And from our Roving Reporter.....

http://www.soisses.at/2009/08/30/unwetter-in-malta/

Here is a link to more pictures of the Great Flood of Malta and its impact! R x

It never rains but......

Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get! Forrest Gump was a great philosopher eh? So, you plan a Latin American evening in the middle of the best heat wave of the summer and you get..... the great flood of Malta!

Before I get on to the main story, let me at least say that the Latin American evening was good fun - the musician was fabulous, the food and drink great and those friends and customers who braved the early weather and then found themselves temporarily stranded here, had a really nice time! There is, of course, enough food left to feed a Mexican army but somehow we will at least struggle through the remaining Rum Punch! And I do like avocados.

The rain began as usual a bit on and off and then came a rather threatening black cloud. Czaba, the musician, carried on for a while under the gazebo and the customers sat under the umbrellas and all seemed Okish. Then about 9.00pm the rain started to get heavier. To protect his equipment, Czaba decided to move inside and most of the audience came with him (although some continued, in a very English manner, to eat and drink outside). Even then we thought it was just an ordinary bit of 'Gewitter' - until about 30 miutes later the wind started to get up the rain doubled and more in strength and suddenly the world went mad! The umbellas and the gazebo flew, a river started flowing down the Maltaberg and, after a few vain attempts by some of the guys to rescue what they could, the rest of us were trapped in the restaurant for about an hour while the elements took over. The town's emergency sirens went off at about 11.30, so we knew things were getting serious.
When it finally calmed down enough for people to go home, Andrea, Czaba, Pauline, Elfriede, John and I cleared up the restaurant and kitchen and decided we couldn't do much outside till the morning. Andrea and I went over to the flat to collect some stuff she had left there and noticed that the lights had tripped. John went upstairs to the fusebox to turn them back on and I went in in darkness - immediately noticing there was water on the floor in the entrance. Bugger, I thought, the rain has got in! Ha! A bit of an understatement! When the lights went on and we realised that the whole flat was under about 2-3 centimetres of water we were just stunned. The water had cascaded down the entrance, pushed open the doors, swept the doormat 10 metres into the room and spread out into the workshop and the laundry on either side. What a mess! It doesn't sound much water, but it certainly made its presence felt!

So instead or crashing out after a very long day, we spent the next hour raising what furniture we could out of the water, moving other things and finally taking what we needed up to a hotel room (thankfully we don't have another full week until the 7th September!) and fell into bed about 2.30. The storm carried on all night, the emergency sirens went off again about 4.30 and no-one (apart from one of our biker guets who slept through the whole thing!) got much sleep!

The weather hadn't improved much next morning - we got breakfast for our few guests but there was no way the guys were going anywhere on their bikes. which was a blessing for us, because, having established that our insurance would cover things, we were told to get on with clearing up and, bless them, Grahame and Nick, were golden - helped us clear the flat, re-stack everything in the other cellar, dry out what we could, throw out what we couldn't etc etc. They were just fabulous! We were also consoled greatly by our friends Monika and Achim who turned up ready to offer us a temporary home in their guest suite if need be - don't think we will need to but it was lovely of them to offer!

Happily very little apart from the carpet and the kitchen cabinet were totalled. Several things need to get properly cleaned, but most of it is salvageable. And as with every cloud there is also a small silver lining, as we will be able to install the pipes for the radiators we planned to put in before winter, before the furniture goes back in! Our biggest problem is getting it back into use before the 7th, but friends tell us that insurance claims here go through very quickly so we are hoping that, together with the dozens of photos we took, the insurance visit tomorrow will be enough to allow us to go ahead and get a new carpet down as soon as poss. In the meantime we are back in Room 11, and at least after after months of only showers, we can again have a bath!

