That's a lot of shoes

So I have spent the last hour sewing.

Cate is going to Saudi Arabia on Sunday and has to wear her Abaya. This is not her favorite gear but it is the only way they will let her into the country being – as they are – terrified of female flesh. 

But the last time she wore it she was in such a hurry to get out of it that she tore off three buttons. She designated me to sew these back on and – as the buttons were black - the Abaya is black and the cotton is black – it was harder than it should have been.

Gwenyth is packing to go home. This is also more difficult than is supposed to be because she went with Cate to Högl in Vienna and bought 13 pairs of shoes. 

The only time she buys shoes is when she comes to Vienna and while it seemed like a good idea at the time – and the sales assistant certainly thought so – getting 13 pairs of shoes into her bags is proving to be quite a task.

Fortunately she has an extra bag because she always brings us lots of essentials such as Bushells tea, Sao biscuits, Vegemite and those other staples of life without which we have to live in Vienna. But even so……..13 pairs of shoes is a lot of shoes.

We shall see. 

All things considered

Yes they have ducks

All things considered the Weissen Rössl hotel at Wolfgangsee was the best hotel in which we have ever stayed in Austria. Cate gave it a 10/10 – high praise indeed.

The rooms were not our best ever – but the level of comfort in the hotel was brilliant and the service was outstanding. There was – of course - no air conditioning but we were able to leave our door open to get the cool (and occasionally freezing) night air.

There were unfortunately almost no snow falls when we were there – but there was lots of snow laying about so we could have a trudge through it on walks through the woods.

On the whole we behaved quite well – although we did make a bit of a mess of ourselves on New Year’s Eve in the Romantik restaurant - where our dear friend Herr Zoran gave us a seat by the window – overlooking the lake.

I threw in the towel at about 12:30 but the girls decided they needed another bottle of Dom Pérignon and did not get to bed until about 2:30 AM. We were all below average the next morning and had a rather slow day.

I had booked this restaurant some time ago but it was until about day three of our stay that Cate noticed a sign saying ‘ We ask that guests dress formally for our New Year’s Eve dinner’.

Shriek!

The girls could get away with what they had with them but I had no coat and no tie.

So we made an urgent expedition to the local store selling traditional Austrian clothing and I acquired the appropriate clobber.

The general consensus was that  I looked terrific and I  plan to wear this gear in Vienna. 

I'm back

We are back from St Wolfgang.

Some of you were not paying attention when I told you about this trip and have complained about the paucity of blogs.

You really do need  to pay more attention.

Normal blogging will resume tomorrow.