Central Europe trip, Post 4: Christmas in Austria (Part 1 of 2)

(Some of the photos in this post are from our good camera and some are my phone snaps, so please excuse the varying quality.)

Our five days in Austria were spent at Kat's dad Peter's house, along with Rosi, Kat, Bree, Trev, Sharon, Matthew and Daniel. That made a household of 11 people!

We arrived on Sunday evening, December 22nd. Due to stopping for lunch and taking some baby breaks, our carload of Bree, Finley, Ben and I took twice as long to get there as Kat, Trev, Sharon, Matthew and Daniel... I think they were relieved when we finally showed up! We greeted Peter (whom we'd met before at Matt and Kat's wedding), met Rosi, and enjoyed some homemade soup for dinner.

On Monday, we had a fairly relaxing day close to home. All of us except Kat and Sharon (who instead went grocery shopping and made lunch) drove a short distance to a country lane where we got out and went for a walk. It was beautiful and peaceful. We passed pine trees, apple trees, and a big old cider press. At the bottom of the road we went into a barn and visited some cows and calves before turning around and walking back to the cars.

We celebrated Christmas on Tuesday (Christmas Eve) due to European tradition and Bree's departure the next morning. In the morning, all of us except Katharina drove to Linz, the nearest city, to ride the "fairytale dragon train"! It was a very cold day and we trudged up an icy hill to reach the Grottenbahn, which was located in a fortress at the top. (I just read the History section in the above Wikipedia link, and apparently the train first opened in 1906, was destroyed by a bomb in 1945, and reopened in 1948!)

After waiting in line outside and again inside, we took a ride on the miniature train, which travelled slowly around a circular track three times. The train took us through a cave-like setting with gnome and fairytale scenes lit up in alcoves along the way. It was fun to recognise some familiar fairytales alongside European ones we'd never heard of.

On the train. L-R: Matthew, Peter, Daniel and Trev

Pretty cave ceiling lights

Sharon, Trev, Daniel and Bree

After getting off the train, we went through to a circular room where the historic Linz main square (circa 1900) was set up in miniature (scale 1:7). It had all the old shop-fronts, and sparkling Christmas lights strung overhead. I actually enjoyed this more than the train - it was very well done and so picturesque!

Bree, Finley, Ben and Trev

Bree and Finley

Daniel and Trev

Around the room were short passageways leading to life-size fairytale dioramas - again, some we recognised and some we didn't.

Hansel and Gretel

Sleeping Beauty

Little Red Riding Hood

Unknown

Unknown

Peter with the butcher

Peter and Rosi

On the way out, we passed some deer grazing at a manger...

Back at Peter's house that afternoon, Sharon and her helpers set to work creating our magnificent Christmas feast, while the rest of us endeavoured to keep the three little boys out of her way. It had been 6 years since we had last eaten a Christmas dinner made by Sharon (our "Aussie orphans' Christmas" in England)... and it is still one of our favourite gastronomic memories, so we were really looking forward to this!

Before dinner, we opened our Christmas presents. We had all brought presents for each other, and it was a lot of fun to open our thoughtful gifts from Australia, England, Germany and Austria. It had been a few years since we'd last engaged in this lovely tradition from our childhoods - complete with glittering tree, piles of gifts, and wrapping paper everywhere - so we were glad to get to do it for Finley's first Christmas! :)

Finley opening his first present

Kat opening her Whistler-made balsamic reduction

Rosi and Peter flipping through his book about Vancouver

Before we left Canada, I had hunted high and low (ok, I went to three stores :P) for matching PJs for the three boys. It was worth it! Aren't they just awww-inspiringly adorable?!

Finley, Matthew, Daniel

At 6pm we sat down for Christmas dinner. We were joined by an elderly gentleman who lives down the road from Peter. I overheard Ben carrying on an impressive conversation with him in German about his work in Canada. (Confidence is everything! Or at least enough to impress this not-so-confident rudimentary-German speaker.)

Peter and Rosi with their neighbour (whose name I've forgotten)

Christmas dinner

We don't have many photos from dinner as we were too busy devouring it. Let's just say that time and absence had not overly exaggerated our memories of Sharon's superior cooking skills! Our Christmas feast was DELICIOUS.

To be continued...