Lower Belvedere Garden During a Rain Shower |
Hi Everyone!
Hope you’re having a great
day today. Yeah, I know, I should have warned you about not being here the last
two weeks but the fact is I think I’ll be taking off most Julys and Augusts in
the future. This is for a variety of reasons, one of which is the heatwaves
that seem to be part of the weather landscape right now. And frankly, it’s not
going to change but that’s for another day and another blog.
We have come through two
scathing hot weeks that I felt I wasn’t going to survive. We even did a
staycation this past weekend only because we couldn’t find somewhere cooler to
travel to and rented a car so we could go see the Perseids late last week. It
was a nice little Mercedes and I didn’t even ask to drive it once. The DH even
commented that I must not be feeling well since I’ve always driven the cars we’ve
rented over here. Hey, they’ve been great cars by and large…so why not?
Anyway, he was correct in
assessing my well-being as I was not reacting great to the heat and high
humidity. It was easier for me to crawl into bed with a good book than it was
to sit at the computer to do anything. I was that miserable. I thought it was
me just being a whiney butt only to find out many people were feeling the same
effects. At least that made me feel not so bad but it did point out my inadequacies
as far as getting words on the page.
The one thing I am sad to
note is that Europe is going to have to change its attitudes about summer heat
and air conditioning. Most nights when we were out on walks, we’d find people
surrounding the many fountains just to get a cool breeze because it was cooler
than their homes. Most places in Europe do not have A/C and that includes the
new places being built. We were lucky as it was put in after we took the flat. This
also includes hotels. So if you’re booking a European vacation, remember to ask
about A/C and plan accordingly. The summers are getting hotter here and the
very young as well as the very old do not tolerate it well. So things have to
change.
My writing habits will start
getting better this week now that I’m functioning but I still need to add more.
This week’s inspiration came in spades as we went to a place called Grossmugl
and did part of their Star Walk. You can find out more about them here
and here
and even here.
It was one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been. However, getting
there was a little exciting.
We had rented the car earlier
in the day but didn’t leave until just about 11 pm as we wanted to get the best
views possible. Vienna actually dims a lot of their lights past that time and
we thought maybe the visibility would be great somewhere in the city but no
such luck. So we decided to get out of town where there were no lights. Turns
out that was the least of our worries. While the directions were clear, the
road signs weren’t and we found ourselves going about 5-10 miles out of our way
just to find a turn around.
Once we got on the right
track again, I noted to the DH that he needed to slow down so I could see the
signs. Sure enough, he had to back up in the middle of the road as it was
easier than turning around. Finally, we’re on the right road and got to an
intersection where I felt we needed to turn left and was supported by the hard
copy map. Not good enough, he wanted to see it on GPS. Turns out I do know my
directions and off we went.
Since by this time, it was
sometime after 1 am, we stealthy went through town as we expected to see some
signage indicating the start of the Star Walk. Fie on us for thinking it would
be that easy! But at least this time, we found an easy turn around spot. I was
looking for stars and when I read the description again, it jumped out that the
stars were actually on the ground. Finally, we found the pub where it started
and sure enough, there were stars on the asphalt. So we started to follow the
stars.
Now, for whatever reason, it
hadn’t sunk in that this walk was actually through private farm property for much
of it. As we follow the stars to where the pavement ended and the country lane
began, we wondered just what we got ourselves into. We’re slinking around
houses and found ourselves in a tree tunnel that is very reminiscent of the
ones you’d see in a horror flick. Yeah, you know where my mind went as we could
hear others somewhere on the walk, lots of rustling in the underbrush and every
little distinct noise. It was so eerie in spots that Pup Harry didn’t like it
either.
We walk up a small rise and I
comment that I wonder where it will end when suddenly we pop out of the tunnel.
All we could say was ‘Wow’ as our gaze was pulled to the sky. I have never seen
the Milky Way as much as I did that night. It was an experience to remember. We
stayed about 20 minutes just standing and watching the sky. We saw about 20
meteors during that time and were very jazzed. The DH didn’t want to sit down as
he was really afraid that he’d fall asleep.
When it was time to go, we backtracked
through the scary tunnel, past the farm house that suddenly had barking dogs to
our car. Vienna had seemed so far away when we were out in the field but once
we got into the car and took off, we discovered it was only about 40 minutes
from our flat. Needless to say, we slept in the next day as it was around 3 am
when we got to our place and had a very lazy Friday.
Sorry that I didn’t take any
pictures…I can’t believe I didn’t…the picture is from Lower Belvedere taken during one of the rain showers last year. Hope you enjoyed this little look into
Austria and beyond. See you all next week!
Lynn
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