Thurs June 18
WE chose to take the CAT train to the airport. We checked out and skipped breakfast going straight to the Karlsplatsz train station. The issue was my 2 suitcases and Libbie’s big one. They are difficult to manage on escalators, stairs, etc. We took the elevator down to the platform and noticed there was no line at the McDonalds so we each had an Egg McMuffin and coffee. Then it was 2 stops on the U4 line to the station that has the CAT. We had a little trouble with the ticket machine since it was in German but a nice lady helped us. Two tickets were $12 euros each. The train is clean, smooth and fast. We hit the airport in 16 minutes then the fin began. We had miles of walking to the rental cars then even after getting the car paperwork, we had some difficulty finding the parking deck with our car. Eventually we got to a quirky Renault with GPS in the dashboard. It was a standard which was a little challenging at first but we eventually got going onto the autobahn without much trouble. Stopped at a beautiful rest area called Rosenburgers. The food there was laid out in unbelievable displays and looked delicious but I only got a coffee “take away” as the Europeans call it. When exiting the autobahn into the rest area, I forgot we had a manual transmission and needed to downshift. The car started bucking and stalled in the parking lot but it restarts itself which is nice.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived in Neufelden without trouble. We had to call Peter and Christa since we couldn’t find their house but eventually all was well. There was a bicycle and baby toys laying around so we thought we had the wrong house. They have a condo type house where they own the upstairs. We had a glass of wine then had a nice lunch with them of cheese, fruit and sliced prime rib. It was delicious. We went to the hotel Muhl on the river where I took a nap. They then came down to the hotel and took us on a tour of town and an old church. Beautiful. We learned they were married on Aug 5, 1966 which is 49 years ago. Their 50th will be next summer. They had to get married in a hurry since Peter got a 3 year assignment teaching Math at Michigan State and Christa could only come if they were married. IT was the silly Visa system at work. We had a lovely and elegant meal at the Hotel Mulholf. There were outstanding breads. I had a beef soup for appetizer then the main course was lamb chops with a lot of good veggies, etc. We had many bottles of nice wine with dinner. Luckily we didn't have to drive since we were staying here.