Watching Your Wife in the Shower Is Fun

Today was a classic full press trip day. We began at 7:45 am, when Latti, Adam and I walked to the farmer's market in Graz center city. There were rows and rows of cheerful Styrian farmers, most of whom offered homemade schnapps in addition to the bright flowers, kohlrabi, celeriac and trout from the nearby Mur river. They also had lots of pumpkin oil and other homemade products from Austrian farms. Each time we passed a farmer's stall they would murmur in German what they sold, and one farmer offered us a taste of his elderberry schnapps. It was only 8 am, but hey, we're in Austria--bottoms up!

Then we met up with Ute, the manager of three Graz hotels. The company owns the Hotel Weitzer, (where we are staying), the Grand Hotel Wiesler, five star, next door, and the Daniel, a very cool boutique hotel on the other side of town. We learned why they called the hotel grand, it had an in-room bathroom, a rarity in the early 1900s. Later we learned why they call it a salute: Knights approaching each other could not tell who was who, so they tipped up their visors and voila, the salute was born.

At the Daniel, a lovely young manager showed us around, we crowded into a tiny elevator and she showed us the 59 euro rooms. They were small but had a unique feature: the shower had a glass wall, so you could watch your partner while she lathered up. One elderly man told our hotel tour guide that he'd never seen his wife taking a shower before he stayed in the Daniel...and it was a wonderful experience!

The Graz tram impressed me: it was sleek and didn't creak. In every car there was a flat monitor showing which stop was next, ads for India tourism, new movies that were coming and then chimed in a soft key to gently tell you it was time to get off.