Hello from Austria!!! April 8

Guten Morgen!

Hello friends and family! Reporting in from Volkermarkt Austria! Our flight over was excellent... all four of them! By the time we arrived in Munich, Germany, the kids said they never wanted to see another airplane in their lives... only to board one more to Austria. When we arrived (12:30 pm), we were greeted at the airport by Gerd and Kathi's brother who drove us on a tour around the city. We then made our way to the Bosse's house where Kathi was waiting with homemade chicken noodle soup. The kids crashed without eating and woke at about 11:00 that evening, ate and then went back to sleep only to be wide awake at three o'clock in the morning! It took us a few days to be on Austrian time. This was the beginning of eating and more eating. Kathi prepares a huge breakfast of porridge, then toast with cheeses and meats and jam and fruit and tea and coffee... and just when you are stuffed, they say, come on and eat something! Weäve all gained 10 pounds!

We spent a wonderful daz at Burg Hochosterwitz, which is a castle near St. Veit. The kids were in heaven as they explored the gates and old stone structures. We walked to the top and toured around the castle, leaving not a piece unexplored! Parker was amazed at the swords and armour and battle regalia... a real boy's heaven!

On Monday we hiked around Kloppeiner See (Lake) which is a must do with every visit to Gerd and Kathys. At the end of the walk, Parker and Keona jumped in for a swim - the water was very cold but they enjoyed the dip.

On Tuesday we took the train to Venice and had an amazing 24 hours in that wonderful city. We left the train and walked through the city to San Marco Square. We met a young couple from Israel who had a map and we all got lost many times together on the way. After about an hour of walking through streets wide enough for only two people to walk side-by-side, we arrived at the famous square (A World Heritage Site). We were surprised at how busy it was for April. We made our way to the water-bus station, which was a dock, and took the water bus to the island of Lido where our hotel was. On the way we stopped at San Elena and took a picture for you, Elena! We arrived at our hotel which was very nice, had a little rest and then walked across the island (its only a few blocks wide) to a sandy beach. We had our first Italian pizza and ate it at the beach. We soon made our way back to the hotel for a short rest, then took the water taxi back to the main city. The sun was setting over Venice (into the pollution!) and we took some spectacular photos. We returned to the hotel tired and happy. Yesterday we awoke and took a tour, which was arranged by our hotel, to the island of Murano where the glass artists live and work. It was a real wow! Watching the artists at work and hearing their storz was truly amazing, and it would be very easy(and fortunate) to spend a few thousand dollars on any of the beautiful glass works! After the tour, our taxi, a wooden power boat that was made of teak and cherry wood in show room condition, returned us to St. Marcos. The scenery was different than Quatsino - more boats and the water is green and Parker said if he lived in Venice he would definitely have a boat and drive tourists around!

Our train ride back through Italy was beautiful... so many vineyards and mountain tunnels...

Today we are going to have coffee with the choirmaster who I met 22 years ago when I first came here with the choir from Powell River. Tomorrow we are off for Wienerschnitzel about 10km away. We then will pack our bags and prepare for the flight on Saturday morning to Istanbul.

The weather is sunny and hot... we all have the beginnings of tans. About 26 degrees celsius in the afternoon sun... and even warmer in Venice. Feels like summmer!

We will sign off now, as we "must be back at 1:00 for dinner... you must eat more!" We need to eat now so we will be able to stuff ourselves full of cake and coffee an hour later!

We will try to post our photos tomorrow... we are out of time now but will return tomorrow afternoon... between cake and cake! (I told Parker and Keona to enjoy it now because chocolate cake for dinner won't be a tradition we will take home with us!

We hope all is well back home. The earthquake here in the south was devastating... but we felt nothing. Thank you for your messages and well wishes on the blog...

Auf Wiedersehen
xoxo Lorill, Jim, Keona and Parker
ps Jim had the chance to sing opera in Venice which amazed almost no one ; but he IS an Italian man:-)