Christmas Day

I woke up this morning at about 07:00. It was still dark but I could see the clouds scudding up the valley. As Uschi and I walked out of the room to breakfast we could see there had been a very light fall of snow. It looked like rain but fell a lot slower. The mix is more rain and less snow now but there is still a white frosting on the buildings outside. We are just across the road from Uschi's baptismal church. Apart from the normal cheeses and meats on the breakfast buffet there is bacon and omelette available. There is also a champagne available with the juices. [A truck with a snow shovel for clearing the roads has just gone past]

The trip up yesterday was fairly easy with the Tomtom showing the way. We got straight up to Thoerl. There was a little rain on the way but not much. We went through a couple of longish tunnels, about 2-3 km. When the Tomtom lost the GPS signal the music stopped too! Last night we had our evening meal with the Fs at Mitzi's house in Thoerl. The Hs were also there. After tea the presents were handed out - great good impressions from Uschi's cards and the song book of Christine went around several hands. Mitzi said it was better than gold.

17:00 in the home of Giesl and MaxUchi and I took Christine and Mitzi to visit them. I think it was a prearranged visit. The old couple had a huge dish of biscuits on the table when we arrived and plied us with herbal tea. Max spiked it with cherry rum which made the room seem hugely hot and gave me a headache. After encouraging us to eat the biscuit mountain they then bought out a cake to have with coffee. Max also poured everyone an Almdudler at the same time as we got the tea. My headache was getting pretty bad so I headed outside for half an hour. When I got back I was just in time to join in with a meat platter. These meat platters seem to be the in thing for special occasions in this part of Austria. Only Uschi and I, and to a lesser extent Mitzi, ate from the platter. We are all too full from eating for the last two days.

Lunchtime we had a big meal of meat pieces, probably turkey, cooked in a white sauce. Also served was a soft noodle (Austrian, I think) with a green sauce. There was a side salad of lettuce with pumpkin seed oil (Kürbiskernöl). A very Styrian salad.