Sarah's visit with her traveling pal, Beth

Sarah, Russ, Beth, Henry, Grace

We had the joy of hosting Sue's sister, Sarah, and Sarah's best pal, Beth.  They arrived on a Friday (just a wee bit jet lagged and cramped after sitting in middle seats in the middle section of the plane to Europe!), spent the weekend with us, traveled most of the next week, and then spent another weekend with us before heading back on Monday morning.  The visit went really well and we realized how much more we know about Graz and Austria than when Sue's parents, Jerry and Liz, visited us way back in late September/early October.

The first weekend was all things Graz.  We toured our favorite spots, which now include the Dom Church, the double staircase, Hauptplatz, Eggenberg Castle, Schlossberg, etc.  We gave Sarah and Beth plenty of opportunities to walk off that jet lag.  We also went to our local buschenschank (see prior post) on Saturday night and even Sommelier Sarah was impressed with the wines of Austria.

On Monday, the ladies, including Sue, took the train to Vienna.  It was a short visit, but Sarah and Beth wanted to see the capital city and enjoyed one its neighborhoods pretty close to the city center.  Unfortunately, I was leaving on a trip Tuesday morning (read a prior post about my trip to Romania), so Sue had to catch a train back Tuesday in time to pick the kids up from school at noon.  I really wish it would have worked out for Sue to spend more time with her sister on a mini-vacation.

Sue with Beth in Vienna (courtesy of Sarah)

Sarah and Beth also left Vienna on Tuesday, but instead of heading back to Graz, they took the afternoon train to Salzburg.  Salzburg is a beautiful city and Sue and I thought they split their time right -- more time in Salzburg than Vienna.  And we were convinced of that when Beth told us that her favorite movie of all time was "The Sound of Music."  And yes, they went on the Sound of Music Tour, which in addition to being a good time (complete with singing on the tour bus while watching the movie!), took them all over the region to see various sites of the movie.  Made me jealous we haven't gone on that tour yet!

Salzburg (great pic, Sarah!)

Friday morning found Sarah and Beth on a really early train back to Graz (6a!).  Why did they leave so early?  Well, it was so that they could spend the afternoon with the kids, of course!  Oh, and weather permitting, we were hoping to go to the wine region to show them the real countryside and what's become our favorite buschenschank.  As you can see below, the weather was good and so was the company and the wine.  Our friends Loulou and Renato (and son Carlo) were our travel buddies Friday night and Saturday.

Loulou, Sue, Sarah, Renato, and Beth raise a toast!

The beautiful countryside and vineyards (courtesy of Sarah)

Saturday morning was spent shopping.  Russ and Sue were doing the weekly shopping and Beth and Sarah were picking up gifts and souvenirs to take home.  That gave us the afternoon free to visit the Zotter chocolate factory and the castle nearby (see an earlier post about these).  It was another beautiful day and the kids played well together throughout.  We stopped at a local restaurant for dinner that worked out much better than I thought it would (inside joke!).  We got home late, but everyone thought it was just a great day.

Our walk up to Schloss Riegersburg (courtesy of Sarah)

Sunday we went to Schöckl, our local mountain (it's about 3000 feet or so above Graz).  It was the first time we'd been back since September, our first outing of our stay here.  The mountain was gorgeous, the weather cooperated with intermittent sunshine, and we were able to show off our views of the Alps to the north (which are really spectacular).  Most of us even rode what we now refer to as the "luge" (I can't recall if it was Sarah or Beth that coined that name for he cart on track "ride" at the top of the mountain).

The view from Schöckl (courtesy of Sarah) -- yes, that is snow on the mountains in the background

And so, after lunch in St. Radegund below Schöckl, we headed back to allow time for Sarah and Beth to pack, me to finish packing a big box of winter stuff for Sarah to take back with her, and dinner.  I dropped them off at the airport in the morning and they traveled home in an uneventful fashion, much happier with both of them in aisle seats :-)

Russ