After spending Christmas with our family in The Netherlands, we flew to Vienna to spend a couple of weeks with Niki, his family and friends. New Years was just around the corner.
This was the first time seeing his new home outside of Vienna in a small quaint village called Mayerling,
Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Wienerwald (Vienna woods), 24 kilometres (15 mi) southwest of Vienna. From 1550, it was in the possession of the abbey of Heiligenkreuz.
Besides spending quality time together and catching up, we enjoyed having Niki as our tour guide, especially since there is a global history attached to the village.
We visited The Discalced Carmelites and the small but very informative museum they have before entering. It felt more like a castle than an abbey. There is so much history surrounding this abbey and some is quite tragic.
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As it was late December in Austria, we practically had the place to ourselves, which made it so much more relaxing. At the end of our tour, I saw an incredibly small building where you could light a votive “prayer” candle for a loved one. As it has become my “thing” while traveling, I lit one for my mom in loving memory. I am not Catholic, however it gives me the good feels when doing this, so I continue on the tradition.
Our Niki enjoys many things, but good food is by far at the top of his list. We always know he has scouted out and found the best places and the restaurants never disappoint. From gourmet burgers the size of one’s head, to sushi on a conveyer, authentic shawarma and everything in between.
We went to a ginormous mall called “Westfield Shopping City”, which is the largest in Austria.
The Shopping City Süd is a shopping centre located in Vösendorf and Wiener Neudorf, south of Vienna, Austria. With a leasable area of 235,000 m², it is the biggest shopping mall in Austria. It contains over 330 shops and has around 5,000 employees. Wikipedia
Even has an IKEA, but that would have taken an entire day itself, so we did not venture in.
It was stunning with all the Christmas decorations still displayed. Han was a great sport because he will avoid mall shopping if at all possible, but he and Niki chatted away while Niki’s gal pal “Brit” and I walked and shopped to the point of exhaustion. Bought a few trinkets, pair of boots and a beautiful blue sparkly Swarovski pen at Swarovski Official | Jewelry, Watches and Crystal Decorations.
We all pretty much either took a full on nap or at least laid down to chill upon arriving back to home base.
One of our days all together, we went to Niki’s parent’s new home. Those two are some of the loveliest people you would ever want to meet. We always have a great time when visiting, and try to see them at lease a couple of times when in Austria.
They moved into a beautiful penthouse apartment with a huge balcony surrounding it. It is quite something. The day was sunny and warm enough to sit outside with a glass of wine. Had a scrumptious dinner with the family. The little ones opened some presents. We visited for quite some time to catch up on the past year or so.
One thing that really made my heart melt, is his mom still has the patchwork quilted pillow I made her from many, many years ago, when Niki started visiting as a foreign exchange student. The first time he visited, he was 15. Many more visits after that, in which he quickly became what I like to call, “my heart-adopted son”. Now he is in his mid 40’s.
On New Year’s Eve we enjoyed the magnificent sights of fireworks from Niki’s balcony, drinking champagne and shivering in below freezing temperatures. Of course kisses, hugs and well wishes were passed around at midnight, then off to bed because we had a full day planned for new year’s day.
New Year’s Day arrived with plenty of much needed coffee. Relaxed a bit, then began preparing for the party. There would be seven of us along with a sweet basset hound.
When everyone arrived we passed around tradition little good luck trinkets for the new years. First time for me and another first was experiencing a cool item called a “Raclette Party Grill”. It is like an inside barbecue grill. I am sure many of you have seen or used one before, but I found it quite unique. Placed it in the center of the table, passed around all the cut up meats, veggies, potatoes and began our individual cooking. It is a lot more involved to make your meal, but it helps to make the meal last longer, be memorable and have time for jokes, stories and lots of laughter. Obviously wine and more wine was on the menu. Snuggling up in front of the fireplace with wine and great friends…does it get any better?
Time flew as it always does and too soon, it was time to fly back to The Netherlands in search of new adventures..
Until next time… love to our sweet Austrian family.
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