Well perhaps we won’t climb every mountain in Austria, but we did have fun exploring the mountain our home sits on! Thursday, 21 February we headed up the mountain path behind our house to go and see St. Johann und Paul Kirche. This is the same church Liam and Seamus explored a few days ago.

Seamus was our guide up the mountain path because sadly Liam wasn’t feeling well and had a low-grade temp, so he stayed home. It was a beautiful day as Seamus took us along the various winding streets and then onto the leaf covered paths. I will say it was quite an incline up some of the forest paths strewn with rocks and crunchy leaves, but the paths were well marked and other than being straight uphill the paths were well maintained. We passed folks walking their dogs and others out for a leisurely stroll. Including older people who use ski poles to steady themselves on the climb up or downhill! We’ve noticed even in town that the elderly use one or two poles as walking sticks!

The last quarter of the hike was by far the worst. Seamus and Liam fondly named it the “hell hill” and well he was correct. The hill was quite steep, but manageable. It was worth the climb! At the top of the hill we were met with beautiful vistas of Graz in the valley below. We could also see down the other side of the mountain and to the snow capped mountains beyond!

Right below the church sits a little bier-garten and café. We had a nice refreshing drink before mounting the last path up to the church itself. St. Johann und Paul was built in 1589 and since 1996 has been kept by the Historical Trust in Graz.

There are several hiking and biking paths that converge at the top of the mountain. We found a slightly different path to make our descent. It took us past an area that belongs to anAustrian military base. We have seen several military helicopters and people in uniform in Graz. Now we know why! The newer path eventually linked into part of the original path we took up the mountain. We passed some lovely homes just above our own house.

All in all we were goneover 3 hours and returned to find that Liam was feeling a bit better. I’m happyto report that the following morning his temp was gone and he was fine!

Yep, you read that correctly! There are malls in Europe. Often we have the stereotypical image of quaint European streets lined with boutiques. A shop where everybody knows your name because you’re a regular customer. While this is still very true, out in the suburbs there are larger groceries, chain stores, and a mall or two.

Now mind you the mall wasn’t on the scale of say Mall of America or any of those other mega-mall complexes, but it was a decent size with one large chain store, Saturn (like our Best Buy). There were small specialty shops and other larger stores along with restaurants and cafes. However there weren’t any food courts in the mall.

It took us about 25 minutes via tram then bus to reach City Park Mall! We were going to the Saturn store in order to buy a computer monitor and Amazon Fire Stick so we could watch TV. We decided to explore the mall first. Seamus found a wallet and we ate at one of the cafeteria styled restaurants. It was a bit confusing at first, but then we figured out how to select our food and pay.

We purchased the items needed at Saturn, packed them in our personal shopping bags (you have to bring your own bags to most shops), and returned home. Robert and Liam had our mini makeshift TV up and running fairly quickly. The sound comes from our Bluetooth speaker we purchased a few days earlier. We then sat back and enjoyed watching on Netflix, The Batman Lego Movie!!

Your German word for the day “Landeszeughaus”! Now say that five times real fast.

So what is the Landeszeughaus? Well it just so happens to be the largest historical armory in Europe! The armory of Syria, which is the province that Graz resides, was founded in the early 1500’s. The current Landeshaus building was built in 1642and is the political centre for Styria or in German, Steiermark. “Landeshaus”is the “land’s house” “Zeug” is the word for “things”. So it’s literally “the house of the land’s things”!

The armory contains over 32,000 items, which include swords, shields, guns, pikes, cannons, suits of armor for infantry, cavalry, and some specialty armor belonging to the aristocracy. Their crowning piece is a full suit of decorative armor for a horse that is from 1510. There are four floors packed with Heavy Metal!

We took the English tour with Christophe, our wonderful guide. He was very witty and told us many unique stories about the Styrian army and various rulers over history. The most interesting fact was that until 1848 Styria was still under a feudal system!The average farmer was not a freeman and if his Lord called him to fight he had to go. Another interesting story was that in the early 1800’s there was a farmer’s revolt about a new tax being levied on Styria’s wine. The region is known for its wine. The 120 famers came to the Landeshaus and demanded the tax be removed. The local administrator appealed to the higher authority of the king. The king said that he would remove the wine tax, but that the men still couldn’t vote and had to stay under feudal law. The farmers agreed and all was resolved peacefully.

