This morning saw me sleeping in until 9ish whereupon, after a shower and a good cup of coffee, Chris and I set off to climb the castle of Riegersborg. It is the only castle of its kind - one that is high up on a cliff and where it is actually legal to climb up it using a system of wires and climbing harnesses. I hadn't been rock climbing like this for several years - at least since I've been in school. It was fantastic to be that high up on a rock face again, taking in Slovakia, Hungary, and the Burgenland in the distance. Chris kept getting phonecalls, and would clip his safety harnass in to answer them. I got a great picture of it once.
About half way through, there was a small metal mailbox on the side of the rock. We opened it, and inside was a small notebook wrapped in a plastic bag with all the signatures of the people who have climbed through that area. Now there is a signature from Maryvill TN there! Pretty cool.
After we got back to the station, Markus was just finishing up some dumplings for lunch...I forget the German name for it...but they had peaches, apricots I think? plums, and chocolate in the middle. SUPER good (and yes Dad, I tried more than just the chocolate).
After tidying up my last blog post that was lost by my phone, I'm going to go relax for an hour or so before we shove back out to the festival. Tonight we're supposed to see the Austrian military band perform and have some good food. I'm looking forward to it!
The festival is a huge big deal: the television was there, hundreds of ppl, the ambassador from Tyrkey, the minister of Austria, and tons of other dignitaries. One of these was giving a lengthy speech in German, and was suddenly speaking in English, apparently for a EU ddignitary who was present. I hadn't been paying attention, but when he switched it felt like I fell off a cliff, and he instantly had my attention. It was apparently a large enough reaction on my part that Philip laughed at me. I thought it funny.
The Hungarian Mayor from St. Gotthardt was dressed jn period armor and had to be translated into German because he only spoke Hungarian. The Turkish Ambassador spoke with a translator as well. EIGHT speakers. Bwah.
There were tons of traditional Austrian and Turkish foods, and there was traditional Austrian and Turkish music and dance. DW will be proud of my "musical experience."
We had one emergency while we were there: one man passed out from heat exhaustion. But it was a problem easily solved.
Markus has a fantastic schedule worked out for me for the rest of my time in Jennersdorf, and I'm super excited about it. For now though, it's bedtime. So goodnight!
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