11 years later...

Ingaborg Blöchl, when she was 13-year-old Ingaborg Lindtner, met my grandmother down the street from where my relatives live in Blindenmarkt, Austria. They stayed in contact and then Ingaborg came to visit California in 1992. During her visit, she and I took the train to San Francisco and I showed her around the town for a day. During the day I promised that I would come visit some day...

Well, since then, she's had a [family!] . She, Bernhard (a customs officer) and the kids, [Jakob] & Anna, now live in a quiet suburb of Linz.

Bernhard took a few days off of work to show me around Linz: [Arts Electronica Center] , the neo-gothic Neuer Dom and [mauthausen] , a famous nazi camp. Prisioners here carried heavy stones up [uneven stairs] to the top of the [quarry] where prisoners sometimes 'accidentally' fell from the top. We visited this very sad place, with gas chambers and spike-walled courtyards, on an overcast and drizzly day which made for a dramatic setting.

On Oct. 26 we celebrated Austria's independance day with a goup hike through the woods where Bernhard had spent his Bundesyahr (civil service) training for the millitary. On the trip we saw a rare [fire salamander]

Over the weekend, we took a trip to Blindenmarkt and stayed with Ingaborgs parents. This week was 'wild week' in Austira so we went out to partake of the [elk] , deer, rabbit, and other game that you can only eat a few times per year. [Robert] enjoyed his meal and then a after dinner smoke.

We finished off the evening at [Stutzis Pub] with [Stutzi] .

Ingaborg and Bernhard also introduced mt to [Austrian cornmeal-dumpling soup] , [fleisch knudel w/kraut] , and Austrian Schnaps [prost!]

Wanna comment?