Birthday Madness! (Involving a Scavenger Hunt, Gummy Bears, and FAR TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE!!! :D)

I must write about my birthday (belatedly), because it was so amazing and many people did a lot of work to make it special. Thank you so much everyone!!

On May 5^th, two days before my real birthday, I woke up feeling sore-throaty and rather cranky. Tiny seemed intent on doing laundry first thing, and requested that I take a shower right away. Grumbling, I complied, but shortly afterwards, she came back up with a note.

“I found this in the mailbox – I’m not sure who it’s from,” she said. “But there were instructions for me to leave the apartment and for you to open it at exactly 11:00am.”

I was completely surprised and intensely curious. I scarfed down my peanut butter and jam sandwich, and watched the 10 minutes pass at a snail’s pace. Finally, I opened the letter and was delighted to find – the first clue of a scavenger hunt! (!!!) And guess what the first clue was? Longitude and latitude coordinates! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) ;-)


Click the pics to enlarge, as usual. :-)

Geburtstagskind!

The writer stipulated that I MUST record the whole journey with video/camera as well as wear a special tag: “Geburtstagskind.” Well, it wasn’t long before the Birthday Kid was on her way to Jakominiplatz. :D

When I got to the location, I found the legendary Graz fountain pen store! Slightly unsure what to do, I went inside. Maybe the storekeeper was supposed to see my tag and give me something. The man inside greeted me, but there was no special nod of recognition. Hmm…I browsed around, and then figured that I might as well try out a pen or two while I was there. And wow – they are so beautiful! They have VERY high quality pens, ranging from about 30 Euros to 3,000…(though that was a special “pen of the year”, probably embellished with real gold..;-)

Anyway, after glorifying in the smoothness of the pens and the wide variety of nibs, I figured it was time to look elsewhere for my next hint. As soon as I walked around the corner, who should I see but – E!!! She had been just out of sight. ;-) However, the goal of this first clue WAS to visit the pen store, so we trooped back in to try out some more pens. Haha. E gave me a proper Goethe poem so that I didn’t have to awkwardly write the names of all the people I know…and then throw in “Jakominiplatz”, randomly…:D

I was given a certain budget, and bought the most beautiful pen – a very thin calligraphy pen that is ideal for italic-style writing and is fine enough for letters. I haven’t been able to put it down since!

I'll have a better picture up later...with some writing samples!

I was then given another clue – an address. We soon found ourselves at the Tribeka café…and I was very surprised to see A! This excursion was much bigger than I thought…:D I had to guess the kind of coffee she ordered before I got my next clue. Afterwards, we headed to the Stadtpark, where I had to find my favourite astronomer. No sooner had I found Kepler, when Tiny jumped out of nowhere! She was in on the game all along (the laundry/shower idea was a ruse so I didn’t suspect), and had the great pleasure of telling me to kiss the statue…;-)

Lovely glasses case from A! :)

 

My next task was to find gelato. Mmm…but we made a slight detour to pick up crepes. Pear, Brie, and cranberry. 

 

"Oh. It's you."

"Seriously?"

At this point, P showed up with a list of anagrams to solve! Each answer turned out to be a gelato flavour I was required to order. The last time I ordered gelato, I totally messed up my order and got a bit flustered…so they made me go back to the same place and do it again! (This time, I was slightly more collected. J)

 

Gummy bears!!!!!!!

Then it was on to that terrible place “where good teeth go to die”: the gummy bear store! And guess who was waiting outside? M from Finland had yet another clue, but this one was trickier. I had to guess everyone’s favourite gummies – but I was a bit far from the mark. To pay the penalty, I was required to do ten jumping jacks, and sing the “Schnappi” song (a kid’s song about a crocodile). It’s not all smooth sailing for the Birthday Kid! ;-)

 

My punishment...;-)

Enough pictures...?

Once we bought enough candy to rot our teeth completely, we went up the Schlossberg. Fewer tasks now – we just enjoyed the sun. I had to smell the flowers, and sing a song in front of the well…but we then sat on the wall admiring the view. Such a perfect, perfect day, with some of my very favourite people…:D

A.

E.

A, M, Tiny.

The magic bag where EVERYTHING disappears...

 

Singing at the well...

"Why does Schubert have to include high E's!?"

 

However, if I thought things had stopped there, I was wrong. We then went to get kebaps. The storeowners know my order by heart now. ;-) Tiny and I went home for a couple of hours (I napped, it was glorious) and then we met up with E & P again for cake and mooooooovies! (The Sacher Torte that P makes is SO much better than the original. :D)

 

This was my perfect birth-DAY. However, things kept arriving all week! I received wonderful emails from friends and family. My family sent me flowers AND personalized notes (the Winnie the Pooh “You’re (2)1” card was so cute). C sent tea and chocolate. My aunt and uncle sent a beautiful card. I am THE luckiest girl. :D 

Thank you, everyone, for making this week so special.

Flowers from the family.

C's teas and chocolate...:D

I love the card! Thank you so much Uncle T & Aunt E!

Who says Winnie the Pooh is only for kids? ;-)