Visitors!

Clark, Kelly and Gage came to visit us for 2 weeks in April.  While we were still working and in school we sent them on a few trips by themselves.  They went to Holland to see the tulips, Paris and took a Rhine River cruise.  During the week of our spring break we drove to Bavaria and spent the week there.

The kids getting eis at our favorite cafe in Oberammergau.  We cannot go down to Garmisch without stopping here for a cone . . . or two.

One afternoon we went to the Linderhoff Palace to see what King Ludwig's vision of Versailles.

One of the things we did that the four of us have not done before was the Ettal Monastery.  It is really beautiful inside, mostly white walls and all the decor is in gold and pastel colors.

Kelly was interested in going to the Swarovski museum and shop in Innsbruck Austria.  While Clark, Kelly and Bailey toured the museum, Mark and I stayed outside with McKenna and Gage and let them play on the climbing playground and zip line.

In Garmisch, lunch for Bailey consisted of schnitzel the size and shape of Africa.  We called it the "African schnitzel".

View of the alps from our restaurant in Garmisch.

McKenna was thrilled to find a drindle that I hope fits here for a long time so she can wear it when we move stateside.

It was a great visit.  We loved renewing our relationships with family.  We especially love being able to help Gage celebrate his 5th birthday while they were here!

Trick fountains in Salzburg

During our stay in Salzburg we took time one afternoon to visit the Hellbrunn Palace to see the trick gardens and the gazebo from The Sound Of Music.

The trick gardens were so fun, not just for the kids but for the adults as well.  They were established back in the 1600's by an archbishop who had a bit of humor and combined it with a side of practical joke.  As you walk through the garden you just never know what is going to happen.  Of course water will come at you but you don't know when or where it will happen.  Here the water is coming from the deer antlers!

Here we are in a little amphitheater facing the dinner tables.  Guests are invited to sit at the table but it is considered very rude if you rise before the head of the tables, which in most cases was the Archbishop with the humor/practical joke issues. The picture below shows what happen if you are seated at the table when the water works go.

Here are a couple more pictures from the gardens, we really enjoyed that tour!

Mark and the girls at the famous Sound of Music gazebo.

Trying hard to get a group shot.  McKenna!!

Awe, Bailey!!

McKenna!!

That's what I'm talking about!

Salzburg = random

I didn't even realize how random our Salzburg experience was until I got home and perused our pictures. I was also surprised to find that I didn't have a picture that included Grandma, but she was there! The first time we visited Salzburg we did the Sound of Music Tour and not much else could fit into our schedule. This time, we expanded!

First stop: Mozart Wohnhaus which is a museum in the house where Mozart lived and composed. The house has original pianos that he played on and you could hear his works during the whole tour. I really liked this museum. Our favorite part was at the end. There is a glass case containing volumes of his works, it stacks to the ceiling. It was so visually cool.

We also visited the Salzburg city graveyard. Interestingly enough, it is not the one they used in the Sound of Music movie, but the one they did use was patterned after this one. If you look into the mountain above the graveyard, you can see a panel with a window. These are Salzburg's catacombs. Except when you enter you climb up instead of climbing down like all the other catacombs I have read about. Random!
In this picture you can see the white castle on the hilltop.
More randomness, this is actually an art piece that is in the middle of the square by the cathedral. Don't really know what the point of it is, and couldn't find anything about it in our travel books. Just randomness, a guy on a ball.
Here is our random mime, levitating. . . so random!!

Part of our day was spent at the castle where we visited a random puppet museum (I'm going to be using the word random alot, just sayin). The girls got to work an actual puppet, and it took two to get all the limbs working.

Didn't really understand this random wall in the museum. Maybe they were putting on a puppet show for "Night of the Living Dead" or "Any Zombie B movie".

This picture of Bailey is taken from the castle, looking down on the city of Salzburg. It really is a beautiful city. Full of interesting, albeit random, things to see and do.

After stepping out of the puppet museum we ran into this . . . well, uhm . . . . princess? She looks like a princess but nobody else was with her and I really didn't understand the point. She wasn't even asking for euro. But the girls were thrilled to get a photo with her. We'll just call her "Random Princess".

Will you look at the size of these pretzels?? They looked so good, soft dough (a must for me), and every topping you could think of was offered. We randomly picked the chocolate one of course!



One of the best random things we ran into was this group of Russian musicians. I love the bass! It is so unique and I have never seen one shaped like that before. I included a video of them so that you can see how great they were.

One Lucky Girl!

That would be me. This weekend I spent my birthday in Vienna and Bratislava. Mark had a gig on Saturday night so I tagged along for the ride and had the best time. Good food, new experiences, wonderful husband, good company and lots and lots of cake! Plus leaving my children in the hands of good friends meant I didn't have to worry a bit.

