Well, its January but I will sort of pretend its December so you can find out what happened over December.

31 December

After a morning wandering the Salzburg castle, before starting on our way to Vienna. The castle was great, both with a gorgeous view over Salzburg, and some interesting exhibitions in the museum. The armour was set up in an interesting way; a static exhibition but still sort of active... .

There was also some lovely jewellry and decorative belts, and a painted glass. I liked the painted glass especially because it made me feel better about my rather amateurish attempts at glass painting - it is probably still better than mine was, but at least wasn't perfect.

Stangenglas, Austrian 1560-86

Some of the rooms were fantastically decorated too with carved painted and gilded wood ceilings and walls:

We tore ourselves away from the castle, and its lovely views, to drive to Vienna. Inevitably we got lost getting to the hotel, but eventually arrived. The hotel itself was quite nice, and the staff lovely, but it quickly became obvious that the twin room that Chris I were in, was a single room, with the couch converted. That meant we had to rearrange the furniture and put the chairs in the wardrobe to fit in. We felt a bit ripped off about that.

Then it was into Vienna for our new year celebration! Of course we got a bit lost again, but ended up in a fantastically good parking spot. The crowds poured in to the city. We were super keen to get to the rathaus to waltz in the new year, but we did have time to pause at the various stages with different music going on, and to enjoy the lights. Mum bought us both a hot wine, and I snapped a photo of her with a snow bar.

At the rathaus there were vast crowds, and a concert being performed live, while shown on the big screen. Midnight came and Chris and I waltzed (as best we could in the crowded space and with our lack of skill), the new year in.

29 December

Salzburg, and one of our favourite destinations. On the first night we stayed in the youth hostel, which was clean and incredibly sterile, but the Inona, the lady at reception, was helpful and nice. Dad tracked down another place to sleep, and while Chris stayed behind at the hostel, mum, dad and I decided to do a foray into Salzburg to find our bearings and hopefully the hotel. We ended up driving around in circles a bit but were happily impressed by what we saw. We drove through the mountain upon which the castle sits, which was a very cool thing to do.

The next day, we had breakfast and went off to find the hotel, which is a very quirky hotel indeed. Our rooms were at the top of the building after flight upon flight of narrow stairs. The furniture was all groovy painted antiques, and mum and dad's bath was under a large skylight.

We split up with Chris, who had some goals of what he wanted to see and started wandering. Walking through Salzburg itself, we came across a shop that sells nothing but painted eggs. "so what?" I hear you ask... when I say painted eggs, I mean real eggs that are blown and then hand painted. Thousands and thousands of them. I have never seen so many eggs in my lifetime. Made our family collection look tiny, both dad I took heaps of photos. There was a tree hung with pretty eggs painted with butterflies too.

We also visited the cathedral, and its exhibition of "treasures". I was really excited to see what looks very much like a renaissance hat there, but it was tucked into a case, so I am sorry but the photos are not great.

Mum and dad decided that they were keen to go to one of the "Mozart Dinners". I sadly was sick with the cold Dad brought with him, so had a long nap then dinner with Chris at the hotel 'hearty Austrian cuisine', and crawled into bed instead.

27 December

Time to head out, to Austria... but via Neu Schwannstein. Looking at Neu Schwannstein from the outside you can see how it inspired Disney. Wandering through it, you could see how the supposedly mad king who commissioned it (Ludwig) was inspired by the medieval aesthetic, illuminations, architecture and decoration.

The view from the windows was also spectacular, and reminded me hugely of a painting by Breugel. The countryside around was also beautiful, with snow capped mountains and a frozen lake.

Salzburg, and one of our favourite destinations. On the first night we stayed in the youth hostel, which was clean and incredibly sterile, but the Inona, the lady at reception, was helpful and nice.

The next day we tracked down another place to sleep; a very quirky hotel indeed. Our rooms were at the top of the building after flight upon flight of narrow stairs. The furniture was groovy painted antiques, and mum and dad's bath was under a large skylight.

Mum and dad decided that they were keen to go to one of the "Mozart Dinners". I sadly was sick with the cold Dad brought with him, so crawled into bed instead.

