Day 5 - Hallstatt

Please excuse my prolongued silence. As usual, life got in the way. But you'll see about that later. For now, let's get this whole Austrian business out of the way.

Day 5 wasn't terribly exctiting. It rained most of the time, so walks were short, but we still got to see some interesting things.
First off, a trip to the neighbouring town of Bad Goisern, to see the final leg of a unicycle downhill competition. Yes, unicycle. Downhill. On gravel. Defies gravity and the limits of awesome.
We all left there wanting a unicycle for ourselves. Those people were so cool, and their sense of balance is out of this world.
In the city, another lot of ladies casually wearing their traditional garb. There were many shops selling these outfits, for men, women and kids:
View from the supermarket parking lot. See that ridge in the cliff? That's Ewige Wand, we were supposed to go out there too, but the weather prevented it.

The afternoon was filled with a hike through the mountains, aiming to see a waterfall and discovering 5! The pics I took of them are not so hot, but the views and the general feeling of the place were great.

(New) shoe pic:
You can't but be ecstatic in Hallstatt, even on a rainy day. Look at this prettiness overload:

Another unexpected visitor

To continue the series of delightful animal encounters, let me present to you this little ball of fur I found right at my gate, shivering in the rain. He was in terrible shape, sneezing and barely breathing. I took him in, wrapped him up, warmed him and fed him. And loved him instantly.
Unfortunately we were only friends for 24 hours. But it was a lovely 24 hours. It felt more cosy and homely to sew long into the night with a cat snoozing at my feet.
I know I can't afford a cat, and that I'm allergic and that the landlady wouldn't allow a cat, but why, why couldn't I keep him!

It was heartbreaking to give him away, but I gave it to another cat mother who adopted him instantly. He's healthy and happy now, I checked. But why, why couldn't he be happy and healthy in my house?

This is probably the most belated account of New Year festivities in the entire blog world. I guess I can pull my usual excuse: I'm Transylvanian, don't rush me!

Not that it was terribly exciting. We went to a cabin in Bistra (no Wikipedia page, sorry), in the beautiful Mures valley. Loaded with festive food, appropriate clothing, skiing gear, a considerable amount of alcohol and anything else a self-respecting Transylvanian may need for such an important occasion as the end of 2009, we expected to have a great time. We were planning to spend 4 days there.

The weather was terrible: rain, flood warnings, thick clingy mud, obviously no conditions for either skiing or hiking. But, as the climbing of some height or other was compulsory for such dedicated mountain people, on the first day we rushed to the nearest cliff in the few hours of daylight we had left.

It was already dark by the time we got to the top. Walking on muddy ground in the dark is quite a delight! But the hike was worth it, even just for seeing the breathtaking moon. I wish one of the people who can actually take pictures had their camera with them. But they didn't, so these murky images are my only proof of a beautiful evening:
After our return, it was time for eating, drinking and merrymaking. The other guests were most sociable,
...the host very welcoming (and very tipsy)
...and the midnight firecrackers were of the appropriate loudness.
Later, high class entertainment was provided to those who wanted to sleep...
...so they didn't sleep!

And in the morning, the skiing gear, festive food and alcohol were taken back to the city, as there was not much point staying longer in that weather.

And after that, i spent the first 2 weeks of the year (going on 3) being sick. I hope it's not a sign for the year to come.

But there, I've done my duty and told you about my latest exploits. Maybe I should drag my convalescent bottom to the craft table now and catch up with this month's projects.

Catch up

What I'm about to show you happened 3 weeks ago, but I haven't had time to write about it. Not that it's very interesting, but I have to update the contents of this blog every once in a while, don't I?

Aanyway, after a bumpy ride in a chocker-full minibus with only standing room (which gave rise to a lot of jokes about indian trains), we got to Lunca Bradului, the place where I spent at least half of my childhood. The murky, misty wet rainy weather kept us inside the cabin for half the day. Which was not so bad for me, as I had brought some stuff to sew (call me mad, but I've gotta finish!)

But when the rain stopped, it was time to explore what we were there for this time. We had found out about this cabin/conference centre/team building exercise site which is of course private and not to be used by the general public. But there's nothing in Romania a little bribe cannot handle, so we bought permission to play around its perimetre for the rest of the day.

First, it was this:
A giant flying fox going down the hill, over the road, over the stream and over the courtyard, aaall the way to that tiny red shack you see in the distance. SO much fun! could have stayed there all day. (scroll down for video)

But there were other interesting things to do. Like this obstacle course of sorts, high up in the trees. However, what looked like an interesting activity turned out to be the emanation of a wicked, twisted mind. Once you got up there, there was no way of going back or going down mid-way; you had to go all the way to the end or you were stuck there forever. And that pursuit did take a good hour, perhaps.

I like this pic, it looks like she's flying. But there were some rings there she was holding on to for dear life:

I didn't try it, as 4 people went off ahead of me and it was already getting dark ... but mostly because I was scared I wouldn't be able to finish it. Not that I was the only one being scared! If you look up "white-knuckled" in the dictionary, you will surely get this picture:

So I was content staying firmly on the ground and filming or photographing the others....

...or laughing at them when they were stuck in mid-air between two stations. Or setting up a brainstorm to figure out a way to help them go on.

I did try some things that didn't take long to complete and were closer to the ground...
...and admired some climbing walls. Will definitely be back here in spring, ready to bribe with generosity!