WEDNESDAY, 25TH

Woke up to another scorcher of a day and has it had been so hot the night before was still really tired, we were going to the Dachstein area today though, somewhere we haven't been before so wanted to get a slightly earlier start. We drove first to Abtenau which is the largest Village in the area, but because it is mainly a winter ski resort it was very quiet with just mainly local people about. There were plenty of Cafe's and Konditori's to choose from in the main square


We eventually settled on one for our Cake of the Day


Now you will be really impressed here becaue I didn't have one!, it was a very winding road and by the time we got there I was actually feeling a bit sick. There were loads of bikers, as it is a really popular road with them. I did try a little bit though and it was gorgeous and light as a feather. As far as the scenery was concerned though it was gorgeous as you never knew what was going to be around the next bend. Sometimes you couldn't see anything then you would go round another bend to be confronted with a waterfall and open meadows. After eating we went for a walk round the village on the way back we were walking along a path with a steep embankment to the left and spotted a white cat chasing something, anyway, if you know me I had to go and have a look, here is the cat and here is what it was chasing


Get ready, everyone say Awwww!



Anyway it turned out they were actually friends and obviously lived together and were just playing. It was really tiny just about the size of my hand.

Here is a view from the embankment

It is so hard to photograph a view here because you see the whole panorama but when you take a photo you only get to see a little bit.

After that we went to Bad Goisern, another really pretty Village, which had a beautifully landscaped public garden which we walked round, it had a little river and ducks and absolutely no litter, either in the garden or in the water. As it was a blistering hot day we stopped at another Konditori for a drink and HE had another piece of cake!

I have spoiled you with so many cakes today.

Later on we had another electrical storm and the thunder was continuous, never heard anything like it before, it was as though there was a jet engine just revving away. Even though the rain bounced down it was still hot and sticky.

TUESDAY 24TH

Today we went to Gmunden and walked along the promenade

The Traunsee is a huge lake and seems to just to on and on. I love just sitting in the lakeside park looking out, I find it really relaxing. Anyway we found the little Konditori from last year and gasp horror, they didn't have the cake I had last year. Now okay, perhaps I was being a little naive to think they would still have the same cakes as last year, after all, they aren't made by Mr Kipling! So we ended up going to the large Konditori overlooking the lake for our Cake of the Day

Although it was nice, it wasn't as nice as the one I had last year so had to have an ice cream as well! So get's back to the house and decided to put some washing on so goes into the basement to try and fathom the washer, managed to get it going and came back upstairs to do tea. I went back down later to see what was happening and it was still going round, I felt the door it was red hot and I couldn't see any water - numpty that I am I didn't realise it was a Washer/Dryer. Panicking I tried to get it to stop and after pressing almost everything it did (I just hope it works again and I haven't broke it) when I got the washing out it nearly burned my hand it was that hot and as It was mostly John's shirts I started to panic, a couple of them looked as though they would be a tight fit on me! So what to do, it did cross my mind to say nothing, iron them and hang them in the wardrobe and try and keep a straight face when he next put them on, but didn't think I would get away with that so had to tell him. We decided to put them in the bath to soak and while they were wet we tried to stretch them then I hung them out sopping wet in the garden. Three of them were then okay, just one was a bit tight. Trust me! Won't make that mistake again.