Day 50

Guten Morgen,

We had a big day in Graz.

It will make for a bit of a boring update, because all we did was shopping. The shops in Graz, in fact in Austria generally, are beautiful. You see a lot of good quality products for sale in shops that are laid out simply and elegantly.

The weather is still overcast, not raining, just cloudy with no wind. The temperature was about 15 degrees, so we had to dress warm. Then when we walked into the shops, which were all well heated, we had to take our jackets off.

There are a lot of chocolate shops in Graz, all selling quite different chocolates. All gearing up for Christmas too.

One thing we have always noticed in Austria is that there are a lot of lingerie shops. Obviously the people of Austria are as concerned about having plenty of clean undies to wear as Koro is.

Grandma bought her belt, and Koro bought some shoes. Koro found a stationery shop and added to his collection of pens. Then we both added to our clothes collection.

Buzzy Bee came with us, but he only seemed interested in eating and

drinking coffee. Buzzy Bee will have to go on a diet when he gets home, his tummy is getting a big and round.

We thought shopping would only take a couple of hours. But by 5 o’clock we were still going and we weren’t even close to seeing all of the shops in the town centre.

We dropped our stuff in our room, then headed out for an early dinner of Weiner Schnitzel. When you come to Austria you always have to have the Weiner Schnitzel.

After dinner we took a lift to the top of the hill in the middle of town. There are three ways to get to the top - funicular (which had stopped for the day), stairs (lots and lots of stairs), or pay €1.60 for a 30 second ride in a lift. We took the lift.

Graz really is a beautiful town. As Grandma says, they have these beautiful old buildings, which they keep modern on the inside. The whole town is kept very clean and tidy. We keep talking about how neat it would be to see some of these Austrian cities in winter when it is snowing. They must look like a fairy tale.

But they also have plenty of new buildings, made from modern materials and using modern techniques. The Kunsthaus is a museum of modern art that looks like an alien space ship. An ugly space ship at that. Mur Island is an island made from stainless steel that sits in the middle of the river Mur. There is a café and a little auditorium in the island. It looks spectacular day or night.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our day. Tomorrow we are moving on to the city of Linz, also in Austria, this time on the banks of the very famous Danube river.

Love to you all from Grandma and Koro and Buzzy Bee. XXX OOO.