Stone Church in Thal

Those horses want the carrot - but there is an electrical fence there that they don't want to touch!  Meet Rio (he is on the right).  This is a cousin's new horse and on Sunday we went outside the city (Thal, a little town just outisde of Graz) and got to meet him.  I found out that there is a bus that goes directly from downtown Graz out to a lake with walking trails in Thal, so I expect a return visit with a picnic some weekend when the weather is nicer.  We also enjoyed a very nice family dinner out - at a very traditional Austrian food restaurant.  I always order food that I can split with my son so we had frittan soup (crepes cut very thin in broth) and weinerschnitzel with rice.  My DH and I split the salad which was huge and fileld with things like potato salad, sauerkrat with fennel seeds, cucumbers, tomatoes, shredded carrots, large beans similar to kidney beans all topped with salad.  For dessert I had icecream with hazelnut "speghetti" and chocolate sauce.  I am going to have to learn how to make that "speghetti" because it was a very interesting dessert garnish!

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There is a very interesting church out there...

Right away, from the outside you know it is something unique!  Take a closer look...

The outside is decorated with lots of stone mosiacs.  And so is the inside!

Have you ever seen stone pews?  Neither have I - so here are some photos.

Even the floors are all stones.  And the back of the pews too.

All in all, it was a nice day!  I am sure we will go visit Rio again someday.  There are many horses at this stable so who knows - we might even go riding.  I learned something new about my DH from my sister-in-law  - he used to be an excellent rider when he was younger and had riding clothes to die for.  Hummm.  Who would have guessed?  Maybe the horses - they seem to have knowing eyes!