Thanks to all those who responded to my Facebook photo with messages of support - as you can see all is reasonably well and we have survived yet another adventure in Austria! Take care! R & J

Getting out and About

Now that the bike is legal here we are taking some time to explore our surroundings. When we have coach groups in we can get away for a few hours on the day we have the barbecue as we can get everything prepared in advance. When we don't have groups in we have some time on Mondays because it is the one day we do not open for lunch. So last week we had a coach group and took advantage of our free time to ride over the Nockalmstrasse. As it is me writing this and not her you get a picture of interesting cars we saw on our trip! A pair of ACs both RHD and both registered in Vienna, and made a fantastic noise when they drove off.

This Monday we got up early to ride to Berchtesgaden, around 150 kms away. And what a road, it has got to be my favourite route so far, a fantastic mix of tight bends and open sweeping curves. The B99 over Obertauern a road made for motorcycles. We stopped for coffee a Werfen ( where the castle featured in "Where Eagles Dare") before crossing into Germany on a single track road. The sign for Germany was smaller than most English village nameboards. We wanted to visit the "Eagles Nest" which we knew was just outside Berchtesgaden. What we didn't know is that the Germans call in the "Kehlsteinhaus" so it took a little finding.

But as you can see find it we did, it was an amazing experience walking in the footsteps of the perpetrators of some of the greatest acts of evil the world has known. I find it incomprehensible that the Nazi leaders could have come to this beautiful place on a regular basis and still wished harm to their fellow men. That is is now full of visitors of all nationalities and creeds is of some comfort. As Ros said maybe they should erect a Star of David next to the cross.

The ride back was a little quicker than on the way, we rode in company with a German biker who's reg plate proclaimed him as GOD! He did not ride like one however and we left him behind after a while.

Just so you don't get the wrong idea today we have chopped 10Kgs of carrots to make soup for 45 people, made more Turkey Schnitzels than I care to think about, and cooked lunch for three Germans. We are also busy organising our Latin American evening ( this Friday) which I am sure will be the subject of the next exciting episode of this blog.

John (for a change)

And so it goes on...

Already seems like ages since our Czech group left - although in reality only a few days. But we are now halfway through the next week and have got to know another group, so time moves on. We have had some great feedback from the Czechs though and both several individuals in the group and the group itself hope to see us again, plus the agency in Prague have said they hope to use our services in the future, so we feel justifiably pleased with the outcome of the week and know that the Czech words we learned will certainly come in useful again!

In between we had some surprise visitors - some of the biker group that was with us in June turned up for lunch on Saturday, which was really nice. Just a shame that we couldn't accommodate them this time, but they plan to return next Spring anyway. We have also had a return visit from another previous guest, who came for a business trip earlier in the year and brought his wife with him this time. He is back on business in September and at various times throughout the year, so could turn out to be our first proper 'Stammgast'.

John and I managed a few hours out on the bike again yesterday so went over the Nockalm - the signs of the damage caused by the storms 3 weeks ago are still very much there, even though the road is passable again. Mother Nature can be vicious! The Nockalm was really busy with bikes and cars from all over the world. We passed the aftermath of an accident with a car totally inverted and on its roof - luckily both passengers out and reasonably OK by the look of things, but a reminder that the glorious weather and the holiday atmosphere can take your eye off the ball sometimes! We also grabbed enough time to see the Dutch Porsche meet in Gmünd and have a rather wonderful Nußbaumer ice cream!
We also had our first guest illness this week - one of our latest group was taken quite suddenly ill one evening. I have to say we were very impressed with the response of the emergency services and the doctor, and the guest, who was thankfully recovered enough the next day to be collected from the hospital in Spittal, was full of praise for the standards in the hospital. She has been fine since and I think quite enjoyed being the star of the group for a while!

Next week appears to be going to be quieter - which is a good thing as we are sadly losing Matt for a couple of weeks while he visits his Grandad. We hope to have him back on September 3rd all being well and I think we will be very pleased to see him by then.

