the weekend that grew

so thanks to Berlitz's approach to scheduling, I found out thursday that I had friday off and my 2 day weekend became a 3 day weekend i could suddenly do something more exciting with. I then found out on sunday, that I didn't have work on monday and my 3 day weekend suddenly became a  4 day weekend....hence. the weekend that kept growing.

nevertheless, i started my friday by walking to the bus station and taking a bus out to the Raßberg in Stallhofen and was happy it was a nice day so some outside work could be done (cleaning up stuff and just soaking in the sun that made it so the temperature wavered at warm, though there was still a crisp chill that the warmth at bay.)

girl statue in stadtpark sitting alone. i have walked by it many times without really noticing it. this time i made sure to take a picture.

the crocuses peaking out!

the wreckage of the Raßberg's lower barn

after the sun went down i went to st. ulrich im greid with my dad for the actual weekend. i saw an exhibit there of photographs from the micro and nano scale which was pretty cool (check out my 2010-2011 Austria Album for a couple pictures from it if you so desire). after that we went for a walk around part of the rural valley.

crocuses also peaking out, an hour south

 

the main feature of the town, the church, nestled on a beautiful hill

 

footprints across the melting ice

a glimpse into the heart

beauty hidden under a weathered dock

a sure sign that spring is arriving

in the evening. the church that cannot be ignored!

this beautiful church never fails to ring every 15 minutes, enough times for each hour, and an extra string of rings at 6am and 7am and for sunday church...good luck sleeping.

then returning to stallhofen on sunday. ezra had gone out to help and we met up with him for some more work on a beautiful sunny monday before heading back to graz.

~1000BCE, beauty in its decay

smile on the drive by!

despite it being an unexpected long weekend, it was a nice breath of fresh air, all the better to prepare me for the wonderfully wild "Fasching"...