One of the places we lived where we felt the most at home and comfortable is Mattersburg, Austria. We lived in Mattersburg from 2000-2002. We made great friends and Eric had some of his best years of basketball here.
Coming back here feels like coming home. We run into people we know on the street and we can drive around and feel a little like locals. No GPS needed!
So metaphorically, we feel at home, but thanks to the generosity of great friends, we were able to literally feel at home, too. We hung out lots with Lisi and Manfred when we were living in Mattersburg fifteen years ago. Since then, they've built a gorgeous house on the hills above town and lucky us...they have a full apartment in the basement. They could not have made us feel more welcome. We had a fully stocked fridge downstairs, beds for everyone and best of all...great company!
Lisi and Manfred's daughter Mimi taught our kids chess (many hours were spent duelling unsuccessfully against Mimi) and our kids in return taught Mimi some un-intellectually stimulating English (ie. "poop"). Fair trade, right?
One afternoon, we all went for lunch at a heuriger close by. Heurigers are something we are really missing in North America.
 |
| The salad I had was AMAZING... |
After lunch, we all drove up to the Burg Forchtenstein.
Amazing views from up on the mountain...we could see all of Burgenland below.
We drove home for more chess games, pizza in front of the soccer on tv, and some lovely wine (thank you, Manfred!).
No comments:
Post a Comment