the full extent of yesterday's disaster revealed itself at the breakfast. nina had blisters on her toes and her knee hurt, the rest of the crew was battered, and one member even quit and decided to go to the railway station to take the next train home because his feet hurt too much. so one man down, and plus one.
the rest started this day's journey in parndorf, paid the nearby "outlet centre" a visit, as it lay on the route of our trail. but we did not buy much because of the extra weight we would have had to carry for the next two days. at least i have seen the outlet centre, as i have never been there before. looks like it is worth coming back here one day to really do some shopping. but there was a pharmacy too, where we bought loads of plasters and bandages.
the weather today was good, and only a few other people were out on our road too. most of them were on bicycles, as it seems the route is a perfect trip with a bike. accordingly were the looks on the people's faces when they saw us hiking.
after walking quite a while we had our first break at an inn[03-04], had coffee, ice cream, and some water. refreshed we went on through vineyards[07-20] and over mounds[18-20].
on top of one we had a nice picnic in the vine yard. by now everyone was feeling better again, the pain almost gone, so we all could enjoy hiking and the landscape again. and also the weather was still good, although the weather report has predicted otherwise.
next we arrived in winden am see, where we spotted a strange sculpture[30,32,35,37]. turns out it was the "sonnenanbeter" by prof. wander bertoni, put there over 50 years ago, back in 1963. the sculpture did not look that old actually. being there also meant it was not far to our accommodation anymore. almost everyone of the group was happy about that.
in breitenbrunn[40-48] we went to our accommodation, which turned out to have a rather strange host. an old lady with a not too friendly behaviour (at least she had a cat[47]), but maybe that is local tradition. also we asked her if there is a tavern opened in the village, but it seems there was none. either they were closed due to construction work, or because the owners were on holidays or simply because some did not feel like opening today; it seems all that was left was a restaurant in the centre of the village, where we went[48] to have dinner.
there people were friendly and we had a few drinks and fun. but at around 22:00 o'clock they were closing, but we were told there is a first of march festivity on the main square. so we wanted to go there, but that festival was also already over. puh, what is wrong with the people in the country. too bad. so we went back to our accommodation, two of our crew did not want to give up that easily and wandered the streets of breitenbrunn in the hope of finding some place to party on. my bet was they would fail miserably.
the total distance of today's hike was 18.30 kilometres, and i am feeling pretty good actually. no blisters, no pain so far. that is good. i hope the others are fine too, so far everyone seems better than yesterday in the evening.
here is the track for day 02.

we planned a three day hiking tour along the "central eastern alps hiking trail". initially "we" started as a group of eight people. after weeks of planning, and the first day of the hike coming closer, only five people remained. and eventually only four people started on the first day, because the fifth member (me) had to work on a friday - which is quite the exceptional event.
so the group of four started early in the morning, took a train to the starting point at hainburg, and sent me the first pictures of them having fun on the train. a few hours later, a picture of them having a break and a beer at an inn. perfect motivation for my working day.
but it was friday, so there was not much to do at the office, and my working day was over quickly. soon i could hop on the train to follow them; we have planned to meet at the accommodation in parndorf. when i arrived i thought i would find a cheerful and happy crowd, but i found four people being worn out, knackered, and quiet. turns out the total distance of 27.2 kilometres has left its marks.
hurting knees, hips, backs, muscle ache, and toes full of blisters, just to name but a few. maybe it was not such a bad coincidence i was not hiking with them today, as this was the longest distance. next two days are both around only 20 kilometres.
here is the track of the brave hikers on day 01.

after having a "star wars" marathon in november, watching episode I to VI in the correct chronological plot order, and watching the latest movie of the sequel trilogy "The Force Awakens" in december, the next logical step of course was to attend the stars wars "identities" exhibition. it was hosted in vienna from 18th of december 2015 to the 16th of april 2016. so we made it there on the 15th of april 2016. just in time. i did not bring my camera, so all pictures are made with my mobile phone. quality is bad, but you get the idea.
right at the entrance you were asked to create your own avatar, and the first step was to choose a race. so all the people were queuing for humans and other boring stuff, while surprisingly, there was no one aiming for the awesome gungans. well, my first choice of course was to be a gungan - what else. nina chose to be an ewok. almost equally awesome. but also, no one seemed to go for them. humans are strange...
in fact jar jar binks[05-06] is so cool, that the designers of the exhibition chose to introduce him right at the beginning. i was really happy. nina was also very happy and totally liked jar jar[06].
next highlight was the original princess lea bikini[08] prop, right next to the carbon frozen han solo[09] prop; how appropriate.
then was the obligatory section about robots and drones[04], storm troopers[01-03], the fett clan, and darth vader[18]. and of course pod racing[07] with the cute little bundle of joy anakin skywalker - because everybody loooooves pod racing and little ani. right?
but fortunately it gets better again at the end of the exhibition, when it is all about yoda[12], chewbacca[13], padme amidala[14], and some jolly sytherins[15,16].
best of all were of course our avatars[19], a chubby hot little ewok girl named "ninsti", madly in love with the handsome gungan named "nostromo". an excellent basis for another sequel-sequel (or prequel-prequel) trilogy.
conclusion: the exhibition is a nice add-on when it comes to background information and a good summary of several topics. also the focus on your own decisions and how they affect others and yourself are nicely worked in. so if you get the chance to see it, do it.