New year, new hopes and dreams

2014 started with a bang, as always :P We tried to get some chinese lanters to rise but was without luck, it was too windy that night.

Me and Vincent cuddled abit

Embla want to get cuddled and gives me sour face until I give in :P

My friend Therese came to stay for a few days and we took a long walk on the beach here in Mellbystrand which resulted in some nice snapshots

One of the most succesful handball teams of all time was the Swedish players who played together in the 90's-00's and they were coached by a man called Bengt "Bengan" Johansson who is from Halmstad, so last weekend he put together some of his old players to play against a team with some of the best players from around the world and we went to see "Bengan Boys vs. TV4 World Team". It was all in good fun and an honour to see some of these great players play once more :)

Then the snow came after all...

and this huge blackbird is enjoying the food we've put out for the birdies

Embla

Vincent enjoying the pull-out bed/sofa Therese slept in

before the snow came it had been raining for weeks and weeks and the ground where we park our cars was quite muddy and I was just waiting for either one of us to get stuck, the boyfriend drew the shortest straw

and the wall was given no mercy :P

we had a visit from a very cute little theif who wanted some sunflower seeds

and this shot was taked just a few days before the snow came... you'd think it was April and not January!

And on January 2nd they opened a gym here in Mellbystrand in a building which is about 150 m from our house, so the boyfriend and I felt like we had no more excuses- time to start excersising and so far we've been there about three times a week :) I've never been a fan of gyms before but I can feel the change already and that it's doing me good and I hope to continiue to feel that way :)

I've been on the Top of Austria!

In June one of my best friends got married and they had decided to get hitched in beautiful Austria so what better excuse was there for me and the boyfriend to get away from all the craziness of packing our lives into boxes and get away for a few days and visit this lovely country and be there for their big day?! My friend C is from Germany and her hubby M is Austrian and they had the whole shabang in Klagenfurt, in the south of Austria.
The boyfriend and I flew to Vienna, rented a car and drove to Klagenfurt, a three hour road trip in total.

I'd read about the most scenic route you could drive whilst being there so the next day we drove north towards Salzburg and turned left to get on the road that would take us to Grossglockner and the high alpine road over Austrias highest mountain! An absolutely fantastic day with amazing views and our great rental car definitely helped make the climb to the top (and going down) go very smoothly!

the boyfriend and our rented silverarrow of a car in the background

Thursday was spent exploring Wörthersee lake and we ended up taking a stroll in Velden before meeting up with C and M + family and friends at their hotel for drinks in the evening.

(photo by: Ka Wai Ho)

Friday was the big wedding day and we got a ride to the lovley church of Maria Wörth where they had a traditional catholic wedding ceremony, all in German but I think we got what most of it was about ;) Then afterwards all the guests got a boatride back to Klagenfurt and to the Sunset Bar for the dinner and party. Lovley food and some great fireworks made the perfect ending of the day.
I wish C and M a lifetime of happiness!! 

Saturday we headed back to Vienna and spent the day walking around looking at the city, missed out on the tour at the Spanish Ridingschool (which I'm still kinda bummed about) but had a good day there anyway, especially once we got away from the touristy streets and found Schwedenplatz, then it almost felt like home! haha!

the Spanish Ridingschool 

Stephansdom

 

inside the Dom

 

We had an early morning flight Sunday morning and once we were home we could conclude that Austria is beautiful, but also so very private and there are so many rules! I am so happy to live in a country where I can walk almost anywhere I want and enjoy the greatness of nature without looking thru a fence...

A very common sign i Austria! Beware of parking your car ;)