An indoor picnic: Sunday August 3, 2008

Graham's sister Sally had planned to come to the island today and had organized a big family picnic, but the weather didn't cooperate. It rained steadily all morning. Sally arrived with her husband Pat and daughter Lisa and it was still sopping wet, so we changed the plans to picnic indoors. We were a big crowd. Here is everyone that I can remember. I hope I didn't forget anyone:

• Sally, Pat and Lisa
• Graham's Mum and Dad
• Graham and me
• Gaye (Graham's other sister) and her children Josh, Jake and Alice
• Sam (another nephew)

The other island family members were away on holiday or working that day.

After the picnic, the rain finally stopped and we piled in to 3 cars and drove to Cowes to look at some the Cowes Week Regatta activities. Aside from the usual abundance of sailboats in the water and crowds in the streets, there were some unusual things to do including a bucking bronco ride. It was free before 6pm, so Graham gave it go. He did pretty well although no one seemed to be able to stay on for very long.

Aufwiedersehen Österreich, Hello England: Saturday August 2, 2008

We had one last Austrian breakfast before loading up the car and driving to Munich to catch our plane. We left a few minutes before 8:30am. All my sources said the trip to Munich would be 3 hours and our flight was at 3:28pm so we had plenty of time. We were aiming to be at the airport checking in by 12:30pm.

It was a little foggy on the way down the mountain, but not enough to slow us down and the police waved us to a stop as we exited the 6 mile tunnel to check that we had a valid vignette. We also had to stop twice at rest stops to use the facilities, but overall we were making good time and enjoying traffic free, well maintained autobahns in Austria. However, as soon as we crossed the border (the only indication of this was the change in road surface), the road changed, traffic increased and we began to fear delays. It was really terrible. Everytime we approached an junction with another autobahn (we had to pass 4) traffic slowed to a crawl several miles in advance. In the end, we didn't arrive at the airport until about 1:30pm. Thankfully, finding where to turn in the car and getting around inside the airport was very easy. The airport is relatively small and it was easy to recognize how to retrace our steps from our arrival a week before.

Aside from Alamo insisting they had to charge us for 1/4 tank of gas even though we had filled up just 30 miles before the airport, everything went smoothly and our flight was on time and not affected by the Lufthansa strike.

We arrived in Heathrow on time after circling 3 times and were really annoyed that our luggage took about 50 minutes from the time we landed until it arrived on the belt. This left us only 10 minutes to get through customs and find the central bus station to catch our pre-booked coach. By some miracle despite having to take an elevator and race down a long tunnel, we found the station and the correct bus AND the bus hadn't left yet. We were the last to board and were so grateful the bus had been running late.

90 minutes later we alighted in Southampton and walked a few blocks to catch the free ferry link bus. We ended up on a 7:30pm ferry and 20 minutes later we were picked up on the Isle of Wight by Graham's parents and our niece Alice.

The day had been long We were traveling over 12 hours by car, plane, coach, bus, ferry and car again, but we had arrived safe and sound with all our luggage. Our luck was holding out.

Last Hurrah: Friday August 1, 2008

We awoke to clear skies today, but by the time we'd mailed our postcards and checked on our flight (not affected by the strike!) on the internet at Tourist information and returned the bike, it had started to sprinkle. We forgot our our walking sticks, so Graham went back for them and by the time we were riding up Komperdellbahn, it was raining heavily.

From the top we found the Panorama Genußweg and did the hour walk to the top of Sunlinerbahn. Along the way, the rain vanished. From here we repeated the walk through the woods that I had done by myself yesterday ending at our hotel. We had eaten some of our lunch on a bench along the way. We didn't go into the hotel. We continued back to the Komperdellbahn again and rode all the way up to the top at Lazid like I had done on my first day alone. We finished our lunch up here and then ordered a drink and sat on the restaurant deck admiring the view. Graham had a Radler and I had my usual Diet Coke.

It was clouding up again, so we returned to town, rode the subway one last time and then we settled our bill at the hotel before borrowing robes from reception and went down to the basement to use the sauna. We showered and Graham went down for cake, but I wasn't hungry so I stayed in the room and packed. We had handed in our bahncards when we settled the bill, so there will be no more cable car rides. Instead I will have to admire the view of the alps from my window because they too will be just a memory after today.

Guess who's napping? I need to wake him up. It is sadly time for our last Serfaus dinner.