After visiting the Landeszeughaus, we found a nice little Greek gyro café and then headed over to Hofbäckerei Edegger. This bakery is located in central Graz and has been in the same family for 8 generations. The chocolate pastries with marzipan and raspberry jam were very tasty!

I’ll start with today’s adventure to a familiar store…IKEA! I think we might get spoiled having an IKEA within a 20 minute bus ride from our house. Back in Michigan we would have to drive 3 hours to Detroit or Chicago to visit an IKEA. Of course the first place we went was the cafeteria to have those oh so yummy Swedish meatballs! After lunch it was time to explore all the neat little demonstration rooms they had set up on the main floor. We had a fun time meandering in and out of the various displays!

We didn’t need any furniture, but we all agreed that new pillows would be fantastic. The pillows provided in our Airbnb are too thin, soft, and very large! After sleeping on them for 10 days everyone agreed it was time to go to IKEA and get new ones. We also got a few other household items that we need for everyday life that weren’t provided in the apartment…including the yummy IKEA oatmeal chocolate cookies!

Yesterday, 18 February, we went downtown to meet with Anna Wagner the Luthier that is renting us the kids’ instruments. She was very nice. Seamus went first. He’s wanted to get his hands on a cello for quite a while. The last time the kids played their own instruments was 5 weeks ago! He took to the new instrument quickly and she was impressed with how well he played for someone so young.

Faywen was next. Unfortunately her viola is bigger than the one at home, but it looks like a good fit size wise for her. Ms. Wagner was very sympathetic and said that if Faywen doesn’t take to the larger instrument then she will call around to other luthiers in Austria and find a smaller viola. I’m happy to say after two days of practicing Faywen is adapting fine to the instrument. She sounds really good on it and the more she plays the more confident she is where to place her fingers. Because it is a larger instrument, the fingerboard is also larger and she must relearn where to place her fingers to make each pitch. She’s learning quickly and when she starts her lessons her teacher will be able to help out too.

Liam has a very unique looking violin. It’s very old and worn, but has a vey nice tone thus supporting the old adage  “The older the violin the sweeter the tune!” Both he and Robert have enjoyed playing the instrument.

The kids will start their private lessons in early March. It’s nice hearing music in the house again! It’s amazing how simple things that are familiar make you feel at home no matter where you live. In this case it’s as simple as instruments, pillows, and Swedish meatballs!

The past few days wehave continued to set up the house and put in order the daily things needed tolive in a new city. On Friday, 15 February, we went to the local Wetzelsdorfbranch of the Raiffeissen Bank. We have to have an Austrian bank account forthe Fulbright organization to deposit Robert’s grant money, which is in Euros. Unfortunatelythe clerk informed us that we had to go to the main branch downtown in order toopen up a Konto or Account. He spoke no English. I was pleased that I was ableto converse with him in German and find out what to do and where to go!

We hopped onto the tramand 15 minutes later were standing in front of the Raiffeissen Bank Zentrum.The kids really didn’t want to go in with us, you know banking is boring, so wegave them a shopping list for a few extra school supplies that had beenoverlooked and sent them down the street to Libro, the local office supply shop.Afterwards they went to the Moser Bookstore and have a sweet treat and coffee.Robert and I had a lovely clerk named Tabatha help open our accounts. She spokegood English, but we had fun conversing partially in German and in English sowe both got to practice!

On Saturday, 16February, we decided to be tourists in our own city. It was a lovely 15C/59Fand sunny. We headed downtown again and this time it was to climb theSchlossberg (castle mountain). This large hill in the middle of Graz has beenfortified since the 1200’s. Sadly the only thing that remains of the originallyfort and castle are a few small ruins and the Urhturm or Clock Tower. When an armisticewas signed between France and Austria the fortress was turned over to Napoleonwho had his men dismantle the fort. He decided to keep the Clock Tower as atoken of goodwill towards the citizens of Graz. Since then the Uhrturm hasbecome the symbol of the city. In order to reach the tower one must climb up260 steps to the top of Schlossberg. There is a funicular also, but it wasclosed for repairs.

