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6/30/2007 12:00:00 PM
Austria
Report from Vienna

Spring in Vienna

Haven't written for a long time but here a report of our time from April to June.

Hallo everybody,

If you thought (or hoped) that I have given up writing reports.... I have to disappoint you on that.... Even though they are not monthly any more but more like every 3-5 months I am going to continue! This time around there is a lot to tell about all our visitors and little trips over the last 6 months. There is not much to talk about our daily lives of work, school, soccer etc. anyways and I don't want to "bore" you. For the "lazy readers" I have put new pictures on the web where you can catch up a bit quicker...!

April 2007:

The end of April my nephew Alexander, now 20!, and his (then) girlfriend Ruth came to visit us a weekend on short notice. Even though we don't get to see each other a lot and the age difference between the nephews is big they are so cute with each other and it is nice to see how much fun they have together. Ruth and Alexander explored Vienna a little by themselves but were quite happy to "just" be with us and hang out. They also spent some time with my mom - grandma is grandma regardless of how old you are, right?! We really enjoyed having them and especially I cherish that they come to visit "their aunty", just like I have done over so many years with Babie! In a few weeks we will get another new family member - Elli and Werner, Roberts brother, are expecting their first one - so there will be another big gap between the cousins but this time ours are the BIG ONES!

May 2007

In May the four of us took a 5 day trip to La Rochelle in France. A small, historic marine city at the Atlantic coast. During his last US trip Robert had met the single hander Bruce Schwab at the boat exhibition in Oakland. (you can read up on Bruce at www.bruceschwab.com or www.oceanplanet.org). Bruce told Robert that he will be in France in May to deliver an "Ocean 60" race boat back to America. Robert would have had the chance to be crew for him but unfortunately work did not allow it, too bad! Well it was a chance to see such a great boat and meet Bruce again, so we took the opportunity to do a little trip out of it. Robert also offered to help to get the boat ready, knowing how every extra hand helps in the prepwork.

We met on Thursday night, Robert came from London and the three of us from Vienna to Paris by plane and from there we continued through the night for another 5 hours car trip to the Atlantic side of France. La Rochelle is a quaint, small town and even though the weather wasn't what we had hoped for we were able to see a few things. We stayed at the newly renovated Hotel Ibis (an old church building!) which was directly across from the marina, so perfect for Robert to walk over after breakfast to help them on the boat. In the meanwhile the boys and I saw the aquarium, a model museum, explored some playgrounds, etc. At lunch we picked up Robert and did some nice trips in the area.

Specially the drive over to the island of Ile de Re was beautiful. We went up a lighthouse with an gorgeous overview of the island and the big ocean, explored the small fishing villages with its many bistros and cafes, and were amazed to see the boats sitting on ground, the effects of spring tide. A fascinating concept that you can read up on at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide. Since we took the boys out of school for 2 days we really had the feeling of a mini vacation which we needed very much specially since we knew that Robert was not able to take off any time during the summer. We all enjoyed exploring new places, being around boats again and feeling the fresh sea breeze! On our way back to Paris we had enough time to visit and go up the Eiffeltower and have dinner together before we all went different directions again....

June 2007

In June Robert and I had the great opportunity to fly to the US together for 10 days. (we had an old miles ticket that would have expired in July 07! - how lucky for me!). Unfortunately we did not get to see as much of each other as we had thought. Robert had to go to Santa Monica for business and since I had not been in America for 1 1/2 years I wanted to stay a bit longer at places and see friends.

The first weekend we spent together in the Bay Area. We stayed with Maura and Bob in Boulder Creek, saw our friend Luke and his girlfriend Jen in Santa Cruz and attended Hemma and Christoph's annual summer party - just in time! Robert had to fly to LA on Monday and I stayed on a few days in the Bay Area. On Wednesday I too flew South and we met up again in Newport where we visited a family we met cruising in Mexico. From there on to San Diego to see Bonnie and Julie (Bonnie came to pick me up in LA) where Robert joined me again. From ther on to Temecula to see Barbie and Jimmy, I had seen Barbie a few weeks earlier during her Europe visit but not Jimmy.

I had not slept in one place twice all 10 days and have moved around a lot, but I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it!!! On one side it was nice not to be "Mommie" for a while and on the other hand I had a great time just to live the day as it comes with no exact times and commitments! To see everybody, come back to the familiar places and feel the live there was an interesting experience for me, which I had not expected.

The boys were with grandpa and uncle in the meanwhile and very well cared for. Werner and Elli live directly across from school and they had a ball with such a short walk. Ernst and Katharina often took over at lunch time and with all the afternoon activities soccer, etc. On the weekends they traded off and the last few days they visited the lake house in Carinthya with Elli and Werner, their highlight! Sebastian was quite happy and keen on me coming back, Benjamin just said "It could have been a few days longer, then I could have watched a bit more TV...!"

Ok, I'll take a short break, otherwise it'll get too long. The second part from July to September will follow shortly.

Hugs for now Niki and the gang

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