Solo me: Thursday July 31, 2008

Graham had signed up for a guided bike tour for today and it was scheduled to begin at 10am today. What they didn't tell us when we signed up, was that the bike rental had to be done somewhere else in town. So we squandered the morning, killing time, only to find out at 10am that we had to race to the other end of town to rent his bike. We were supposed to go to Patschneider to rent it, but we saw Bacher which was was closer and we rented it there. They seemed very nice and told us about tours that they have everyday. When we come back to Serfaus, I will definitely try a bike tour from this place. I stayed behind to pay for the bike (19 Euros for 24 hours) as Graham pedaled back to the Geiger Sport Hotel to join the tour that was waiting for him.

I was now on my own for several hours. I rode up Komperdell intending to do the Panorama Genußweg (I had found it on a map and now knew the correct way), but on the way up, I couldn't find my water and didn't think it was wise to hike on my own without some. So I rode back down, bought some in the grocery store and rode back up on the Sunlinerbahn and followed a route back down to Serfaus that traveled through the woods. It was a very nice walk with woods, meadows, lots of flowers and interesting wooden hay huts scattered about.

The route took me across the meadows behind our hotel and ended around the corner from the hotel. I waited in the room for Graham after sending him a text to tell him where I was. His bike ride ended up coming into town also just behind our hotel and he left the group at that point. It was a tough ride, but he was very proud of the fact that despite being the only participant without cycle clothes and gloves, he was one of the strongest riders. He really seemed to enjoy the ride.

After he showered we went out shopping. I was looking for some gifts from my parents to thank them for pet sitting Dexter and Delilah. After successfully finding something, we were need the cable cars, so we rode up the Sunliner again and relaxed on a bench at the top admiring the view. We couldn't stay too long because the bahns stop running at 5pm.

Back at the hotel we watched TV for an hour before going to dinner. I ate a really nice pork dish.

Tonight we are having a night in. No shows to watch, just resting our weary legs and watching a bit of Austrian TV. I also wrote my last postcards and organized my suitcase. The end of our week here is getting too close. I will miss this place.

May I have this dance?: Wednesday July 30, 2008

Today was that day we had planned to go back to Möseralm and ride the Rodelbahn. We drove to Fiss and parked in the parking lot right next to the cable cars. We rode one of them up to Möseralm and got our start tickets. There was no wait at all and within minutes we were hurtling down the mountain through alpen meadows at 30 - 40 km per hour. It was so much fun, we raced back up the mountain on the cable car and did a repeat performance.

Because there were no lines at this time of day, Graham rode the Flieger again while I tried to videotape him, but I messed up and we didn't get the footage. We were down to one ticket now, so I bought one more and we each rode the rodelbahn down the mountain again.

At the bottom in Fiss I noticed the one cable car we hadn't yet ridden. It didn't go high, but actually traveled over the meadows to the next village of Ladis. We took it and explored Ladis. we found the lake and the castle and took photos and we had our picnic lunch on a bench by the lake.

We returned to Fiss in time for our 2pm Segway lesson and practice. The lesson was actually about 3 minutes of instructions and then we were sent across the street to a very small parking lot cum obstacle course with about 10 orange cones. We had 20 minutes to maneuver and ride around the cones. We attracted attention and people stopped to ask us questions. It was fun, and I would like to try it again sometime.

We weren't sure what to do next, so we rode up the Schönjochbahn (the one we took on our first guided tour) all the way to the tippy top. We tried to climb a rocky trail to a high lookout point, but a group of hikers had plopped themselves down for a rest and we couldn't get by, so we turned around, rode back down and drove the 2 minute trip back to Sefaus. Our parking spot was gone (we thought it was assigned), so Graham ran in to ask where to put the car. We were told the person parked across the front was leaving soon, but we could have the small spot next to him. This was very tight and it took me 10 minutes to get into the spot and just as I did, the man came out and moved his car. As it was a better spot, I had to maneuver myself out again to take the better spot.

You know what comes next! Cake and coffee again. Graham had two pieces and herbal tea which translates to sugar and no caffeine and you guessed it, he is napping as I write this.
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Dinner tonight was two kinds of dumplings served with sauerkraut and celery-straw. We both had this, but Graham only had one kind of dumpling because the other wasn't vegetarian. It began to rain hard as we ate. After dinner we attended a Tirolean Traditional Evening around the corner at the Saal via Claudia. This was one of the highlights of the week.

