A Nice End To A Hot Summer Evening.

In the middle of our heat wave.

When it's so hot, venturing out during the day is only done when really necessary. Staying out of the boiling sun ( 38 degrees ) is vital and I for one have devoured three books already in as many days. As it is the tourist season, I did go out for a few hours each day to clean the holiday cottages. Hot as blazes but when you change your mindset it goes by in a flash and is even fun.

We had dinner plans last night. Doesn't that sound grand? Well, our friends had their last night here in Burgenland and we thought we'd have a last supper with them. When in Rome, do like the Romans and when in Burgenland do like the Burgenlanders...a Buschenschank of course.

Alas we had to drive there because it was about a 5 km round trip and if it weren't for the heat, we would have walked there. Walking is more fun, as you don't have the hassle of choosing the designated driver. With Bob and I, the choice seems easy, but...

The nicest thing happened on the way there. Driving down our road we saw a friend of ours. She had just returned from a weeks walk to Mariazell ( a shrine of sorts ). A whole bunch of friends do this annual walk and I think that they walk at least 30 km each day. Anyway, as we stopped to say hi, she told me that she had put in a good word for me...I was pleased as punch, that she had thought of me and also because a good word to the man above never hurts anyone.

Our Buschenschank of choice was in Eisenberg: Rennhofer. We were sitting on the veranda, sipping wine, looking out onto a vineyard and just having a good time. Our friends are from South Africa and each time they visit, they cannot believe how we all sit around without security fences, without burglar bars on windows and often without locking the car or even your house. It couldn't happen in S.A.

The Buschenschank was great and we discovered their house wine, which tasted good and more importantly was price at 1 Euro per glass. Have you ever...! ( by the way, in most Buschenschanks you keep a tally not your waitress ) It was wonderful sitting there and seeing the stuffy afternoon air being shafted over by the cooler breeze of the evening.

Our table had two bees that thought they were part of our party and kept on buzzing about our plates and heads. Gosh, they need to eat as well yet it was a bit annoying having a buzz not caused by wine.

When Bob and I got home a bit later, we congratulated ourselves for having chosen and having the guts to have made a change to our life. We love our life here and even though it has challenges, it was the best thing that we have ever done. Four years this month and loving every minute of it.

Biggi