Day 51

Guten Morgen,

It was a travelling day today. We had a slow start, as we really liked the hotel we had in Graz, and check out was not until 12:00pm. It also had really good Wifi, so we were able to get some photos up in our Travel Diary.

It was about a three hour drive to the city of Linz, which is in the North of Austria, straddling the mighty Danube River.

Austria has some great motorways. They are well made and nice to drive. The speed limit is 130km/h, slowing to 100km/h as you are going through the many tunnels. What gets frustrating is you can rarely sit at 130km/h for long periods because of the many times you have to slow for road works. Perhaps they are working to get the road works completed before the winter snow sets in.

As we drove further North we were surprised to see the sun come out. We haven’t seen the sun since we left Napoli. It disappeared somewhere between Firenze and Bologna. So it was a surprise to get to Linz and not see a cloud in the sky and have a warm 21 degree afternoon.

To be quite honest, Linz is a pretty ordinary city. Not a pretty little picture like Graz. However, it gets us a step closer to München, and there is a digital art and technology centre that Koro will explore in

the morning.

Grandma managed to get her nails done properly this afternoon. Grandma wasn’t happy with the way the lady in Greece did her nails. The Austrian clinic was very thorough and Grandma is very impressed with the results.

While Grandma got her nails done, Koro found a stationery shop, similar to, but much smaller than, Office Products Depot in Te Rapa.

We had an early dinner again, and it was spectacular. Trout for Grandma, and Lamb curry for Koro. One of our most expensive meals in Europe, but worth it for our last night.

Tomorrow will be a long day, but at least we will not be rushed. We have to be at the airport in München by 6:30pm, and it is only a two hour drive. From there we fly to Hong Kong, and we are looking forward to seeing Erwin and Vera and kids.

Koro has known Erwin since they met at Auckland University when they were both 18 years old. And no, Miss Abigail, it was not that long ago that Koro was 18 years old.

Hong Kong will be very different again to anything we have seen before.

Buzzy Bee is also looking forward to another plane ride (he can rest his wings), and another new country to visit.

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