Our busy week

The Czech group have been here 6 days already - time has flown! They have been great fun to have and hopefully will go away with a positive experience of us and the area despite the weather having been very mixed for them.

Yesterday was a day of mixed experiences. John and I got away on the bike for a few hours at last and went to the Franz-Josefs-Höhe on the Großglockner. We failed miserably to meet up with the friends who were supposed to be there but had a good day anyway - especially loved the marmots! More pics as usual on my Facebook page.














It was BBQ evening - started off well and then the heavens opened! In true Brit style we carried on serving for a while but eventually the elements won and we had to move the whole thing including the music inside - by now most of us were saturated! Anyway the group took it all very well and managed to find some room to dance a bit as well - the conga line was particularly popular!

Some interesting visitors!

Our Czech guests have arrived - and are a very lively and friendly bunch, so that bodes well for a good week. I am sure there will be some photos to put up here soon. Meanwhile we had some other surprise visitors yesterday. A grass snake decided to visit our terrace - very unusual for this area and luckily not dangerous, but he took some persuading to find a more appropriate sleeping place!

We are pleased to have our American friend Peter Benjamin back in the valley for a few days. He has brought his friend Debs with him - her first experience of Austria, but one she seems to be enjoying.

Most excitingly our friend Balazs - only a few weeks ago a guest - arrived for a visit this weekend and promptly dived in to serving at tables and behind the bar! A definitely positive addition to our staff team (as vouched for by all our ladies!). Sadly we couldn't persuade him to stay the week - and locking a Hungarian policeman in the cellar seemed a little extreme! But he promised to return again soon and next year will bring his parents and other members of his family too!

Busy Times

Can' believe its nearly a week since I last put anything on here! We have had a very busy week - family, friends and guests have kept us all on the go, but nicely so and we have enjoyed having everybody here. Lots of photos already on my facebook page (www.facebook.com/rosgowers) but a few more here as well. A highlight was our Wednesday evening Hungarian barbecue - authentic Hungarian Goulash cooked as it was meant to be - over an open fire. Lots of fun and tasty too! Think we might try some other dishes this way. Also enjoyed eating Gez's personally caught trout but somehow John managed to lose the photo of that! (Sorry Gez!)

Currently we are preparing for the arrival of 48 Czech walkers who will be with us for the next week - we have introduced a new concept to the local tourist office, making use of a good opportunity. Thanks to John's efforts (all in German!) they have put together an info pack for each guest to take home with them to show their friends which will hopefully attract other walkers to our area. Our friends Steve and Julia have been very pleased with what they found here and will be writing us up for the UK Alpine Club so that should help too. All goes towards bringing more people to our wonderful part of the world.

The other big news of the week is that John finally managed to get his bike registered here, so with a bit of luck we will be off on some rides soon, starting next week with a quick run to meet some friends on the Grossglockner. John is sooooo pleased! We have had several bikers stay overnight this week, so our marketing is clearly having an impact in that area too. Time for another internet blitz I think!

We here the weather in the Uk has perked up, so we hope you are all finally having a good summer. Temps here are still high, but Monday and Tuesday don't look so bright. Still it will improve again afterwards and the sun should stay with us through till the end of October - still time to book folks!!

Take care!

A new update!

Apologies to our regular readers (well I know at least Debs looks every week - and maybe a few others?) for the break in communication. We are having a really busy few weeks here (that is NOT a complaint!) but it does mean time to do the blogging is short. Still been taking a lot of photos though, so am adding a few today to give you a flavour. Some interesting weather - heatwave temps and amazing storms - 9 bridges out in the next valley last Thursday for instance. We have had lots of friends and family visiting so the place has been quite a little UK enclave for this last week too. We had a late birthday celebration for Matt and the Town Band played for our guests and others while John & Matt staffed the BBQ for all comers. Yesterday I managed to grab a few hours to go into Villach with the family to see what goes on at the town carnival. So enjoy the photos - more on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/rosgowers) too.