Arriving in Austria
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Our wedding started with John and Simone’s arrival on 17 June. Their arrival somehow brought about a change in quality concurring with a rapid change of the weather. The dreary days of late May and early June finally came to an end and John and Simone in proper Aussie fashion, conjuring away the clouds, let the party begin.
After our first photos (hundreds of them were still to come) we went to Leibnitz to pick up their famous Citroen AX, an ancient vehicle of the days when power steering was still a car manufacturer’s dream but endowed with a lot of charm and durability. We test drove the car to Gabersdorf in order to catch up with my brother Stefan and meet his Main Coon cats Joseph and Ernst August .
Then we were off to Restaurant Staribacher, where we had arranged a surprise meeting with Werner and Silvia Surma. Werner had been to Melbourne with me and Herbert, where he met John and Simone
. We had a delicous lunch with beer and tasty Styrian wine, Muskateller and Weißburgunder.
Silvia invited us to their home on Kittenberg for coffee, Apfelstrudel and more wine and beer. Their hospitality is outstanding and with Werner it is always a lot of fun. We spent the whole afternoon with them in their beautiful, secluded house, sourrounded only by woods and vineyards. 
It is magic up there and tranquility is ubiquitous. The rain was coming one last time to bid his final fare-well, which added to the mesmerizing atmosphere. Finally, we had to say good-bye and leave for Ratsch, where Simone and John would stay in one of my parent’s appartments.
We met them in front of their beautiful Winzerhaus, all happy, excited and slowly feeling the jet-lag. More wine and schnaps was waiting inside and thus we drew the curtain to a wonderful day of reunion – in proper Styrian fashion that is.
