Four Countries in One Day

We woke up in Austria, had lunch in Germany, stopped for a snack in Liechtenstein, and finally arrived in Switzerland this evening. (According to our travel map on the right, our arrival here puts us in the double-digits for percentages of countries visited, which is very exciting for us!) I know many who get tired just thinking about that much movement, but, for us, it is thrilling and truly enjoyable. We passed the time in the car enthralled in the story of The Swiss Family Robinson and in the beautiful scenery encompassing us on every side. When we passed through Bavaria, we had the opportunity to see three different castles, including Neuschwanstein, which is the inspiration for Disney's iconic castle. We also took in lakes and mountains and flowers in abundance. It was a treat for the eyes and for the soul. We will be in Switzerland for the next ten days, and we are looking forward to soaking it all up.

Castle #1--Neuschwanstein

Castle #2

Outer wall of Castle #3

Lunch stop in Oy-Mittelberg, Germany
(This fountain was the closest thing we saw to a statue.)

Breathtaking views out the car windows

Gorgeous!

Snack stop in Liechtenstein--just to say we went there

Fun in Salzburg

After driving around in Salzburg for a little while today, trying to find some of the filming locations of The Sound of Music, with mixed results, we decided to visit the Hellbrunn Palace, which is the former summer palace of Archbishop Markus Sittikus. No one ever lived in the palace or even spent one night there. It was built, some four hundred years ago, simply for entertaining. We had a tour of the trick fountains, which must have been a marvel for their time and presumably annoying to some guests, who ended up all wet. Then we explored the grounds, which contain the original pavilion from The Sound of Music scene with the song "You are Sixteen, Going on Seventeen," as well as some beautiful gardens and an incredible playground. Finally, we toured the palace itself. 

After that, we headed back to our apartment for some down time before our evening out at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, where we saw the most unique version of The Sound of Music we had ever seen. We were all astounded and excited by the fantastic puppet show and had fun silently singing along with our favorite songs from the movie. If you are ever in Salzburg, I would say this is a must!

Hellbrunn Palace

This was one of the trick fountains: an animated musical theater run entirely by water.
The trick was once the audience was engrossed in this marvel,
water would shoot up from the ground behind them.

Thinking about intentionally getting in the fountain

This one loved the trick fountains and didn't mind getting wet!

The grounds were lovely!

One of the gorgeous flowers in the garden

The Sound of Music pavilion

We love playgrounds and pretty days!

Round and round and round they go

One happy boy!

A night out at the theatre

The Salzburg Marionette Theatre

"Maria"

The Van Trapp family singers
(This photo is not my own, but came from the theatre's website)

Werfen

In an effort to send cold vibes to our beloved friends and family in Texas, who are melting in the ridiculous summer heat, we donned all of our winter gear this morning to go explore what claims to be the largest ice cave in the world (Eisriesenwelt), in the charming little town of Werfen, outside of Salzburg. First, we drove. Up and up and up. Next, we hiked, still further up. Then, we took a cable car up the steepest part of the mountain. And, from there, we continued to hike in an upward direction, until we arrived at the entrance to the cave, just above the clouds. At every stage of this adventure, we were treated to amazing vistas and glorious views. And, the cave itself was really phenomenal! We traveled to a height of 1775 meters (or 5,823.5 feet, for pretty much everyone who regularly reads this blog) and traversed 1,400 stairs, over the course of about a kilometer (that's a little less than a mile, for those of you, like me, who are less familiar with the metric system). The temperature in the cave stays below freezing all year long, but the exertion of the hike and the many layers of clothes we were wearing kept us from getting too chilly. (Yes, even me!) The entire cave comprises about 42 kilometers (26 miles), but only this first kilometer has the stunning ice structures, because of the way the wind blows and the ice melts and trickles into the cave at this particular point. When our tour was over, we made our way back down the mountain and past a castle, to a lovely park for a picnic. It was a wonderful day! (In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, I must tell you that we were not allowed to take pictures inside the cave, so the photos of that part of our trip are pictures I took of the postcards I bought in the gift store.)

The hike starts here!

Werfen looks exactly like a storybook!

Up we go!

The view from the cable car

All bundled up on an August day

Just above the clouds

Ready for the ice cave experience 

Looking out the entrance of the cave

Inside the ice cave
(Originals are not my photos)

The path down

At the park at the bottom of the mountain

Picnic under the castle

Zipline Fun

Wolkersdorf and Vienna

 We arrived in Austria last Tuesday (May 19), and though our home in Wolkersdorf (outside of Vienna) did not have Internet service, it was essentially perfect in every other way, and we were thankful to get to stay there for a whole week. It was a large three bedroom home, with plenty of room for us to spread out, including a lovely little yard for the kids to run around in. But the very best part was that our landlords and neighbors took us in as family, and we will not forget their many kindnesses to us. We truly felt at home during our stay here and were a little sad to say goodbye this morning, as we continued on to Hungary.

Our fabulous house in Wolkersdorf--the front on the left, the back on the right

On our first night, the craving for Mexican food finally became too much,
so we raided the local grocery store and were able to put together some decent soft tacos.

We visited a couple of heurigens (wine taverns), this large one in Vienna,
where we sampled a variety of local fare, including schnitzel, apple strudel, topfenstrudel,
and, of course, the wine. We also visited a much smaller one our neighbors took us to in a nearby village.

As an early birthday gift, we gave Ruth tickets to the morning exercises at the Spanish Riding School
in Vienna, where we saw the beautiful Liperzaner stallions strut their stuff.
Our tickets also included a tour of the amazing palatial facilities.
We all had fun, but Ruth declared it her "favorite birthday gift [she] has ever received!"

These ruins from the Roman Empire have been unearthed just outside the riding school,
in the heart of Vienna. They date back to the 6th century.

One night, we had a great party in our neighbor's wine cellar.
From the street, you go down a flight of stairs and enter into the room pictured on the right,
which houses an enormous wine press that the room was built around.
Another flight of stairs takes you down into the room pictured on the left,
and then another flight of stairs takes you further down beneath the earth.
It was a very cool (in every sense of the word!) space and a really fun time!

We had a nice visit to the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, though we didn't tour the inside.
We focused our attention on the gardens and labyrinths and playground.
We also indulged with some coffee and sachertorte in the cafe, and Clay was enamored with
the living statue of Mozart, though a bit too shy to get his picture made with it.

The weather was rainy and cold most of the week, but yesterday it was gorgeous,
so we went for a long walk with our neighbor through the country and then had a barbecue
with she and her family in the evening. We walked for a couple of hours, passing through
some beautiful farmland and a couple of neighboring villages, including "the village without chimneys,"
which is comprised almost entirely of wine cellars. We saw Regina's huge Shire horse and her friend's 14-day old colt, as well as a wide variety of other farm animals. The sweet white elderflowers scented the air, and we learned that they make a syrup from them that tastes like it smells. The vineyards and other flowers and crops were also lovely. 

 *You can click on the pictures and collages to see the pictures larger. Since I'm writing about the whole week in one post, I decided it made more sense to condense the pictures into something more manageable.