Bad Aussee Wochenende

This weekend Johannes and I had a great weekend of traveling across Austria.  We left Wr. Neustadt early Saturday morning by train to Bad Aussee.  There we met his aunt & uncle to go shopping for some traditional Ausseer "Trachten".   Johannes was in search of a suit...we walked out of the shop with a vest, some wool socks and a fabulous new pair of lederhosen :)  After shopping we were treated to a great lunch at Blaa Alm, a restaurant high atop a mountain near Altaussee.

Traditional Lunch at Blaa Alm

Traditional Lunch at Blaa Alm-  Kaeseknock'n

From there we got a tour of the famous lakes of Altaussee & Grundlsee and finally ended up at Stoawandla, the mountain farmstead where Johannes' grandparents are from. We spent the afternoon visiting, hiking and exploring.

The Very Picturesque Altausseersee

 Johannes near one of the tiny cabins in the mountains near Stoawandla

The next morning, we caught an early train to Graz where we met Johannes' sister Kathi, walked around the Hauptplatz 'Graz-Festival' that was taking place, and later visited the outskirts of the city where Johannes' aunt & uncle live.

Johannes showing off his new lederhosen at Grazfest

We shortly headed via train to Hartberg where we met Johannes' parents, had a great Jause dinner & ice cream, and finally headed to bed.  I had to take a very early train from Hartberg back to Vienna this morning since I had to work.  Today's tour group was great...even though it rained non-stop all day!  I'll be doing tours and office work this week & hopefully getting a little bit more work on my cycling book done.  

Today's Cycle Touring Group- Decked out in Ponchos in front of Duernstein