Pyjamaparty!

7 Mädchen aus Emilie‘s klasse übernachteten bei Ihr. Es war ein Wahnsinnserlebnis, für Emilie wie auch für Ihre Eltern J

Nach einen Schnitzeljagd die zum Pyjamatorte hinführte, haben die Mädels mit Tanz, Spiele und Kiddi-Disco so richtig erst gefeiert. Da kamen die Matratzen im Schlaflager auch sehr zu gute!

Vielen Dank von Emilie und Ihre Eltern an alle Mädels die da waren – es war ein tolles Fest!

Mariazell and Pentecost always means a long weekend away with the friends in our church, filled with fun, adventure, teaching and “get to know each other better” type of quality time away from it all. This year was no different. We had a nip of bad weather with rain and even some snow on the highest slopes around us on the day before we arrived, which even for Mariazell is a bit unusual at this time of the year. You’re so “into each other”, enjoying the company of your brother and sisters in the Lord, that it is easy to forget the time and the camera! We managed to grab a few photos on Sunday afternoon, hiking around the beautiful lake Hubertussee.

Most funny experience was when I made a joke with some of the kids: “Whoever sits on top of the ants nest for a minute gets my ten Euro”, and little Moritz did (See the pic below)  At least I learned a lesson that day.

This winter I spent a week skiing in Defereggental in Ost Tirol in Austria. We were invited to stay with friends in St. Jakob, the little village just below the peaks of the “small” and “big” Leppleskofl, the two peaks of the Defereggen Mountains which are part of the Alps on Ost Tirol in southern Austria.  The lifts take you up on the “Moser Alm” which is an excellent and family friendly ski area. There’s a big cabin lift taking you up above the tree line and three rather big open lifts up at the Leppleskofl to take you around the various slopes. You are up at 2500 m. with a great view where you on sunny days can see across into Italy.

Actually, you can drive by car up through the valley and over the little mountain pass “Staller Sattel” into Italy, but the road is only open in summer as it is extremely steep and narrow on the Italian side. We did this last summer in our BMW Cabrio – which is the whole reason to have a cab in the first place!

Celebrating new years in St. Jakob was a different experience. We had dinner with the kids late at night in a local Gasthaus were the offered a splendid menu for the night including a steak of the local “Alm Ochse”. Then to see the fireworks flashing up the whole valley at night was something special indeed.

For food you should also try the local “Schlipfkrapfen”, which is a Defereggen specialty, a kind of pasta filled with potato mash and herbs. They serve this at the “Alte Stalle”, a beautiful old ski hut near “Maria Hilf”, the next village up the valley from St. Jakob. A friend from earlier, Alois surprised us there by serving us. Otherwise a carpenter, he said he was helping his friend out over the season – and us to bigger portions!

To get there you hike up the mountain trail, but we got a lift with the sled pulled by a tractor from the Stalle. Downwards in easy, you just take one of the many bobs (Rodeln) the house provides for and take off down the mountain. Very funny to see all the drunken Germans disappear left and right into the woods…

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Timea and me spent one week in southern Tuscany in Italy this July. We stayed at a nice hotel close to Porto San Stefano on the half island of Monte Argentino. About 1 hour away, you can reach Isola del Giglio with the ferry. From the top of the island you can see Monte Christo! The waters around the island are protected and is very popular with scuba divers and great for snorkeling, which we had to try.

We drove around some in the BMW into the country. Awesome roads over the hills and through the valleys here. We came upon Saturnia – a natural spa sprouting hot sulfuric water into basins formed by age, rounded and full of small sulphur coated pepples. Amazing, the place is open all year around and is free to enter (gotta be the only one in Italy!).

We had fish the whole week. Amazing the quality of slow food you get here, and the wine!  We visited our favorite restaurant and winery in Lamole, off the old main road from Firenze to Siena in Greve in Chianti. The wine, Lamole di Lamole is just about the best you can get in Chianti.

Very happy, we drove home to Vienna over Castasegna into Switzerland and visited friends in St. Moritz. The road up over the pass is amazing. I never seen such a steep climb and many turns up such a sheer wall as this road took us. After sleeping over, we drove on through the Inn-valley down to Landeck in Tirol, where the motorway joins.

Göran Askeljung

This is a video from my experience driving around in Tuscany in the BMW Z3. Check out for the 3-wheeler at the end!