The venue was a nice big room with long tables and high stage. It wasn't crowded so we picked a spot right up front next to the stage. They were serving drinks, but I just had a diet coke.

The group performing is called Trachtengruppe Pfunds. There were two musicians playing at the back of the stage, but 5 men in Lederhosen and 4 women in Dirndls did the dancing. Some of the dances were the traditional slapping dances, but in between each of them would come down into the audience and select a partner to take back on stage to dance with. I was asked to dance by the man in the photo above. He was really nice. We spoke in English and he was surprised to discover we were from America. It is not that common for Americans or Brits to come to Serfaus. When the dance was over, he escorted me back to my chair (not sure how he remembered where we were sitting) and pulled out my chair for me. So gallant!! That was so much fun. A few songs later, Graham was pulled on stage by one of the lady dancers and he got to dance.

At the end of the show they did a song/dance where they used real axes to chop a log in time to the music. Chips of wood were flying everywhere. It was so amazing. Lastly, they got nearly everyone in the room to do a congo line to traditional music. We all snaked through the room and all ended up on stage. We had a hilarious time and if we get back to Serfaus, I hope to see this show again.

Say Cheese: Tuesday July 29, 2008

Today we took a chance and arrived 14 minutes early for breakfast hoping we would be allowed to grab a bite early. Our guided hike today starts at 8:30am at the Komperdellbahn on the other end of town. It was not a problem and we had time to eat, pack our lunch and walk to the cable car with time to spare.

I was a bit worried about this hike. The description said it was 4 to 4.5 hours and didn't mention anything about how difficult it was. It starts with a Senerei (Alpine Dairy) tour which I figured would eat up an hour of the time and I just hoped I could keep up. I was encouraged as our fellow tour members arrived at the meeting point as many were families with young teens and some had flimsy shoes. I thought "If they can do this walk, so can I" and I relaxed.

We rode up to the Komperdell station and walked downhill 1/4 mile to the dairy. The dairyman came out and explained what his daily schedule is like and what we would be seeing. Then each of us had to have the bottoms of our shoes hosed off and we had to put on disposable white coats and hats and slip on white shoe covers. The hall we walked through had sponges in the middle of the floor that you had to walk on. I think they put disinfectant on the shoe covers, but I am not sure.

We saw the milking equipment and then we saw several rooms where they make the cheese and where they monitor and care for the cheese while it is aging. It was really interesting. Each of these enormous wheels of cheese has to be rinsed off (by hand or by machine) every day. They make two kinds of cheeses, but I can only remember that one was called Bergkäse which is Mountain Cheese.

After we removed our protective clothing and shoe covers, we were led into a room where we watched video while sampling Bergkäse and bread. Fresh milk by the glass was also available to try, but we didn't have any.

Back outside, I saw most of the people with kids and flimsy shoes say goodbye and wander off. This concerned me. I listened as the guide explained that the remaining tour would be 4 to 4.5 hours (gasp) and we would be "going up over that mountain there..." (double gasp!!) I asked the guide if the hike was difficult. He shrugged and replied "What's difficult?" I quickly consulted with Graham and he agreed he didn't mind continuing without me. I then explained to the guide that I would not be continuing but that Graham would. I also explained that Graham didn't speak German. Luckily, the guide knew English and he kept Graham from feeling left out.

While Graham went off with the guide, I decided to walk down the mountain back to Serfaus. I started with the Murmli trail for kids which was nearby and eventually was on a steep trail/road used by trucks to bring supplies to the berg stations. The walk was peaceful with amazing glimpses of village of Serfaus nestled on the plateau below between the towering pines. It was also very steep. Eventually, I realized that fighting gravity was the hard part and I broke into a gentle jog. I surprised myself as I jogged down the mountain. At the switchbacks, the path was deeply rutted and I slowed to a walk to keep from hurting myself, but in between I continued to run until I was back in the town and exhausted. I returned to the hotel, changed my shirt, powdered my tired feet and went out again. This time I rode Komperdellbahn again and transferred to the Lazidbahn to go to the highest point. I knew there was a restaurant up at this high (2400m) peak, and I hoped there would be someplace to eat my picnic lunch.

