Sometimes, Austria is confusing.

We were in town for not 10 minutes when a tall man in a dirdnl and a blonde wig walked right up to me and kissed me on the cheek. No introduction, nothing, his arms spread out, his hands facing upwards as though he was greeting an old friend. His companion, a similarly attired person …

…read more.

“Flinserln” | Bad Aussee | Austria | Carnival (Fasching)

Listen to this story as a podcast here. Carnival is finally over. This is a blessing not because I don’t like Carnival, I do. I’ve enjoyed the kitchy television variety shows and the sound of parade music wafting across the Enns valley. Yesterday in the Spar, the staff were costumed as cats, ears and whiskers …

…read more.

We had several other choices for Fasching (Carneval) parades. Grobming, Liezen, Wiessenbach, but we opted for Mitterndorf. It’s close, it’s quite traditional, and the village is rather pretty. We arrived a little after two and learned that the parade was starting at a gasthaus 1.5k up the road and would arrive when they arrived, not …

…read more.