Harvest Time 2010-09-22 Veltliner grapes ready for harvest, as seen in the gardens of the Schlosshof palace on Austria's eastern border. Many thanks for the comments on the two alpacas! They were fun to watch. This will be the last posting for a while... "leaving on a night train, don't know when I'll be back again". Well, actually I have a fairly good idea, but we are travelling without a schedule and without children (first time in 30 years). If we hit a place with wifi, I'll try to comment.

Alpacas 2010-09-21 Today's picture is of the camels at the baroque palace Schloss Hof on Austria's eastern border. They had been banned to the stables so a horse race could take place. Guess which one is the alpha male. Schloss Hof has an active program of breeding old indigenous animals- but these alpacas belong to the other side, i.e. breeding some of the animals kept at baroque palaces. Thanks for your comments on my nuts/fruit salesman yesterday. Much appreciated.

Autumn is coming 2010-09-02 Another 'lonely boat' picture, also from the trip last Saturday. This is Lake Lunz (Lunzer See) in Lower Austria - alt 600m, fed by higher mountains. Last year they had 11m of snow. It also has the lowest temperatures in central Europe - down to -53C.