Before leaving Croatia we had found a couch to crash on just outside of Spielberg, Austria. But to get there we had to wind our way through the mountains, and after not driving in almost a year it was a very exciting drive.

We stayed at a very old farm house with some wonderful hosts that welcomed us like family. They showed us around their farm as we exchanged stories about our travels. For me the coolest part was his bee colonies. He went into great detail explaining beekeeping and what kind of honey we was expecting that time of year as well as some of the challenges of owning bees. To show our appreciation we cooked them one of my ‘American’ meals which everyone seemed to love! And to top it off he even took us to one of his favorite local hikes one morning. He was a much faster hiker than us, and had lots of energy to tell more stories about how he hikes up the mountain then boards down, all before work.

But the real reason we were in Spielberg was to see the red bull air races! The day started off slow with low clouds and some rain. Luckily the clouds soon lifted and the airplanes could take to the skies. I had never been to an air race and didn’t quite know what to expect. It was phenomenal! There were giant inflatable pillars that made up the course and these sleek aerobatic planes wound and looped their way through the course. They way the course was setup we could see just about all of it from the stands. For aviation geeks like us it was an awesome day! Well worth the extra challenges of finding our way into the mountains.

All too soon we had to leave our generous hosts and travel back to the cities because we had even more plans lined up. Next stop is Zurich, Switzerland to meet one of Sara’s friends, then off to Lausanne to visit family.

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Arriving into Graz was a dramatic shift from being on the Mediterranean. Cooler weather awaited us along with the nearby mountains beckoning our attention. Graz was another quick stop, but this time we were doing something we hadn’t done in quite a while. Our next destination was in the mountains and away from train lines we had to rent a car!

We stayed at a surprisingly expensive hotel, B&B Graz, and even though it wasn’t right in the middle of everything Graz was a walk-able city. We climbed to the top of Schlossberg (Castle Hill) for excellent views of the city and surroundings. But while taking pictures disaster struck, our camera fell to the ground and broke the lens! After some research we found a camera shop not to far away and luckily they had a new lens in stock. It was pricey, but since we were headed further afield we had to get it now. We rounded out the afternoon with drinks at Brot & Spiele.

The next morning we headed down to the car rental agency to pick up our new ride. We were officially headed to the Red Bull Air Race in Zeltweg!

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