We figured it would be an easy climb after ascending to the top of York Minster, St. Paul’s, and Notre Dame! About 2/3 of the way up you can choose to continue directly to the top or take the meandering mountain trail that snakes it’s way to the top. Not being in a hurry we chose the pathway. It was a lovely ascent to the top. Once up there you could see the white peaked mountains of the distant Tyrollean Alps to the West/Northwest. There were also stunning views of Graz and the surrounding foothills of the Alps. The Schlossberg we discovered is not only for tourists, but the locals love taking picnics up to the top and just enjoy sitting on the various scenic benches provided along the paths.

Once back down in thecity we headed to our new favorite restaurant, Paridiso. We’ve eaten theretwice now. Since Graz is near Italy there are a lot of Italian restaurants. Thearchitecture of the city is also more in keeping with northern Italy than withGermanic styles. Many of the buildings are Italian Rococo and pastel in color. Grazis also known for it’s red-orange tiled roofs! The Center or Altstadt of Grazis an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The kids hopped the tram and went home, while Robert and I did a little shopping. We meandered into Graz’s “Macy’s”, which is named Kastner and Öhler. The 19^th century interior was accented with modern merchandise and displays. A nice blend of old and new. The main foyer opens up to 5 floors of shopping. Robert needed some cologne and we had fun trying all the different European fragrances one can’t find at home. He eventually purchased a lovely cologne called John VarVados. We then meandered down the Sporgasse, a local narrow street with quaint boutiques, and ended up at The Graz Dom Cathedral. As the sun was setting low in the sky we walked back up the Wetzelsdorf Strasse from our tram stop to our home. The sky looked like blue and orange/pink cotton candy against the silhouette of the mountainside!

Speaking of mountainsides, after having “home church” this morning (haven’t found an English speaking church yet), the boys headed up the hillside behind our house. Mr. Johannes had told us about St. Johann (John) and Paul Church, which sits on the edge of the hill behind the house. It’s a historical site now, and there are stunning views of the city and the mountains in the distance as well. You can just see the old church building from our garden. It was another lovely day with temps like yesterday and the boys had a grand time doing some “brother bonding”. Liam took lovely photos of the scenery and the outside of the church building. A sign requested not to take any inside photos. The boys were gone over 2 hours and really enjoyed their “mountain hike”…the first of many!

Well it seems school is school no matter where you are in the world! Yesterday and today were devoted to “Back to School” for the kids! On Feb. 13^th we ventured to the Graz International Bilingual School or GIBS for short. Located about a 25 minute tram/walking commute from our new home, GIBS is situated in the lovely northern edge of the Eggenberg neighborhood. We live on the southern edge of the same neighborhood. The area gets it’s name from the Schloss Eggengerg the local 17^th century palace that just so happens to back up to GIBS.

The GIBS building is surprising opposite in architecture from Its neighboring baroque palace. Built in the 1960’s it grey, square, and made of concrete. However it was designed by a famous Austrian architect and is on the Austrian National Building Preservation list. Once inside, the building opens up to a 4 story foyer with windows in the ceiling of the central staircase. The various classrooms are in quads around the main central stairs. Our ears were met with the delightful sound of students changing classes and milling around in the main open foyer. There’s even a piano in the area that students can play on whenever they would like.

GIBS is one of 4 Bilingual schools in Austria, 1 in Salzburg and 2 in Vienna. There are over 1000 students who apply every year to enter the Level 1 class (American grade 5). Our children were allowed into the school based on their own academic grades and the fact that they are native English speakers, thus adding to the learning atmosphere of the school, which is a German/English speaking school.

