Winter weather and St. Leopold festival

Hello Friends! I have contracted a head cold and am confined to bed all day. I don't like being sick, but it's a good time to update my blog!

It has been outrageously cold and snowy here, especially last night. Against all reason, Georg and I went out with some friends to an outdoor festival celebrating St. Leopold. The snow was blowing all around (see picture below!), which was quite beautiful, but very cold. The festival took place in Klosterneuburg, where St. Leopold is buried in a monastery. Pictured above is a portion of the monastery.
One of the things we did at the festival was visit a 300+ -year old wine cask. It's tradition to slide over the top of the barrel--doing so is supposed to make all your wishes come true!! Here's a side view of the cask:
Here's me sliding over...I got to do it twice because the first time I went over I went too fast and the picture didn't turn out. The people regulating this event heard us concernedly discussing this in English, and I guess since they figured I was from very far away they'd let me go again. So now I will have double the good luck!!
After this, we decided to visit the festivities taking place on the streets outside the monastery. I think attendance to the festival was a little low due to the extreme weather...there were rides, games, and food stands, but I think most people were a bit too cold for that. It was sad to see all the kiddie rides covered in snow and no one riding them! However, the stands selling punsch (hot alcoholic fruit beverage) flourished. We got a cup of it and it really does warm you up.
I couldn't resist getting an ear of corn from this giant corn man...it really made me feel like I was at a carnival at home. I always get the corn at festivals.
While we were drinking our punsch I saw this little snowman someone had made on an adjacent table. How cute! Its cap is a half-slice of orange that had been soaked in the punsch.
Here's a vendor selling Austrian sweets!
Here you see those chocolate-covered things on sticks I mentioned a few posts ago...
After we got too cold to stay at the festival, we drove with our friends back into the city to get some dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant and Georg and I both decided to get pizza. It was so hot and delicious after being out in the cold for so long. I got my pizza with ham, sardines, onions, and olives. After that we came back home. Here's some pictures of the snow in front of our apartment building:

Today I woke up and took more pictures of the snow. It looks so pretty outside our apartment window. As pretty as it is though, it was not good for my health to be frolicking around in the cold all night like I did...I think it exacerbated my cold!
Oh, guess what! Georgie and I have decided to get married. It's official, we are engaged. Woo! We will probably start planning our wedding early next year!