Lazid was gorgeous and full of people. Some were enjoying food or drink at the outdoor deck of the restaurant, while others sat on chairs and benches in a playground watching children play. There was a fence with a gate to keep the Alpin ecows from riding the cable car or eating in the restaurant, but these placid cows, were unfazed as I squatted in front of one to take her portrait. She seemed to enjoy posing.

I found a bench and enjoyed the views as I ate and listened to my book on tape on my iTouch, but eventually I saw an ominous black cloud approaching. I decided, it was time to go and rode both cable cars back down to Serfaus. Serfaus was sunny with no clouds and checking my watch I saw that Graham's 4 hours were nearly up. He sent me a text saying he was at the Lazid restaurant having a drink with his "new German friends" so I waited for him on a shady bench by the bahn station.

We made it back to the hotel with plenty of time for our now traditional afternoon coffee and cake.

Dinner that night was excellent as usual. I enjoyed chicken in a pepper ragout with corn cakes. Graham had a potato pancake with fried egg and pureed spinach. Dinner was slow tonight and we didn't finish until 7:30. We had only a few minutes before we had to change and dash around the corner to the center of town in time for the start of Bergsommernacht (Mountain Summer Night). We had to pay 5 Euros each for pass for this event, but it was well worth it. It started with a Musikappel group (like a marching band) playing a few songs in the center of town and then like the pied piper, leading everyone to the Komperdellbahn to travel up to the Komperdell station for the show.

At the top, the band played some more on a stage until the rest of the show started. We were all "confined" to the sun terrace area and they were selling food and drinks everywhere. We saw local children dancing modern dance, a professional singer singing a song from the play Elizabeth while in a Cinderella carriage suspended on wires, unicycle acrobats that were amazing, a colorful laser show set to music and finally a fireworks display. Everything was fantastic and we throughly enjoyed it. There was a bit of crush to get back down on the cablecar as everyone was leaving at once, but it was interesting coming down in the dark. From above we could see a tour group going down the mountain with lanterns and that looked like fun.

We were back in our room by 10:30 and we stayed up reading and writing this log for a bit longer.

The Wrong Path: Monday July 28, 2008

Today we decided to do our own walk. From the information Christian gave us yesterday, we thought it would be nice to ride the Komperdellbahn up to Komperdell and walk the hour-long Panorama Genußweg as to the Sunlinerbahn. But first we visted the Post Office to mail the postcards we wrote yesterday and Tourist Information to sign up for a guided hike tomorrow. This one costs 6 Euros each for the Dairy tour.

When we got to to top at Komperdell, the sign posting didn't seem that good. Would couldn't see any sign telling us which trail was the flat (easy) Panorama Genußweg. We started out on a path that looked like it went in the right direction, going toward a yellow bahn in the distance. This path was not steep, but it was consistently uphill and exposed (no shade). We walked uphill until we reached a set of benches where we posed for photos. However, a few feet later the trail hairpin-turned and became an overgrown tract going in the wrong direction. I insisted we turn around because there was no way I could manage this path and I couldn't see how it could only be an hour to our destination.

We rode the cablecar back down to where we started and took the other one right next door up to where we had planned to get to on the trail. From here it was 15 minute FLAT walk to Möseralm in Fiss. We stood in line here to buy a 3-attraction card each for the rides. I rode the Sky Swing first because there was no wait, but after that we had to queue again to get a start number for the Fisser Flieger. The Flieger is like a hang glider except the glider is attached to a long cable. Once you are strapped in, they pull the glider backwards up the mountain before releasing you to "Fly" back to where you started. There are big electronic signs by each attraction displaying the current number. When you see your number, you can to to the ride and not have to wait in a queue. We had to wait an hour for the Flieger so we decided to have lunch. Our packed lunch was in the hotel because we hadn't planned on the wait or the detour this morning. So we bought a lunch in the Alm restaurant near the rides. I had currywurst and Graham had another salad from the salad bar. I also had a brilliantly icy diet coke.

We finally had our go on the Flieger and it was fun. It wasn't as scary as I had thought it would be. Rather tame really. We ran down the hill afterwards to get a number for the Fisser Flitzer - the 2.2km Rodelbahn. We were told the wait for this was 2 hours and it might be best to come back one morning when there are no lines. Sadly we agreed.

We bought some water to drink, but had to drink it there because it came in glass bottles and now refreshed, we retraced our steps and walked back to the Sunlinerbahn and rode down to Serfaus and went back to the hotel. We relaxed a bit before heading downstairs for cake and coffee.

