Weddings

This summer we had the privilege of celebrating two joyous weddings of some dear friends of ours. First off Caitlin and Michi got married in Austria's scenic lake district. Then just one week later Alicia and Gerfried also tied the knot in the mountain town of Schladming. So, here are a few pictures from the two amazingly beautiful weddings this July. We are so happy for both couples! Congrats!

Freilichtmuseum

Here are some pictures from our day with the Carrara family. They had us over for lunch and then we headed to the 'Freilichtmuseum' (Open Air Museum) in Stübing. There we got to see lots of original homes, farm houses, huts and cabins from all around Austria with some dating back even a couple of centuries! It was quite lovely and you can have a look at a few pics here:

Summertime Fun

Recently we've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to see a bit more of Austria. Thanks to friends and family (and their cars!) we've experienced a weekend stay at a castle and also seen what types of houses and homesteads 18-19th century Austrians lived in. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what we saw!

First off is our trip to the Castle of Fintergrün (literally 'dark' or 'gloomy' green). Richi and Sabine met us part way and then took us through the winding roads of Styria just over the boarder into the province of Salzburg. After checking in, we checked out the castle with all its fasinating nooks and crannies. Then we took a walk in the forest where we learned about the long and somewhat rich history of silver mining in the immediate area. Here are some pictures:

The last snow

A couple of weeks a go, already, we where invited by Anne to have a weekend right in the middle of the upperaustrian mountains - at a tini tiny town called Hinterstoder.
We drove there by car and got caught in a snowblizzard - yes - you read right - snow in April! It made us all a tiny bit insecure, there was so much snow coming down that we almost couldn't see the street anymore. Not a lot stayed on the ground, but it was enough to cover all the green white, as you will see in the pictures.

It was such a great time! We started on a Easter Friday, it was dark when we arrived and when we woke up it looked like this



So pretty. We stayed inside for a while. Duty of the first person waking up was to make fire in the huge Kaminofen (tiled woodstove) . It takes an hour until it warms up.

The weekend went really fast, but we enjoyed a lot of time with god together, reading books, talking and singing together. And we also took walks - Anne, Sandra, Rebecca and Thomas, there:




Yep, amazing view. The snow was gone by the next day. Only spots here and there and of course on top of the mountains :)

We went for a walk twice. The second time we went to this really nice lake.



Hmmm, once there we could really enjoy the power of the spring sun.

Next day was EASTER - Happy birthday Jesus! We sang a couple of birthday songs and had a great sunday morning breakfast in the garden - And



an EASTER EGG HUNT - so much fun!

Well, it was such a great weekend (did I say that already) and it was over really fast! I am looking forward to our next time :) For those who want to see more pictures, go for it:

Urlaub in Hinterstoder