... Snowbound in Svetlanaland

After a delayed flight from Melbourne and a sprint to catch my international connection at Sydney airport I did finally make it safe and sound. Of course all did not go so smoothly on the flights. The delays were caused by thunder storms which were also the cause of turbulence all across the Australian part of the trip and caused the disaster of one of the free meals being skipped! I also had to wander Frankfurt Airport for a while in order to find my final connecting flight (which actually had jet engines this time). The good news was that I was bumped up into business class for that flight and received breakfast instead of just a cookie.
Flying into Svetlanaland international Airport I noticed that there was this strange white stuff on the ground. After fruitlessly waiting for my bag which had apparently been unable to make the sprint for the flight at Sydney I headed out through customs to the patiently waiting Svetlana.
After reacquainting myself with Svetlana for several minutes she informed me that, yes, there was snow, and, yes, she was wrong and there would actually be snow before late January this year.

We headed straight from the airport to the traditional welcome lunch with the parents, where I think I passed the grandma test as I wasn't given the evil eye.

Several free lunches, dinners, and breakfasts later it was suddenly Christmas eve and it snowed. Not just any old snow, mind you, but real movie/TV snow. Fat flakes floating gently down and covering everything in a blanket of white.
I had the fun of cleaning the car - removing great powdery heaps of snow from the roof - before Svetlana and I headed off to a friends for the traditional Christmas Eve drinking of home made wine from Korchula until midnight.

After a morning sleep in Christmas lunch was a relaxed affair at the parents place out of town. Grandma had definitely accepted me and was repeatedly trying to make me put on another layer to make sure I stayed warm enough. I was stuffed full of food and brandy and then went sledding with Svetlana's two young nieces. The countryside was a magnificent pure snowscape and the experience was breathtaking - especially after all that food.

Since then I've mostly been indoors with the occasional foray out for coffee or drinks. The snow has begun to turn to mush and our plans are now being solidified for exploration across Europe.

Oh, Svetlana has just returned from drinks with friends and I have to go now, I'll write further when they let me out again, bye.