Austrian gas stations - part 4

This "Esso" gas station (picture taken from the other side of the freeway) is about half way from here (Wels) to my parent's house. On our first trip there after coming here in August of 06, we stopped there because I was really tired and wanted to get a coffee. Now it has become somewhat of a tradition and I stop there for a quick coffee from the vending machine every time I pass by.

Austrian gas stations - part 3

This gas station is called "Tauernalm", it´s on the A10, the freeway that goes across the main alps here in Austria (called "Tauern"), close to the highest point, no less (1340m/4396ft). This is a place of almost perpetual winter. We stopped by there last year on Sept. 7th on our way to youth summer camp (!) in the sunny south of Austria, and there was snow on the ground! A few posts further down there is a picture of a tunnel entry - that's only a few feet from this gas station - and it proves my point about the perpetual winter.
I have an interesting emotional bond to this freeway - it's only about a 160km/100mile stretch - but we used to drive it as a family every Sunday morning and back every Sunday afternoon - 4 kids in the back of a Volvo 740 Diesel - my Dad helped start a church in Salzburg, and we lived in Seeboden / Kärnten - on the other end of said freeway. I remember always enjoying the drive - especially in the winter with the snow everywhere, listening to worship music...

Austrian gas stations - part 2

This gas station is in Graz, Austria's 3rd largest city, in the south of the country close to the Slovenian border. We were there for a Pastor's weekend last November. "Jet" is a discount brand here in Austria, of all the discount chains it is by far the nicest, cleanest around and: "Tadaaa" - you can pay at the pump! (with your PIN like at the ATM, but never the less - it accepts bank (debit) cards, and Visa, I think)
This is a big deal in Austria, because gas stations usually equate pubs usually equates you smell like you were in a pub smoking for an hour after you went in there for five minutes and paid.
Brenda and I went to this gas station to buy some whipped cream - but they didn't have any. Don't ask what the whipped cream was for.
"Jet", btw, is a brand of the Conoco group, so having lived in Tulsa for 10 years, this makes yet another reason to buy gas there...

Austrian gas stations - Part 1

I'm bored with this blog, and I haven't really done anything with it, so, to get my creative juices flowing again, I'm starting a picture blog series called "Austrian gas stations". I like taking pictures of gas stations at night - the colors, and the familiarity of them (I've travelled a lot, and gas stations are so universal and global). Plus, most of these pictures have a story.

This one is in Spittal, the town where I went to Junior High - and Highschool, the gas station closest to the school. In the background, you can see part of a mountain called "Goldeck" (gold- corner) where our school would take us skiing. There's a cable car going up the mountain and the abrupt change in altitude would always make me feel nauseated.
I remember riding to school with my best friend in his car one morning and he almost ran out of gas. He stopped at this station, and the attendant got mad at him because he only put in gas for the 50 Schillings he had on him. (this was long before the Euro, worth about $3 back then)

There's your sign...

We went on a drive the other day (the whole family) to take pictures of signs with funny town names in the area. It was a fun trip for all of us, I think the kids really enjoyed the little outing too. It was getting dark by the time we got to the last place - as you will see. The red sign is for a dentist's office in a shopping center next to IKEA. I'll let the signs speak for themselves...

A trip across the mountains...

I realized I hadn't written anything here in a long time, so due to lack of time today I will show a lot of pictures and write very little. But that's what most people enjoy anyway!!! These are from a trip I took to attend my Sister's college graduation - congratulations to her again!


The trip started with one of Europe's infamous traffic jams - here they call it a "Stau"...


You pass the main ridge of the Alps when you drive to the south of Austria from the north - fresh snow is very likely here in October...


There are 2 long tunnels on the way, here the entry to the first...
(picture taken while driving)


Inside a tunnel...


Austrian gas staion on the way back...

Pictures of my sister's graduation next time!!!

coffee maker...

We got on this subject last time, and I was quite impressed by koz-man's office-style coffee machine he has at home. We have a Melitta MyCup - my boss has one of those and I noticed the coffee actually tastes quite good so I got one about a month ago.



They go for around €100 but I found mine on sale for €59 - another reason to buy. The coffee pads come in a box of 12 in five available flavours from espresso to decaf - the pads are individually wrapped in foil which makes the coffee so much better than the Senseo I used to have where only the first 3 or 4 pads in the 16-pack tasted fresh. The cost for the pads is an average of 17 cents a cup. (that's Euro-cents, if you're keeping score)

I would have rather bought a real espresso machine like this one:



- but they start at about €399 - oh well, one day...