We met with Mrs. Görög, the principal. Afterwards she took us to meet Mrs. Knapp who will be Seamus’ homeroom teacher. She is originally from New Orleans. She was very helpful in explaining to the kids the block scheduled classes, gave us the school supply lists, and showed us around the building. Liam also met his main homeroom teacher Mr. Wetzlmair (7i – US 11^th grade). Unfortunately Faywen’s main teacher Mrs. Pfistermüller wasn’t at school, but Faywen did get to meet Mrs. Sainer, another of her teachers, and a few students. Elisse is from New York City and she was very kind to Faywen. She gave her a little present of an owl shaped lip balm. She also said she will be Faywen’s buddy the first few days of school. Seamus and Liam were also buddied up…Seamus with Lucas and Liam with Isobel. They are a brother and sister originally from Colorado.

Liam also met privately with Mrs. Schatz who will be one of his teachers in the International Baccalaureate program. This is an internationally recognized higher education program for advanced students. The equivalent in the states would be an AP (advanced placement) in high school program. However the students in the IB have higher standards than AP classes. Liam is excited to have been accepted in the IB program at GIBS.

Today, Feb. 14^th we went school supply shopping. In Europe they use A4 and A5 standard paper. For instance an A4 notebook has what we would call wide rule lines and is longer with 4 holes instead of 3 on the side. We also got the typical dividers, notebooks, and loose leaf paper, but all in European sizes.

We got little plastic food boxes for the kids to take snacks to school. Because the days are shorter there isn’t a cafeteria at the school. There is a little snack bar and kids are encouraged to bring a bit of food to eat during their 20 minute break at 11:20am. The school day starts at 8:00am and it ends at various times depending on what classes you are taking. For instance some days Seamus and Faywen might get out at 1:15 and other days at 2:05. One day Seamus gets out at 12:25. He’ll just wait in the library for half an hour so he and Faywen can ride the tram home together. Liam’s schedule is even crazier! There will be very few days that he’ll be coming home the same time as his siblings! It will be the 2:05 time they share on a couple of days. On Tuesdays he attends until 2:05 then has about a 2 hour break until 4:45 then goes back to class until 6:oopm.

The Austrian education system is structured differently than the USA. Instead of 6-7 periods of the same class for a whole semester every day 5 days a week, they have required hours of instruction per subject. For instance 3 hours of math, 4 hours of English, 3 hours of history, 2 hours of Geography etc. These are broken up during the week in blocks. Sometimes you do two hours back to back! Each class period is 45 minutes long. The Austrians believe in having a “little bit of everything” each year. As the student progresses the material in each subject increases in difficulty. An example would be that Seamus who is leval 4 (grade 8) will be introduced to Physics for 2 hours a week. By the time he’s in level 6 (grade 10) it will be normal high school Physics taught 4 hours a week.

It’s a bit complicated at first, but the method for educational structure makes sense when you think about it. It’s better for one to keep learning the same subjects each year, but gradually increasing the level of difficulty each year.

The kid’s are excited and a bit apprehensive at the same time. They start on Monday Feb. 25^th. They have already forged the path via tram and walking by themselves. Most of the kids in Graz travel to and from school on the trams and buses.  

Oh and there is one other interesting thing to note about GIBS…a student never knows when they may be eyed through a window by a giant peacock! Yep, there are peacocks both male and female that roam around Schloss Eggenberg’s gardens. The peacocks have learned that there is free food (dropped by the kids) if they jump the fence into the schoolyard!

One year ago today, February 14^th , we found out and told the kids we were moving to Graz, Austria! It’s hard to believe we are here and getting ready for a new school semester.

The last three days we have been settling into the new house and getting to know our surroundings.

On Saturday we slept in for several hours. After three weeks of travel and hotels (and not too mention sleeping on a train winding through the Alps at night), we were exhausted. By about 11:00 we were up and ready to go out again. This time we ventured past the two grocery stores known as LDL and Spar, the latter being bigger and better. (Side note: grocery check out clerks in Graz are just as grumpy as the ones in the States, occasionally there’s been a nice clerk.) We were on the hunt for an Apotheka (pharmacy) and a place called Preis Pirate (the Dollar General of Austria). We found both, but the Apotheka was closed until Monday and the Preis Pirate was way better than a Dollar Store! We purchased a few household items like and extension cord, coat hangers, a neat closet light hanger to give extra light in the big closet, and a laundry basket for the dirty clothes.