27 December

Time to head out, to Austria... but via Neu Schwannstein. Looking at Neu Schwannstein from the outside you can see how it inspired Disney. Wandering through it, you could see how the supposedly mad king who commissioned it (Ludwig) was inspired by the medieval aesthetic, illuminations, architecture and decoration.

The view from the windows was also spectacular, and reminded me hugely of a painting by Breugel. The countryside around was also beautiful, with snow capped mountains and a frozen lake.

26 December

A vital part of the Christmas tour was a visit to Lichtenstein, so on Christmas day after lunch, we headed off. Unfortunately by the time we got to Lichtenstein the sun was setting, but we did at least visit, and I snatched a photo or two.

We then headed downhill to St Gallen to have a wander around there, searching for dinner, and enjoying the interesting sights. We decided that we needed to return in the morning to see the famous library at St Gallen. And indeed we did; a very impressive place too; wish I could show you photos, but they aren't allowed inside. Wikipedia has some info on it.

The we drove on to our next destination... Munich. We stayed in an ordinary hotel but in an excellent location, and did some exploring. I rather liked Munich. Cool rathaus with a very cool clock. Mum, dad, Aunty M and I did a bus tour to the palace Nymphenbourg, and got to see people skating on a canal - unfortunately I wasn't in a spot to be able to get a photo, but mum did so as soon as I get a copy I will post it.

Nymphenburg is a bit recent for my taste, but was still very interesting in a rather over-the-top fashion.

Mum was on a bit of a "crib frenzy" searching for nativity scenes everywhere. We discovered that there was an exhibition on, at the Munich museum of hunting. The nativity scenes were cool, but there were other bits and pieces in the museum of interest to me. I managed to avoid the stuffed animals and guns everywhere, and the film of some people charmingly hunting down and killing animals, and focused on the really wonderful sleighs and the 1600 dog collar.

There are lots of wonderful buildings in Munich, old (like the rathaus), new (like the new BMW building being built) and rebuilt (such as some of the churches and other old buildings that were partly destroyed in bombing during the war).

25 December

We arrived at Appenzell just after the sun had set... it was wonderful to drive through countryside with snow mounded up around, so that even if it was not actually snowing for christmas, it would be a white christmas none-the-less.

Appenzell is almost indecently cute. Picturesque houses nestled in the hills, it really is like an advertisemement for Switzerland. You just have to see these photos to understand what I mean:

23/4 December

Drove up to Zurich to meet up with Aunty Margaret. We stayed at the youth hostel which was rather umm.. professional, but not very homely. The next morning, we wandered the christmas markets and then got on the road to Appenzell and Christmas.

22 December

Tonight was the concert of Charpentier - my solo parts went pretty well, and Chris said that when he closed his eyes it was like listening to a cd. Gotta be happy with that as a review!

20 December

We headed up north, to Stein am Rhein, with a quick stop at Avenches.

Rather than going the extra distance to Rothenburg, we decided it would be better to stay closer, and after a lovely evening wander in Stein am Rhein, stayed in my favourite hotel. In the morning we wandered Stein am Rhein once more then drove to Frieburg to see some more Christmas markets. Then we drove on to Basel where we stayed the night in a hotel I know - not a sophisticated place by any means, but central and clean. The next day we met up with Christoph for a magnificent breakfast in a tiny organic bakery/cafe and went for a wander. Dad liked the Tinguely fountain as much as I thought they might!.

19 December

So... I thought I would put my christmas cards up. Ha. All one of them, and it was from a business. This month has been full of rehearsals for upcoming concerts. Mum and Dad arrive tonight too!

5 December

Nothing exciting to report for the day, except that I tried the new "yogourt de saison" and it was great! One of the joys of being in Switzerland is that they bring out seasonal yoghurts. In autumn it was mirabelle plum which was lovely. Now we have moved on... the specialitie de saison is now "apfel strudel" and boy is it fantastic. I would put it up there with the fig yoghurt I love so much, as one of the yummiest yoghurts I have ever eaten. The texture of apple and raison and the creamy tartness of yoghurt and the cinnamon gives it an almost cheesecake feel but without being heavy like cheesecake.