Weekend at the castle

What a great weekend!

Most of it was spent at Seibersdorf castle, very close to my workplace.  As far as castles go, it really is a tiny one (though it did at one time have a moat).  It has been partially converted into apartments, and is rented out short-term, long-term and occasional overnights.  My friend Mark is currently living in the castle, and had been meaning to have a castle weekend.  As a concert was being held there on Friday, this was the perfect opportunity to get some frinds together. We were a total of 6 people: Chris, Claire + baby from Munich, Dan from Göttingen, Mark and myself. 

We took in the concert on Friday - a piano recital.  It was quite lovely, almost to the end.  The last performers (music for 4 hands) were a bit... enthusiastic about encores, and did 4 of them, with only limited encouragement from the crowd.  By the 4th one, you could practically see the thought bubbles above people's heads: OK, stop now!  Is this over yet? Oh god, not another one!

After the concert, we retired to the courtyard to chat and share some wine and beer. Eventually, Chris and Claire went off to sleep.  Mark, Dan and I were not quite ready to turn in, so we had the brilliant idea to investigate both the basement and attic, in the middle of the night, without a flashlight.  The basement was not so bad, not complete darkness at least.  We saw alcoves with bars, I guess a kind of dungeon.  But no skeleton arm sticking out, reaching towards freedom.  :-)  Towards the back of the basement, there was a brick wall with an impressive, thick metal door fitted with a huge hook.  There was a wire of some sort going from the room through the door and into the "secret room".  There were also air holes above the door.  We decided that's where they used to lock up the evil twin brother...

The attic was another story.  First of all, most of it was pitch black.  Our only pitiful source of light was our cell phones (not enough!!).  We ventured a bit into the darkness, and suddlenly a loud fluttering came right in front of us.  We all jumped, and I let out a little scream, then we lauged for being spooked.  I later came across the "ghost": a pigeon was sleeping in the attic and we disturbed it.  Anyways,  Mark and Dan disappeared into the black depths of the attic, but I chickened out at some point.  Rather surprising, I didn't think I was such a wuss, but I blame the wine. :-P    

End of Friday.

Saturday morning, we had a nice breakfast and then drove into Vienna to play tourist with the visitors from Germany.  We of course had lunch at Figlmüller for some "face schnitzel" (it is actually larger than a dinner plate, or as another visitor put it, about the size of your face).  Soooo good! 

Then we went to play in the labyrinth and maze at Schönbrunn palace.  We returned to Seibersdorf castle for a late dinner, followed by more wine and beer.  Once again, Chris and Claire went to bed befaround 11 PM (poor parents of a young child, always lacking sleep!).  Mark, Dan and I decided to indulge in the sauna in the basement.  I think we attempted to cook ourselves, it was excellent!  And as it counteracted the effects of the alcohol, we decided we needed a nightcap before retiring to our respective quarters. About 3 hours and many drinks later, we finally stumbled into bed.  

End of Saturday.

Sunday started slow (obviously), and we lollygagged around the castle most of the morning.  Around noon, Mak, Dan and I got on our bicycles and set off into the countryside.  As Chris, Claire and the baby were flying back mid-afternoon, they could not join us.  We had a nice ride, and of course on the way, Mark found and photographed a bug. (Geek entomologist!)

We met up at a Heurigen for a late lunch before the family flew off.  A Heurigen is a kind of local pub that serves young wine from the previous year's harvest.  We lucked out and chose a rather lovely one, with a nice outdoor area complete with vines and roses, very fabulous food and yummy wine.  Chris and Claire came and went, and us three stayed most of the afternoon, stuffing ourselves.  Only then did it occur to us we'd have to ride our bikes back...  But it went quite smoothly.  Back at the castle, we went for a quick dip in the community pool around the corner.  Surprisingly, the place was almost empty, even though it was a sunny hot late Sunday afternoon. Curious.

We returned to Vienna for a late dinner at a Japanese restaurant.  We sat on the outdoor patio, within view of other patios with at least 3 large screen TVs playing a soccer (football) game.  (Really, you cannot avoid the World Cup around here!)  It was kind of fun to see both the game and the people watching it. Some passers by would just stop in front of the screens and stand there for a while, cheering.  The waiter was really quite rude to us, but the funniest part had to do with the chef.  You see, when I wanted to order some more sushi, we were told it would take 15-30 minutes because so many other patrons had also ordered sushi and the chef was overloaded.  Then a couple of minutes later, we looked up into the restaurant window to see the chef looking out across the road to the soccer on TV!  When we laughed and pointed, he made an "Oh no!" face  and promptly disappeared.  After dinner, we walked around the historict district, which is quite lovely all lit up at night.  Then, we all crashed at my apartment. 

End of Sunday.

Monday morning came around way too fast. I tiptoed around the apartment and left for work at 7 AM, leaving 2 sleeping beauties in my living room.  Mark drove Dan to the train station mid-morning, then also came to work. 

End of the castle weekend.