognise, show how the other half lives. AND the outfits some people wear are unbelievable!

As we had to be back in Waidring to see our friend E, we returned to the farm for lunch. As her house is short distance away, we walked in the rain - yes, yet again it was raining!

We had a lovely visit, but then had to leave as we needed to fill the car with fuel for our long journey to Belgium early tomorrow morning. We drove to Lofer again, as this is where we found the fuel to be the cheapest by a great deal per litre. I also managed to get our son's gift, which I had been hunting for - Jegermeister and Milka chocolate, a great combination!

Naturally, our last stop was Cafe Schmid for our very last treat. I had an extremely large strawberry sundae, in fact I nearly didn't finish it, but I did, just to show the empty glass!

We bought cake to take with us as a gift for our friend in Belgium and then we said our fond goodbyes.
They are a lovely family, but then again, everyone we know in Waidring is friendly. I suppose it's because we have been visiting the village for eighteen years!!!!!

Roll on next year!

Day 7

As I said, we got up early this morning and left the hotel by 8am, eager to get back to Waidring.
However, Disco Sally had other ideas!

Instead of going the reverse of the route in to Vienna, she decided to take us out a very convoluted way! We came across closed roads so had to wing it ourselves in negotiating the diversions, which were NOT clear. Fortunately I seem to have a built in sat nav so eventually found my way out but it took us half an hour instead of 10 mins!

Once we were on the autobahn all was well. The weather was fine and sunny and we had a three hour journey ahead of us. The services vary though and, as we wanted to top up the fuel, we had to be selective. I picked one that had everything. As I pulled in to the fuel pump and stopped I heard a noise from the rear of the car. A little man had run to the back and was undoing the filler cap! I got out and he immediately launched into reasonable English, pleased as punch to be able to fill the English car! He asked us where we were from, where we were staying, were we enjoying our visit - everything he could think of! It was really funny!

We continued our journey then, about 30 mins later someone started pipping their horn at us. It was another English car - a rarity! He passed and we flashed 'hello' then we went on our way. 
A few minutes later we saw the traffic ahead slowing right down. There had been a very serious accident that had clearly not long happened. We suddenly realised that if we hadn't stopped when we had that we would probably been caught up in it.

Once we reached Salzburg we decided to visit Hangar 7 at Salzburg Airport. This is the HQ of Red Bull and where they have a free exhibition. We visit this every year as each time the display is different. Plus, is is a good place to eat (even though it's expensive).

This was the end of our travels today. We went back to the farm and later went down to Cafe Schmid. Today's delight was Chocolate Sundae - scrumptious! The diet starts when I return home!

Day 6

Vienna.
We left the farm early to travel to the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. It was a dreadful journey because it was really raining heavily for most of the way. We nearly changed our plans, but as we got closer the sky became brighter, so we took the chance.

We were glad we did because although the sky in Vienna was overcast, it didn't rain during our visit. The palace was very impressive, but photos weren't allowed inside, which was a shame.

It was quite expensive to get in, then there was the 40p for the loo (each!!!) then we had to wait 45 mins for the next tour. To waste time we went to the Apple Strudel shop for a snack. One COLD piece of strudel and a coffee was £8!! The strudel wasn't the best we've tasted either, as they had definitely overdone the cinnamon - so no, I wouldn't recommend it.

These Privi Gardens below were another £2.50 each to visit, although they were good, they should have been included in the overall price.

I have to say that although it was beautiful, it could still be easily compared with Chatsworth in England. In fact, I think that I prefer Chatsworth because of the vast grounds surrounding the house. Yes, the palace gardens are very formal and a work of art, but there isn't the space outside.

We finished there by 2pm, so we checked into our hotel, left the car parked up and walked into the centre of Vienna. I was aiming for the Kunsthistoriche Museum, and the Egyptology section. It took us a while to find it, but it was in the most fabulous building. Internally, it was more like a palace than Schonbrun!

The Egyptology section was extremely well presented. They have even copied tomb ceilings. They have some excellent exhibits and so I took lots of photos in readiness for future lessons!!
These are just a few.

After the visit we decided to find the main shopping area which was a short deviation from our route back to the hotel. The road was SO long! We were so tired that we fell into MacDonald's, just so we could sit down. It was very nice and surprisingly inexpensive compared to the UK prices. 
Once rested we made our way back to the hotel (slowly), buying baguettes for our evening meal, as we couldn't face going out again.

