Our New Travel Buddy

I mentioned yesterday that we had a friend of long standing travelling with us for this trip to Germany and Austria.  However I neglected to mention that we have another new travel buddy with us for this jaunt.  In the past two years on all our trips - together and independently - we've been joined by Sidd (see Travels with Sidd) .  Some of you may remember that Sidd found a long lost cousin in Stockholm as well as a Santa in pink at Pink in London, had dinner with famous opera singers and braved the turbulent high seas on our last cruise.  Well currently Sidd is off challenging the altitude in Mexico City so another of Lara's Travelling Gnome clan is joining us on this trip.

I'd like to introduce you to Juan:

Juan thought he'd read up on the two countries he'd be visiting - he didn't realize that Simon Winder's books would be so heavy!  Why together they must weigh at least 3 lbs - that's a lot of book for a gnome to plow through!

Juan is relatively new to travel - he's first trip, with one of the gang from work, was to Cuba which is where he got his name.  Apparently one of his favourite Bacardi cocktails was shaken up by a one-armed bartender called Juan who worked in the hotel in Havana.  On that first trip he mixed work and pleasure - Juan the gnome not Juan the bartender - but this time around its all pleasure.  And he thought is was real nice of Vicki to include "the gnome" in her bon voyage card.

You may notice that Juan is a bird lover and he'll find lots of birds to feed in the Mirabel Gardens and other parks in Salzburg.  Though of course if he wants birds to feed we'll have to take him to Piazza San Marco in Venice -  well maybe next time.

Welcome aboard Juan - hopefully we'll have some laughs, some wine,  some great food and a few adventures along the way.

June 1 - 1495: Friar John Cor records the first known batch of Scotch whisky.