I had asked Johannes if there was a drying rack in the house, but the only one we found was the one attached to the wall above the tub. He went out of his way to go and purchase me a new fold out standing drying rack for the clothes. He and Gundi also gave me new clothespins to use on the clothesline in the yard. We came back from our shopping trip and found the items propped against the front door. I’ve tried various places in the house and settled on using Faywen’s room to dry the clothes on the rack, because she has south facing, sunny, large windows and the breeze is nice too.

Later Johannes brought over a bottle of pear juice made by his neighbor. It was delicious. Speaking of food in Austria, everyone eats organic and fresh. There are boxed and canned items, but very limited selections. Our kind of people! The fridge isn’t too big so we can only buy food to make meals for 2-3 days at a time. There is no freezer, but Johannes has a small one in his cellar we can borrow if we needed to freeze something. It’s been fun learning about the different brands and types of foods available in Graz. Of course, I’ve had to whip out my old magnifying glass to help translate things for Robert.

Speaking of language, it seems most folks do speak various levels of English in Graz. However if I speak German to them first they talk in German to me. It’s been hit and miss as to fluency of the natives in English. Sometimes the person speaks better English than my German. Other times it’s been a blessing I can speak decent German because the person can only say a few words in English.

 Many people have been surprised I can speak German at all, and that I do so proficiently enough to be understood! I’ve had clerks ask why on earth I’d want to learn German because it’s a difficult language. One native speaker laughed and said that many Austrians don’t even speak their own language properly. Well, I guess in many ways the same can be said for dialects of English! I know my weak point is listening comprehension, especially when someone speaks quickly. I’ve been trying to really tune into folks talking so I can work on this aspect of language comprehension. I got to put this into practice the other day.

On Sunday afternoon Robert and the boys headed out to explore the city by tram and all it’s various connections etc. Faywen and I stayed behind to do laundry and cleaning. I’m glad we did because Johannes asked if Faywen and I wanted to come out into the garden and play with the girls. At first Rita, who is 7, was a little leery, but her younger sister Flora was very chatty with me. She is 5, and will be 6 the 1^st of March. Fanni, who is 4, really seemed to buddy up with Faywen and Cilli is a typical meandering 2 yr. old! We spent 2 hours playing outside, jumping rope (springschnur), climbing on the Spinnenets (spider web made of rope), and meeting neighbors and his sister, Anna, who had come to visit.

I finally got to speak to Gundi, who had been out at a luncheon with friends. She is from a village south of Köln, Germany. She was happy to hear that I had been to Köln and knew where the city was located. She noted that I spoke German with a similar dialect to her own. I took that as a compliment! She then laughed and said that when she first moved to Austria she couldn’t understand a world the locals said! But our conversation was cut short when Camillo decided he needed to be fed! He’s 2 months old!

All the girls could understand my German and I most of there’s. I would translate for Faywen. Sometimes, I would ask about a particular object’s name in German and then tell them the English name. This helped Faywen learn too! It was a lovely afternoon in the garden.

Since then the girls have really taken to Faywen and I. They come up to the windows in the kitchen and wave and giggle. They also have been giving Faywen trinkets. She’s received a little school photo or Rita, a drawing of “Blumen” (flowers), several glass and polished rocks, a mysterious round piece of plastic the size of a half dollar, a hacky sack, a mini notebook, and our favorite item thus far…a piece of broken clear glass also about the size of a half dollar. I taught Faywen to say “Danke schön für die Geshchenke” (thank you for the gifts) every time they give her gifts. I told the girls this evening that Faywen is keeping all their gifts in a treasure box under the bed. Rita and Flora seemed pleased by this! Faywen plans to reciprocate soon with drawings etc.