We had time to kill before dinner and we had the idea to take the car and drive to the 3rd village, Ladis, that we hadn't seen yet. The drive was only about 10 minutes and I did the driving, but the roads were very twisty. Just as we arrived and were parking the car, we heard loud thunder in the distance and saw lightning. We only managed to walk halfway down the main street, before deciding to turn around. I didn't want to be driving those twisty roads in a thunderstorm. Just minutes after we were safely back in our our hotel, the skies opened up and it poured.

At 6pm we went down for dinner. Penne Arabika for me and Tilapia for Graham. We tried to walk after dinner, but it was still raining a bit to heavily for our flimsy travel umbrellas.

As we sat in our room pondering the options for Wednesday, I looked up and was shocked to see that our view had completely disappeared. We were enveloped in dense fog and couldn't even see the house across the street.

Schönjoch Tour: Sunday July 27, 2008

Last night was difficult. The music continued playing unto 10:30pm at full volume and and until 11:00pm at a lower volume. I just could not get to sleep. The more I worried about not sleeping, knowing how many hours I had been awake, the more I started to worry until I felt panicky. I even started worrying about getting back to the airport at the end of the week. I hated to do it, but I woke Graham up and within minutes he had calmed me down and I was able to get to sleep at last. Not for long though because at 6am, the church bells around the corner began pealing. At first I wasn't bothered, after all what is a measely 6 gongs, right? Wrong. These bells rang 75 times. I counted! I never really got back to a deep sleep before the alarm went off at 7am.

We needed to get up at 7, because we wanted to do our first free guided hike and it was scheduled to start in the next village, Fiss, at 9:30. Breakfast is served at 8am. It was a 2 minute drive to Fiss, but we had to find the tourist information office and then we had to find somewhere to park. We managed to do both and be just in time for the tour. Our guide, Christian, spoke some English, but I was able to understand nearly all of his descriptions and translate the condensed version for Graham.

The description of this tour said the ascent would be 180m and it would last 2 to 2.5 hours. We rode the cablecar up to 2440m (Schönjochbahn) and walked from there. Outstanding views in every direction and only the very beginning and very end were steep, but not enough to bother me.

Next, Christian took us back down to the middle station of the mountain on the cablecar and from there we walked downhill across an mountain meadow to Möseralm (Alm means meadow). Möseralm is where the rides are located that we plan to ride later this week. It is also where all the children play areas are, including pony rides, a snow area, a sand playground and more. At this point most of the rest of our group left us, but Christian still wanted to keep on leading us. He suggested a third trail that looked difficult to my tired feet. I decided to wait on a bench at Möseralm while Graham, Christian and one other man did this last 1 hour trail.

I enjoyed people watching on Möseralm and ate my packed lunch. We are allowed to pack a picnic lunch each day from the breakfast buffet. They provide the bags, fruit and chocolate to take along with the meat, bread and cheese from the buffet.

When Graham returned, Christian told us how to get back to Serfaus on foot via the Panorama Genußweg. We filed this information for use on another day since we had the car with us.

Back in Serfaus we sat on our flower-bedecked balcony, admiring the blue skies and mountains while writing postcards before going down for our afternoon cake and coffee. Then we walked to the end of our village to ride the Sunliner cablecar just to check it out. All the cable cars shut down at 5pm and it was 4pm, so at the top we sat on a bench admiring the view for just a short while. Graham sent a text to his sisters from his cell phone - again just because he could and we wanted to share how wonderful Serfaus is. We rode back down and decided to try out the 4 station, one track subway that runs through the town. In Winter cars are banished to the town car park at the entrance and everyone has to walk or take the subway. We rode two stops to "our" stop - Kirche, the church that likes to wake people up at 6am.

Graham is now taking a short nap waiting for dinner and I am writing this log. This morning at breakfast, the menu for tonight was on the table. It always has two choices for the entree and we have to select which we want at breakfast. This morning we told them we are skipping the appetizer (it was veal again) but my entree will be "Tornaden of pork" and potatoes. Graham will have a vegetable strudel and potatoes.

I have just noticed clouds coming in. They are very low. The church steeple is above the clouds. I hope if it rains, it is just overnight.

