It's been a great summer so far.

I always think I'm going to somehow "jinx" things when I make those kinds of statements,  like when you're on the racecourse,  and you think you're doing alright,  and you screw up a gybe.  But let's not go there.

Of course,  we did that trip over to Europe.   Took a whack of pics.  I've saved them.  That's about it.

Once you've seen one old building you've sort of seen them all.

Quick recap:   Flew in to Vienna.   Cabbed it to our hotel on Mariahilfer Straße (that funny looking thing is a double "s" by the way.)




Which is now a pedestrian zone.  Which made it remarkably quiet I found.  Turns out motorised traffic is louder than I realised.

Went to the State Opera to see Swan Lake  "Schwannsee"  if you prefer.

Then cabbed it back to the airport to fetch a rental car and drove down to Slovenia.




A Nissan Qashqai,  which we both quite liked.

Drove back from Slovenia after a few days to meet up with some of  T.C.'s former work associates,  took the car back on the Friday and flew off to Dubrovnik.   Stayed there for the weekend to visit yet another former work associate,  who flew in from Serbia.

Dubrovnik is cool.  A "once in a lifetime",  as there were many,  many tourists.  Of a certain ethnic origin.  And forever underfoot.  That's all I'm sayin'.

Looking back to the harbour/gate.

Flew back to Austria.   Picked up yet another car.  Drove to Slovenia.

Tired yet?

I could go on.   T.C. made a couple fabric shopping stops.  One in Vienna at Komolka,  and another in Slovenia at a rather difficult to find place called Gramatex.  And I can't seem to find their website.  Wouldn't matter anyway,  it would be in Slovenian.   You'll notice (if you're brave) that the Komolka site is in German.


Anyway,  good trip all in all,  and we'll just cut to the chase.
 It was especially nice for Travelling Companion,   as she didn't have that Sunday night dread of having to get back in order to go to work Monday morning.   After all,  "Every day is Saturday"  around these parts.

Oh, and I have to say,  I've never been to the ballet,  but Swan Lake was pretty freakin' awesome.  I mean,  it's the Vienna State Orchestra,  the Vienna State Ballet Company.  It's kind of a "go big or go home situation" right?

No sour notes,  and nobody did any face plants or some such thing.


I think I'm just going to skip on up to today, as we just received a replacement Grill delivered to the door.
I had been getting a little frustrated with our 17 year old  (yes,  seventeen!)  Weber Q,  as part of the cast iron grill has gotten a bit rusty,  and I've had to mess around with the little gas opening/port/thingys.    We had been looking at something more elaborate,  couldn't quite pull the trigger on something in the thousand dollar range, and just figured we'd do a "do over" with the Weber.  So,  got a replacement.

I really like having things delivered to the door!  So much less hassle.

Anyway,  you have to put on the lid and add the igniter a such,  but I think I had it back on the old stand (I did spend a few minutes giving the stand a wash at least)  in maybe 20 minutes or so.

Good to go.

I was really trying to think of why I would possibly need anything more complicated (you know,  "infrared" whatever?)  and decided that,  even though I Grill all year around,  I never really get past burgers,  chicken  and a few veggies here and there.  

We'll see if this one lasts as long.   One thing,  they've now changed the cooking surface to some sort of porcelain coated cast iron.  That should make a difference I suppose.

That's it for now.  I'm out.

Thanks for stopping by.