On a different note…I am happy to say that we all have new SIMS cards with Austrian numbers. Wow is wifi cheap here! You can get 18gigs at 4g speed for 30 Euro a month and that covers all EU countries! The Internet at the apartment has been kinda in and out, but Robert spoke with Johannes and lo and behold he brought in another option for Internet today! It’s been working perfectly. We also got our 6 month transportation cards, which allows us to ride the buses and trams endlessly for the whole time we are here!

Finally, I’m glad to say that today our boxes from Michigan arrived! It was a little precarious while we were in Paris. Robert received an email from customs officers in Vienna who didn’t quite understand that the items were used and not new. Once that was cleared up everything went smoothly. We did have to pay a small customs fee, but that’s okay with us because all of our clothes and accessories arrived unharmed! Liam was even able to give his homemade cutting board to Johannes and Gundi today. It was even more meaningful for Liam because Johannes is a professional woodworker and commented on the quality of wood and workmanship of the cutting board! Liam beamed from ear to ear!

Tomorrow, we are off to the school to meet the principal, Mrs. Görög. Since arriving in Graz I’ve received emails from all the kids’ teachers and even one student in Liam’s class who has offered to help Liam out the first few days of school. I passed the email from Christoph onto Liam. So far everyone has been very kind and helpful, which has made our transition to life in Graz a very positive, pleasant, experience.

Our new home is on the west side of Graz in the Schloss Eggenberg neighborhood. It is an apartment that is really an AirBnB owned by the Minutillo family. They are renting it to us for 6 months. It is attached to their own home, which is a 250 yr. old manor house. Johannes and Gundi with their five children live on the top floor of the home and his parents live on the bottom floor. We are all under one roof, but have our own private entrance doors and space. The large 1.5 acre garden is shared.

As we placed our luggage in the house and had a look around with Anita and Birgit our host Johannes came to the door. He was on his way to take his eldest daughter, Rita, to school. She is 7 yrs. old. Johannes was just as friendly in person as he had been via all of our emails the past 10 months. It was nice to finally meet face to face!

The apartment was a bit bigger than we were expecting. It’s always hard to get a sense of scale in photos, but we expected the rooms to be smaller than they actually were. You walk in the front door and immediately to your right is a Harry Potter sized toilet only. To the right is the coat rack and then you walk up 5 steps into the main living space. At the top of the steps is a little nook with built in drawers and then the main staircase up to the second floor. Directly in front is the kitchen, dinning, and a couple of chairs that are the “living room”. It’s basically one big room for everyday living. To the left are double doors that lead into the first large bedroom that has a desk and chair, couch, a plush chair, what we would call a king sized bed, and double wardrobes.

Back through the kitchen you go up 21 steps, which round the corner to the top floor. A little hallway at the top contains three doors. To the left is the bathroom with a tub/shower, another separate shower, sink, storage, and a little washing machine. On the right is a room that mirrors the one downstairs in size, however it has wall-to-wall deep closets with several shelves and two clothes hanging rods. The boys share another king size bed, an oversized chair, and a desk and chair. At the end of the little hallway is Faywen’s little room. It has a smaller double sized bed and nightstand, and three walls of windows. She will be keeping her clothes in the boy’s room, since there is no storage in her room besides a clothes peg stand. However her room faces the south and all the sunlight and fresh breezes come in through the large floor to ceiling windows, so I’ve been using her room to dry our clothes on the drying rack provided for me. There is also another little rack built into the wall over the tub that gets a nice breeze from the window. Gundi also has a clothesline in the garden that I’m welcome to use for sheets etc.

We said our goodbyes to Anita and Birgit and began settling into the apartment. Johannes returned about 30 minutes later and showed us various things about the apartment. He also

answered our questions. While giving us the tour Johannes’ mother and father came over to say hi. They live in the first floor of the main house. Elizabeth and Christoph Minutillo were very kind and she gave me a bunch of beautiful yellow and red tulips as a welcoming gift! We met Johannes’ wife, Gundi, later that afternoon and their 4 daughters and son…Rita, Flora, Fanni, Cilli, and Camillo, who is only 2 months old! The rest of our first day in Graz was spent taking a nap and then walking down to the two local grocery stores to purchase food. Anita and Birgit had already purchased some food and had it in the apartment, but we needed a few extra things and it gave us an opportunity to check out our new neighborhood! I will say it’s a lovely view of Graz on the hillside where our apartment is located, but the last 100 meters or so up the steep little road knocks the breathe out of you while carrying grocerie

