a great time with the family...

This weekend I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with my wonderful grandparents in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. I left Friday at 12:57 pm from the South Banhof Station in Vienna and arrived in Villach, Austria at 5:45 pm. The trip went rather smoothly, I read a book and listened to the smooth sounds of my Ipod. I am so grateful for who ever invented the Ipod. This little contraption helped to somewhat block out the sound of three screaming babies in my cabin. Once I arrived in Villach, I had some what of a problem finding Opa and Eric. They happened to have been on the wrong platform, which left both parties weary. After 10 minutes of searching, we found each other at the bottom of the stairs between the two differing platforms. When I left Vienna, the day was cold and wet, however, when I arrived in Villach it was clear and pleasant. We packed ourselves in Eric's BMW and traveled through the Alps to our hotel. The hotel that we stayed in was the Hotel Eschenhof, which is rated top in the area. It was a very beautiful hotel that was set close to the village. That night we had a very nice meal. I had veal schnitzel with a cold salad and warm bread. It was so nice to be surrounded by family. I had a wonderful time getting to know Aunt Desiree, cousin Sierra (2nd grade), and Uncle Eric, for it was the first time I had the opportunity to meet them . The next morning we woke up bright and early for breakfast. The buffet was outstanding with a multitude of choices for cereal, bread, juice, fruit, eggs, etc. Sierra and I drank the hot chocolate, I must say it was one of the best hot chocolates I have yet to taste. From this point on Sierra and I had hot chocolate with every meal. From breakfast, we took a bus up to the the top of a mountain to watch the cows come down. It was a celebration that happened once a year, which marked the beginning of winter. All the cows were adorned in flowers and were herded down to the village for a party. A band lead them all the way down the mountain. Once the cows arrived, the party began, a sermon was given and blessings were bestowed. Tons of great food was served and lots of pictures were taken. **As a side note, I am trying to figure out how I can post my pictures on here so you can see what I am experiencing. I am hoping to get them up in the next couple days. Thanks for being so patient.** After we had enough of the celebration we headed back to the hotel for a nice long nap. That afternoon I took an almost 4 hour nap, which was desperately needed. That evening we went down to dinner. I had a balsamic marinated steak with mushroom soup and salad. I have to say that I have had the opportunity to have mushrooms at every meal since I have arrived in Europe, which is extremely nice....Dad, I thought I ate a lot of mushrooms before... but now I eat tons..and they are so so tasty :) Sunday morning, I woke up and ate breakfast and headed for my departure at the train station at 10:20 am. I arrived back home in Vienna at 3:00 pm. Overall, I had an extremely wonderful time and appreciated Opa, Helga, Desiree, Eric, and Sierra's kind hospitality and love. It was such a great experience and it is one that I will always hold in my heart. If you are ever in Austria, Bad Kleinkirchheim is definitely a place that shouldn't be missed. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Thank you again for reading!!! I am going to head to bed and get some rest for another long week of German!!