There was free wi fi at the hotel so we could watch English TV channels on the internet once we had collapsed onto the bed! We didn't move again all night and decided to leave early after breakfast and make our way back to the farm. We had had enough of Vienna.

We were't very impressed with Vienna. We were surprised by the graffiti everywhere, it really spoils the city. The old buildings were interesting, but to be honest, it was a city just like any other big city. Maybe we didn't see the right parts, but that's why we walked everywhere.
We certainly won't visiting again. Next time it will be Innsbruck.

Day 5

Today we went to Berchtesgaden in Germany. It's about a 50 minute drive from where we are staying in Waidring.
It's a very famous place due to the fact that Hitler had what was called his 'Eagles Nest' there. It is a house built right on top of a mountain, perched in fact, as there is nothing around it at all except sheer drops. It has fantastic views all around and it is now a restaurant and tourist attraction, where nationalities from all around the world visit. The ironic thing is that Hitler only visited a few times because he was scared of heights!

We had our usual walk around the town, stop for coffee and then shopping. Despite my determination NOT to buy anything I found some excellent shirts that will be ideal for my next trip to Egypt. There were dark clouds approaching so we left just in time to miss the heavy downpour but the mountain looked amazing, cloaked in black.

On the way back to the car we came across a man carving a statue from wood, just by the side of the road!

From Berchestesgaden we went back over the border into Austria. Disco Sally makes us laugh as every time we cross a border she welcomes us to the new country!

We made our way to St Martin bei Lofer, a tiny hamlet that has the most amazing house, in fact it's known locally as the Flower House. 

We walked around the corner from here to the 17th C church, inside which is the body of a martyr, St Gaudentius. The skeleton is covered in stockinette and there are jewels all over it.

From here we went back down the road to the larger village of Lofer. This is one of our favourite places, mainly because the film 'Where Eagles Dare' was made. There is a wonderful war memorial that was disguised for the film, but is amazing to look at, as it's next to a tree that grows bigger every year. The house behind it was used for a main part of the film with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. They stayed in the nearby hotel and the residents still remember Burton drinking a bottle of whiskey a night when he stayed there with Elizabeth Taylor!

We went to our regular shop, Farbinger, looking for more shirts for me, but ended up leaving with a coat each, reduced in the sale, naturally! 

After this, we of course made our way to Cafe Schmid, where this time I had a hot black currant with ice cream/cream dessert - delicious!

Whilst I was there someone had a massive fruit one, how they eat it is beyond me!

Day 4

Monday July 7th

Today we were up early. I had breakfast outside again, I could get used to this decadence!

Our trip today was to Wattens, the home of Swarovski crystal, followed by Rattenberg, the glass capital of Austria.

I only visit Wattens now so that I can visit the largest Swarovski shop in the world and also the VIP lounge. I have seen the Crystalwelten many times and it is too 'arty' for me.

Only Swarovski members are allowed in the lounge and there are special advantages to this. There are complimentary refreshments but also a display of all the Swarovski annual editions. I was pleased to see that I had five full collections, 15 years worth. 

The young ladies there are always very welcoming and members get a special gift for each annual visit. This year is a beautiful blue stone with eagles etched on it, particularly relevant to me because of Horus. UI even bought something here, something I have never done before.This year I took some photos to show how stunning the Crystalwelten shop and lounge are.

There were many English people there today as the was a Shearings coach trip from the UK.

After this we went to Rattenberg. I shop for all my glass here every year. This year I can bring home so much more because we are not flying, so I think I went a little mad. I have bought vases and glass flowers, I just couldn't resist them!!! I had expected it to be busy, but it wasn't. What was funny was hearing the voices of people from the north of England, that Shearings coach trip seemed to be following us!

The town of Rattenburg is very old, medieval I think, so it's lovely to see all of the old buildings. Many of them are now shops and they go straight back into the mountain.  It's amazing walking inside as it becomes quite cold when you get deep into the back of the shops.

We left wonderful Rattenberg and made our way back to the farm and off course, Cafe Schmid. I hadn't eaten any lunch in preparation for today's choice, banana split. These are enormous and are two bananas on a dinner plate with four scoops of ice cream, whipped cram, chocolate sauce and strawberries. We had this quite early as we intended going out into the village for dinner.

When we got back to the farm, we had surprise visitors. Our friend E, the daughter in law of our hostess, came to see us with her two girls, one 4yrs old and one 8 months. We were amazed to hear that E had been dangerously ill very recently. She was now fully recovered but to look at her I would never have guessed that she had been so ill.
It just shows how you cannot guess what the future holds for us all!