This morning we woke up and had our last French breakfast in our small hotel. The baguettes, cheeses, and jams have been tasty every morning. We did have a few hours to spend  this morning in Paris, so we decided to go to a little local museum within three blocks of our hotel. The Museum of Medieval Artifacts was currently under renovation, but they did have one floor open. This floor contained a charming exhibit about the Magical Unicorns of the Middle Ages. The crowning jewel of the display was the famous Lady and the Unicorns Tapestries. I’ve always loved looking at photos online of the famous set of 6 tapestries from ca. 1500. It was a treat to get to see them in person. The exhibit also had books and statues about unicorns in Christian mythology and also in secular stories.

At 10:45 a “family” taxi cab picked us up and drove us to the Gare de Lyon train station. It was too complicated to walk and ride the Metro there, so we took the cab instead. Once inside the beautiful station we had a warm drink at Starbucks (yes, they are all over Europe), and waited for our train. We departed on the TVA (French train line) at 12:25 and started our 4 hour ride to Zürich, Switzerland!

We arrived around 16:40 (4:40) and had about 4 hours to explore the city centre, We put our luggage in a storage unit and made our way up ot he main entrance to the Bahnhof. Unfortunately it was gently raining and cold, but we still ventured out onto the Bahnhofstrasse. This street is the 5^th Ave. of Switzerland. In fact, it’s the most expensive shopping street on all of Europe. Looking for a place to eat was nearly impossible. Most of the street was filled with high-end shops and very expensive restaurants. Even the McDonalds was pricey! However, since we were in Switzerland, we did splurge and bought some really good Swiss chocolate at Läderach. Hungry and cold and really wanting to eat the chocolate we just bought, we found a nice little fast food Asian kiosk inside the train station. The rice bowl combos were actually very good.

Inside the open-ended multi level train station the air was cold. There were convenient “sitting rooms” randomly throughout the station that had seats and were warm. While waiting in one of these rooms eating our chocolate, three station ticket patrol officers came in and asked to see boarding passes. Within two minutes after they left three heavily armed Swiss police officers came into the room and asked to see passports of two men sitting in the room. Everyone in the room sat quietly waiting to see what would happen. I will say I’m very impressed with the Swiss Police. They were polite, quiet, and completely in control. Never did I or anyone else in the room feel unsafe. The men checked out and everything returned to normal.  About 10 minutes later our train departure platform popped up on the screen and we left the nice secure warm room.

The kids have been excited for quite a long time about sleeping on a train. We had a “couchette” which has 6 bunks. The kids asked whether we would have a roommate or not. I didn’t know until we boarded the NightJet train to Austria at 20:30 (8:30). Yes we did have a roommate, a gentleman named Marcus who was from a small village just north of Graz. He spoke very little English, which gave me an opportunity to practice my German. He understood me quite well and I understood most of what he said too!

A few minutes after the train left the station we were all tucked into our bunks relaxing and ready for bed. The train was due to arrive at Graz at 7:00am. I will say it wasn’t the easiest night’s sleep because the train made several stops along the 11 hour journey to Graz, but it was a unique experience. I really enjoyed the haunting and eerie sound of the train moving along the tracks in the wee hours of the morning as it twisted and turned through the Alps. The sound was like a low rumbling growl with an occasional crunching noise as the wheels passed over snow-laden tracks.

6:00am and we were up eating a continental breakfast in our couchette. At 7:04 the train pulled into the Graz Bahnhof. Literally a few steps from the train door we were greeted with a friendly voice saying “Dr. Adams and family, welcome to Graz!” Turning around we met with the friendly faces of two women, Birgit and Anita. These two ladies have been instrumental in helping us with our move to Graz. They are representatives from FH Joanneum, the university Robert will be working at for the next 6 months! Birgit and Anita loaded us up in two FH Joanneum cars and drove us to 3 Nauerparweg, our new address in Graz. It was nice to see

What would a trip to Paris be without seeing the iconic symbol of love, the Eiffel Tower!!! We walked to the local Metro subway and rode out to the nearest stop by the Eiffel Tower. But where was it? Once above ground we walked a few blocks, but couldn’t seem to find it. Until… voilà we rounded the corner and hidden in a dense fog we saw the bottom of the tower!