Mark suggested spending 1/2 a day in Bratislava since we were so close, only about 45 minutes from Vienna. Do you know where Bratislava is? I didn't! I had to look it up on the atlas. He had gigged here before and loved the downtown area. I fell in love with it too, tons of personality and the best ice cream I have ever had (that means it was better than the gelato in Italy, who knew??).

Bratislava's Old Town is unique because of 2 things that I noticed: fun statues hidden through out the village . . .
. . . and the hunt for cannons embedded into city walls, leftover from Napoleon.
Here is a very unique musician, we stood for several minutes trying to figure out how he was playing his "contraption". Harmonica, banjo, organ, and drums with the speaker on bottom! Notice the stuffed hand on his knee that is playing the organ.
Back to Vienna that evening, we went out with friends to a wonderful fancy Italian restaurant right beside the Stephansdom. We ate outside and enjoyed a wonderful meal, great conversation and dessert to boot! The weather was perfect.
The next day, Mark and I ventured out into the city. We saw the Hofburg Palace and gardens . . .

Crazy taxi's and city clocks . . . . . . and the Staatstoper which is Vienna's opera house. I was disappointed, guided tours were canceled for that day. I so wanted to see the grand staircase!
But when we got back to the hotel, I asked about any performances I could attend that evening while Mark was working. Thankfully I had a companion. Nina's husband played in Mark's group and she was smart and tagged along as well. I had a buddy! Oh yes, the stars were aligned in my behalf. There was a ballet at the opera house, it was Onegin. But we had a problem. I didn't have a dress! I had to go shopping! I found pretty red ballet flats, which could not have been more appropriate, and my friend Nina let me borrow a skirt.
Onegin was of course a tragic love story. You know the deal, passionate love, someone dies and a moral lesson is learned the hard way. It was spectacular. It continues to amaze me the power of music, the way it can communicate such emotion without a word. The dancers were amazing athletes. It is hard to imagine how they get their bodies to perform with such grace and beauty. Nothing moves me like music. Tchaikovsky was dead-on with communicating the power of the story. Thank heaven Tatianna chose well in the end. Stupid arrogant Onegin. Grand elaborate staircase!

Nina and I rounded out our evening by stopping at a cafe on the way back to the hotel. I had to have yet another piece of cake. Vienna is known for their fancy cakes, and one in particular is the Sacher Torte, which is chocolate cake with a chocolate fondant on top. Between the layers of cake is an apricot marmalade. I did have a piece of that earlier, then that night I had a different chocolate creme cake and I ordered hot chocolate on the side. Did you know that in Vienna, hot chocolate is the consistency of warm pudding?! It was so rich that I couldn't finish it, which doesn't happen to me very often, you know, finishing yummy things. They had to kick us out at midnight. It has been a very long time since I stayed up that late. Probably the last time was because I had a sick kid.

Thanks to Mark for being you, making me feel special and being so talented to get hired for a gig in Vienna . . . on my birthday! It is one I will never forget!

Aaahhhhh Bavaria!

Seriously, what is it about Bavaria?! As our good friend Jon put it, "As soon as I cross into Bavaria my heart rate drops 20 beats per second". You can just feel yourself relax and take deep breaths. Is it the amazing scenery that is so powerful that it puts life into perspective a little? Is it all the fairytale adventures that you can experience? Is it the masseuse at the lodge? Is it my favorite woodcutter shop? It is probably a little bit of it all and I LOVE going down there. Even when I have to wait in amazingly horribly snail slow traffic and follow a stupid navigation system to get there. I think we are going to finally name our navigator, Martha! She just acts like a Martha, not that there is anything wrong with that! =)

I took my mom and aunt to Bavaria and we had a lot of great experiences down there but our big day was spent in Salzburg Austria, you know, "The hills are alive with the sound of . . . . . yup, music". We took the "Sound of Music Tour" and really enjoyed it.


I admit I was skeptical and expected much cheese but I found I was surprisingly impressed with it. Even though it is a huge touristy trap, the scenery and the magical feeling of being in the place that classic film was created really helps . . . oh and the bus that serenades you along the way? that helps too!

Here is a little bit of goofy and a little bit of classic:

Remember Do, Re, Mi? There is the fountain and the steps are right behind.

She's not 16 going on 17 (thank goodness!)


There is the Trapp house:

Thanks for the fun photo idea Kristine! (Darn lady in RED, distracting from ME!!)

Dum, Dum, da Dum! (you know. . . the wedding march!)


Some may think I have gone a little loco as we came home from Bavaria yesterday and as my mom and aunt fly home to the good 'ol usa, we will be back on the road to spend time with Mark and the band while they serenade the good people of Italy! We are taking complete advantage of the summer months and doing as much as we can! Summer vacation rocks!