Austrian Arrival - July 26, 2008

We are lying in our very comfortable bed, with a fluffy duvet each, listening to a band around the corner playing Achy Breaky Heart. My view through the window is a pine covered alp and thinning clouds. I feel so good and so far not very tired despite the fact that I have been up for 30 hours.

Our journey to this magical place went surprisingly smoothly. We were overdue for a smooth trip after the lost luggage, delayed flights and medical problems of our trips in recent years. Checking our bags at Dulles took mere minutes and the 3 hour wait for take off went unbelievably fast. We landed 30 minutes late at the quiet and serene Munich airport and our luggage popped onto the conveyor minutes after we arrived. After picking up our rental car, we were out on the Autobahn navigating our way towards Austria. The signs were excellent and matched my Google Map directions exactly.

Two hours later, just shy of our first desitination, Graham ran out of steam. Extremely sleepy, he needed to pull over on the side of the road for a 20 minute nap. I couldn't take over the driving, because I needed to navigate, so all I could do was sit in the car and watch him snore and hope he woke refreshed.

A few minutes after we were back on our way, we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Here we stopped at a gas station to buy our Austrian Vignette before crossing the border into Austria. This vignette is a tax sticker that is required to drive on toll roads and the autobahn in Austria. The woman in the station who sold me the sticker also sold me the required orange safety-vest for 2 Euros. The sticker was about 10 Euros.

Moments later we crossed the border, a non-event, and soon we reached Ehrwald our first destination. The plan was to ride a 10 minute cable-car up to the top of the Zugspitze - the highest alp in Germany - from the Austrian side. We carried on with the plan despite the fact that the peak (Spitze) was hidden in the clouds. The ride up was breathtaking and took only 7 minutes and the last 3 were completely and eerily in the clouds.

At the top it was much colder, but not bad. Refreshing really. We toured the history of the mountain museum, but I was ravenous. It was 1pm and breakfast on the plane had been mediocre - just a cookie, granola bar and sun chips (which I gave to Graham). The cafeteria wasn't busy and had some nice choices. I ended up with a bowl of minestrone and Graham made a salad from the salad bar.

We went outside briefly just because we could. We couldn't see much except the cloud enshrouding the entire peak and a bit of snow, but we can say "we were there!"

A bit later we were back on the road again heading toward our final destination - Serfaus. We drove through the twisty, bendy Fernpaß and then Graham was hit with a bout of sleepiness again. This time the spot we stopped for his "mini nap" was more interesting for me. It was a restaurant rest stop. While Graham napped, I bought a few postcards and a diet coke. I had Graham drink some of the coke for the benefit of the caffeine and we set out again as it started to drizzle.

The last 30 kilometers were hard on Graham. It rained, we had hairpin bends and a 4 mile (endless!) tunnel. Finally we arrived in Serfaus at 4:00pm - 2 hours later than the original plan. We found the hotel easily and checked in quickly. The woman at the desk didn't speak English, but I understood 90% of her words as she gave us a tour of the facilities and I could ask my questions and was understood.

After settling into the room, we went back downstairs to partake of the free coffee, tea and cake offered every afternoon. Next we went outside and wandered around the village getting oriented. By now the drizzle had stopped and the clouds were moving quickly.

When we attempted to return to our room, something very funny happened. The introduction tour had included the basement boot room, involved many twists and turns, and ended with a ride up the elevator. We knew our room was #14 and remembered it was on the 2nd floor, but in Europe, the floors are numbered differently. We were aware of this so we were being careful as we climbed the stairs and we went to what we thought was the correct floor. We looked at every door on this floor, but #14 was not there. Assuming we had got it wrong we went down a floor, but it wasn't there either. We repeated this twice and #14 was nowhere to be found. Finally, we called the elevator so we could see what floor it said we were currently on and it confirmed we were on floor 2. There was an unmarked door next to the stairs and I tried the key. It worked! We had been standing next to our door from the start. We never did learn why it was not labeled with a room number.

We returned downstairs at 6pm for dinner (also included in our room price). The food was fantastic: soup, salad from the salad buffet, Wienerschnitzel for me and trout for Graham. We were too full to eat the Apple compote dessert. Instead we went walking again to hear the band that we can still hear as I write this. Graham is now sound asleep and I think it is time for me to sleep too. I hope the music won't keep me awake. It is also still quite bright outside as it is only 9pm, but we don't want to shut the drapes because we want to wake up at 7am.

I have good feelings about tomorrow. Hope the rain stays away.