As we walked closer more of the upper tower became visible. We walked out in front of the Tour Eiffel into the Champ de Mars (gardens that are in front of the tower). Before doing so we went up to the base and gazed at the amazing metalwork. It was very impressive. While there a nice lady named Crystal, from Australia, offered to take our family photo. I in turn took a photo of her and her friends.

Further out in the gardens we were able to see more of the Eiffel Tower. Faywen wanted to take a photo of Robert and I kissing under the “Tower of Love”. Liam and Seamus decided to photo bomb our romantic moment! We all had a good laugh, and Faywen took another photo of us without the boys.

On our way to the Champs-Elysées we passed by a multi-million dollar apartment with a view of the Tour Eiffel and what did Robert eye in the window, but a Garfield plush toy suctioned cupped to the windowpane of the balcony doors! We found something else interesting on our walk to the Champs and Arch de Triomphe…a Congolese passport in the middle of a cross walk. Robert picked it up and he turned it in at a local police station. The station was located just across the Alexander III Bridge and in front of a large statue of Charles De Gaul. The statue is the beginning of the Champs-Elysées. The first part of this famous road is lined with trees and a garden. The second half has beautiful buildings and high-end shops. It’s the 5^th Ave of France.

A quick view down the street at the Arch de Triomphe and then we crossed the street and walked through the Jardin des Tuilleries to the Museé du Louvre at the other end. Of course we had done a lot of walking by this point, so we sat down on a classic Parisian bench for a wee respite. Later we took another rest sitting by a beautiful fountain reflecting pool. We could just see the Louvre off in the distance.

Like Chateau Versailles the Louvre was busy, but not overwhelmingly so. We grabbed a museum map and found our way to the room containing “the world of arts” most famous lady…the Mona Lisa! Surprisingly she isn’t as big a portrait as many believe. She’s rather modest in size, but still very lovely! Another famous lady resides in the Louvre as well…Venus de Milo! She was elegantly poised on a platform. Her white marble form juxtaposed against a lovely brown marble background!

We came across other well know portraits including Raphael’s “St. Michael slaying Satan”, Domenichino’s “St. Cecilia”, and “Portrait of a Young Man” by Bellini. This portrait looked a lot like Liam when he’s in serious contemplation. Robert took a great side-by-side of Liam and the famous painting!’

After admiring all of the beautiful paintings we meandered through the ancient Egyptian and antiquities rooms. Faywen found a remarkably well-preserved statue of Bastet the Egyptian cat-goddess. We discovered that the remaining Crown Jewels of France were also in the museum. We went and had a look, since we had already seen the crown jewels for Scotland and England too! Most of the Crown Jewels of France were destroyed during the French Revolution in the 1790’s.

A few blocks from the Louvre is the Seine River. We decided to walk along the river all the way back to Notre Dame and do a little more last minute shopping. Robert and Liam purchased Laguiole pocketknives. These handmade French knives are known throughout the world for their blades and craftsmanship. Two blocks further on we came across a chocolatier from the 1770’s and finally we ended up at Esmeralda’s for dinner. A lovely little café situated on the corner overlooking Notre Dame. The kids had been asking to try real French escargot and Esmeralda’s had it on the menu. The kids have had French Canadian escargot, which is served in melted warm cheese. Parisian escargot is prepared in melted butter, herbs, and eaten straight out of the shell! They were delicious! All the kids loved the escargot! The rest of our meal was delicious too.

On the way back to the hotel Robert spotted a real Parisian rat. Yes, Remy the Rat was hanging out in the Notre Dame Square! A fitting end to our iconic stereotypical tour of Paris!