Some Call It Winter, Some Call It Hibernating.

Is there anything better than hibernating the days away?

The other day I had the pleasure of sharing a table with a new crop of villagers. Yes, new recruits to the fabulous and delightful life in a village, or should I rather say, our village.

They have relocated from one of the most beautiful cities, Vienna, to one of the most beautiful villages, Deutsch Schützen. Rather a lot of couples choose to spend their retirement years in a less hectic environment some because they were born here and some because they want to slow down their lifestyle and find the time to actually enjoy their life after working hard for most of it.

Oh, I know that moving here from Vienna is a bit of a culture shock. We haven't got museums, hordes of people nor any traffic lights. What we do have is undulated hills, vineyards, forests, stunning scenery and the most wonderful bunch of people. Friendly people, who mostly aren't afflicted with the big city syndrome of having to do, see and have everything.

Both of the couples I met, still had the Viennese shine to them: dressed in a certain way with big city flair and expensive togs. Soon, they will dress more for comfort than show. Naturally, some do take dressing for comfort to the extreme and go to the local shop with sweats ( tricky to know whether they were used as leisure or sleep wear ) and bed hair...you know, the unbrushed, just out of bed look.

One of the nice traits of small village life is that ( mostly ) we aren't judged by what we wear.

They were discussing the upcoming Winter season and their plans for it. Goodness me, they weren't sure if they could last the whole time here and have planned escape hatches. A flat in Vienna. Fair enough, but I think that a summer filled with the delights of village living will have changed their outlook quite a bit. Let's wait and see...

This cold season ahead of us is lovely. Cold yes, but also a time to hibernate over a nice book while enjoying the warmth from a fireplace, a time to relax and reflect. Our Winters are't as harsh as elsewhere and lend themselves beautifully for long walks among the vineyards or day trips to the numerous Spas around us.

Biggi