Austria and Germany

This weekend, Gordon, Claire and I packed up the car and drove off for a weekend adventure to Austria and Germany. Our main destinations were Salzburg in Austria and Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. We left on Friday at about 5 p.m. and, after stopping for dinner and then for gas, we arrived at our hotel in a small German town at about 11 p.m. The next morning, we walked around the little town and got some coffee for the drive and headed to Salzburg.

After checking into our hotel, we walked into the Old Town of Salzburg and had lunch at a restaurant that was recommended by Rick Steves, my favorite travel guide writer. It was here that we all had our first Wienerschnitzel. We also tried some sausages and saur kraut, which are traditional Austrian foods. Claire loved the sausages and ate quite a bit of the Wienerschnitzel as well! After lunch, we set out to explore the town. We walked for a few hours, checking out the place where Mozart was born and where he composed a lot of his music.


Here you can see Salzburg in the foreground and the fortress that guarded Salzburg in the background. We toured this fortress the next day.

We then walked over the the Mirable Gardens and enjoyed the gorgeous flowers. Here's Claire, looking like such a big girl! Where did my baby go?

These pictures really don't do the gardens justice. They were gorgeous.

That night, we had bought some frankfurters from a street vendor and then topped it off with some gelato. With full bellies, we walked back to the hotel. We were all happy to go to bed after so many hours of walking!

The next morning, we drove about a half hour, crossed the border into Germany, got a fine of 120 Euros for not buying a sticker for our car that allows us to drive on the Austrian highway, and then continued on to Hitler's Eagles Nest. This was a vacation home given to him by the Nazis. It was beautiful up there. The views were unbelievable. It made me mad that such an evil person had such a gorgeous place to retreat to.

After touring the Eagle's Nest and taking in the views, we headed back to Salzburg. We went back into the old town to tour the fortress that guarded the town. Construction of this fortress was begun in 1077. Because it was so foreboding, it was never used in battle because no one attempted to take it until Napolean took it peacefully. It was amazing to see this fortress and to know that people were walking around in there so long ago and here we were, checking it out with our daughter.

Here's a view from the fortress.

Here's Claire playing on a medieval unicorn.

Here's Claire, blocking her face from yet another photo.

The next day, we headed back to Germany. Our destination was Neuschwanstein Castle. Google it! On our way there, we stopped in a small town in the German countryside for lunch. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The town was not at all touristy and the people there were so very nice to us. The food was delicious too! Claire was given this Bavarian pig by the owner and she loved it. She even tried to feed the pig her water from her sippy cup.

Here's the outside of the restaurant.

And then, finally, we arrived in Schwangau and caught our first glimpse of the beauty that is Neuschwanstein Castle. Seriously, google it! We bought our tickets for a tour and missed the last bus that would take us up to the castle, so we hiked up to the castle instead. We arrived with plenty of time to spare. This place was spectacular. I wish we could have spent much more time there, exploring it. Unfortunately, it is forbidden to take pictures inside the castle, so we just have outside shots.

Here's the one inside shot I got before we got yelled at!

That night, we had dinner in Fussen, a neighboring town.

The next day, it was time to head back home. We stopped at a store in Germany and bought a bunch of things that we'll need for our permanent apartment. Everything is so much less expensive in Germany than Switzerland. Then, we passed through Austria again, making sure to buy the sticker this time, and stopped in a little resort town where we had lunch and I bought some English books. I was so happy to find reasonably priced novels written in English! We then continued on home. And now it's back to real life. Gordon is back at work and I am back to deciding when the next play date should be and with whom. What a life!

This was a fabulous trip. I fell in love with Germany on this trip and I can't wait to go back and see more of this beautiful and welcoming country.

One thing that I have to share is that the hotel we stayed at in Schwangau was also a dental clinic. The guy who checked Gordon into the hotel was the dentist! He was even wearing his white lab coat. I was so creeped out by that! I must watch too many horror movies because I had visions of him stealing us and making us his next "patients"!