Overnight In Linz, Austria

The airline I work for has decided I need to see more of Austria and sent me to Vienna, Graz and Linz this month. Several times. And, according to my February schedule, I will be able to wander around those old cities with my pockets stuffed full of "Mozartkugeln" (Austrian chocolate/marzipan/pistachio specialty which is very addictive) a few more times.

These pictures were taken in Linz, where my colleagues and I went into two coffee shops and had hot chocolate. You can't get a more delicious hot chocolate than in Austria. It is made with the highest quality chocolate, heated up slowly with milk and topped with freshly whipped cream. A lot of restaurants will add spices like cinnamon or vanilla and on a cold January evening hot chocolate with Baileys will warm you up. (It will also take 3 overtired stewardesses twice as long to find the way back to their hotel after consuming those.)

Lumiere

Nothing new on our end. Hibernating. Sleeping in. Laying on the couch reading books for hours. Attending a 40th birthday bash and eating as much delicious food as possible. Or, in my case, drinking cocktails.
The reason for the photo is not only daughter who is on her second book today but the lamp on the right. It was a Christmas present from my mom and makes me happy every time I look at it.
(Lumiere by Foscarini) I have wanted one for the last 4 years.

And With That...

...Christmas is over.

Winter

It's not Sanibel or Captiva Island (even though we almost did get our feet wet) but I guess it is beautiful in its own way. Still, I wish I was on vacation somewhere south. 

Winter walk with Godmother.

The Person I Admire Most

Since it is the beginning of a new year and I have the urge to get rid of everything old and unnecessary I am going through old books, stacks of magazines and some of the stuff the kids accumulated.
For hours I have been reading through school books, assignment books and pages and pages of homework, deciding on what to keep and what to toss.
This morning I stumbled upon some homework son did for his English class a few years back. I guess they had the task to describe a person they admire.
Here it is:

Somebody who impresses me
I am describing my sister, who never seems to amaze me. She can scream very, very loudly. Normally my sister screams when she is angry or when she doesn't agree with something. She can scream everywhere: in the car, during a hike and so on.
Normally she screams for 2 to 5 minutes but it might take longer.

Happy New Year!

After many late nights, lots of delicious food and an endless amount of Christmas cookies and chocolate Santa Clauses, we had to ring in the new year with a 10 mile hike.

 Just to see if we still could...