Settled!

Nearly four-and-a-half months after moving to Austria it seems we’re finally all settled. Well, legally settled, we’re still lacking a lot of lamps and storage space in the house itself. Car import tax, car validation, car registration, ÖAMTC membership, finding an insurance advisor, getting car insurance and license plates, electric/water registration, house insurance, recycle-centre card, private bank account, finding an accountant/tax-advisor, finding a vet, getting a work-license, getting a VAT/tax id number, opening a business bank account, health-care insurance, social insurance, retirement payments, Austrian ID card and pet-cat registration in the national database. All done as of noon today.

It seems a lot more complex here than in Slovakia…

Still, all the legal hassle aside, this is an absolutely beautiful place to live. We can cycle to and swim in Plansee in about 20 minutes. Walk to Heiterwanger See in 30. There is a fantastic bike route along the Lech river. Füssen and Alpsee in Germany are only about an hour cycling from here. Garmisch-Partenkirchen and back is a lovely bike-ride that’ll take less than half a day. There’s four castle ruins within walking distance of the house in various stages of (dis)repair and it’s wonderfully, exquisitely, magnificently, sensationally quiet here.

For about two weeks we had a herd of sheep and goats in the fields next to the house. They got into the garden a few times so we’ll need to build a better fence next year. Still, they are rather cute.

The Gehren Spitze as it appears from our terrace.

There have been some buck fights around the house this month, it appears to be deer mating season. Usually they do their stuff at night but we’ve seen a few deer and bucks up close (20 meters from the house and I once nearly biked into one on the road to Rieden).