Frozen Water and Copper Pans

Beate, Vix and Jeanne commented, how much they appreciate the tours I offer here, online. I am not so sure if you also appreciate cold, basic tours, showing rarely any culture but lots of nature.

Here we go:

View through one of the kitchen windows

For the first time in my adult life I left Vienna after Christmas and went on a vacation. I usually spend the weeks between Christmas and January 6th (a holiday in Austria) at work, organizing everything and getting ready for the new year. Not this year!

This is the view towards the kitchen winows to the left

We stay at Friend B's house in the Carinthian country side and it is the first time we visit her place during holidays. We expected everything to be really crowded but it seems quite relaxed which is good.

My favourite photo of today: A relaxed parking lot in the neighbour-valley.
This is how I imagine Alaska to be.

The parking lot at 1000m above sea-level. Can you see the three people walking on their skis? That's how we do it, too! Since Mr Paula and I started ski touring in February 2010, we decided to burn some kcals after the holidays and walk up the hills!

Ski touring is like alpine skiing without the lift: you walk up the hill and ski downhill, slowly and safely. The whole experience is not about speed like carvers experience but nature.

In case you did not notice yet, how thoughtful Mr Paula is: Today he suggested, we might just walk and check out various routes before hitting them on skis. Which was a brilliant idea since it left my with plenty of time to take pictures, both hands free.

The test-run proved, we could easily WALK the tours by foot, without skis, since the snow is frozen and we would not sink in too deep. The reason you would still chose to put on the skis is simply because you burn way more kcal with the heavy skiing boots and skis on your feet. Haha.
The reason, why would put on the skis, is because it only takes you a few minutes to get downhill which leaves you with more time for a hot chocolate before dinner time.

Passing this pond, my mind wanders, too:

I did not know how much like water in any winter scenery.

It is very peaceful and inspiring to look at.

On our way back to the car, we passed the skiiing-school:

Uahhrggghh!

A bear! And adults, dancing with their hands in the air.
And lot of tiny helmets with kids underneath.

This scene reminds me a lot of the group in Schönbrunn last week. You can meet the bizarre everywhere, but it was cute to look at and fun!

Now I am off to the kitchen which is actually the place where I am sitting right now, typing this, farmer's houses kitchens are huge! Two tables, 2 ovens ... heaven!

I brought the jamie Christmas-magzine with me and today I bought red beets. I have never cooked red beets before. Small adventures so to say.