Golling an der Salzach

This is a place for all nature enthusiasts, and even those who are not impressed by it all. This will certainly entertain you awhile. I love hiking and am teaching the kids to enjoy it too. Waterfalls are gorgeous, impressive and relaxing to view, and the combination of venturing the Austrian Alps to view the latest waterfall on my list was a great achievement, especially on the part of my children and mother-in-law. Their adventurous spirits overrided potential fears of height and death to see a magnificent view and get showered by the experience too.

The Gollinger Wasserfalle was worth the trip. Only being 30 minutes out of the way, the trek there was encapsulated by gorgeous Alp views and we were in awe of the sights. The miniature town of Golling an der Salzach is nestled right at the foot of a mountain, and is full of pensions for visitors of the area. And what a great place it would be to stay the night!

We were a little leary at the sight of the parking lot, as it isn't exactly a well kept spot- they have been logging some of the area and the lot itself was only big enough for about 8 cars. But, we walked down the little path to the red hut and paid our dues to get in- 2EUROs per adult. It is the first waterfall we've had to pay to go see. Was surprised by this, but I guess it does cost them a little money to keep the trails upkept.

After a short walk by a stream, past an old mill, we came across the bottom half of the falls. It was beautiful. After a little rest and some good photos, we continued our trek up the mountainside to see what we could see. We found that there were much higher waters falling from the heart of the mountain that fell behind some rocks and then down to the lower falls that we saw from the bottom. There was a wooden bridge that crossed the waterfall, so we ventured the slick boards to see the views. It was pretty. And pretty slick too. There was so much spray from the waterfall that it created an invisible slime on the wood and was dangerously slippery. Ariel fell on every step down.

Anyway, it was a great way to spend the morning. We had a lovely lunch at one of the gorgeous pensions, with the Alps filling the landscape and being so close to the big, sunny blue skies with fluffy marshmallow clouds overhead.

Day 11

Today is day 11 in the world of potty training Mr. Nathaniel. It is also the first morning that he has awakened to the world with a dry diaper, and stayed that way for nearly an hour before I put him on the toilet. Does this mean he's becoming dehydrated? Or just that he is finally concious of his body functions? Hopefully the latter. He has been coming home from school dry the last couple of days, in the original clothes I sent him in, so he is staying dry there. It is so very nice. This is what I was hoping for by delaying the potty training. Now, just trying to get him to take himself to the bathroom 100% of the time is the next goal.

Ulm

Ulm was the last place we stopped on our way home from Austria. We arrived in the evening and decided to stay in the center of town in the hub-bub of things. Being a university town and a Sunday evening, the restaurants were full of students. But we heard music from down the street, so we went to investigate. As we walked, we came upon the fishing district that was built on a stream. Very old houses sat right on top of the stream, being supported by beams beneath. We even happened upon the famous Schiefes House while wandering. It is a crooked house from the 15th century that they have secured and opened as a hotel.

We soon found the source of the music. It was a fest, complete with a brass band playing traditional tunes and all kinds of German goodies to eat. We got ourselves some dinner and sat down to enjoy the raucous. It was fun. By this point though, we were absolutely exhausted from the trip as a whole, so off to bed we went.

The next morning, we repacked the car after a fabulous breakfast which was complete with fresh fruit, deli meats and breads, eggs, cheese, cookies, chocolates and German marshmallows.

We then walked a couple blocks to find the Ulm Muenster. It has the world's tallest spire in the world, completed around 1900. It was absolutely gorgeous. It had a bunch of saints on the outside- too much detail to take in both because of the height and because of the sun in my eyes.

Inside you could pay a couple of Euros to climb the stairs up the steeple. We didn't attempt that.

The sanctuary was just lovely. It had stain glass windows that were narrow and tall- maybe close to 3 stories tall. I wish there was a better way to photograph the windows and paintings, but lighting is such an issue, and camera flashes are not usually allowed. Everything inside here was gorgeous. And the detail on the choir seats and loft was amazing. Beautiful carvings.

Ulm also has produced several profitable people to the existence of mankind, most notably, Albert Einstein. This is where is home was. I say was because Ulm was absolutely devasted in the firebombings of WWII.

There are a few memorials to him, but none that we consider do his contributions to this world justice.

Ulm was a great place to visit. Dustan wants to go back and experience the many museums. We shall see if we ever make it again. But it would well be worth it.

Kehlstein in Obersalzburg

Or otherwise known to English speaking peoples as Eagle's Nest. Located near Berchtesgaden, it is a fabulous panorama view of the Alps. It was built by Hitler's friends in 13 months time, including the building of the road. It was used as an exclusive state meeting house and proved to be a terrific gift to not only Hitler, but to the thousands who have since the 1950s enjoyed the views this place offers.


You can see to the one side of the mountain, the Koenigssee. It's is a beautiful green-blue hue, and you can see the boat tours out on the lake. They look like little bugs from way up here. There trails along the mountain sides everywhere, evidence of the adventurous human spirit. Some look like great hikes. Others just look like a crazy person cleared a path on the edge of the end of the world. This includes a lot of the road that the buses take to get to the top of the mountain. It is a crazy ascent for sure.


To the other side of the mountain, is Austria. You can see the Salzgammergut district from here, even all the way past Fuschlsee. It is gorgeous and breathtaking to view the rocky, snowcapped mountaintops, all the way down to the easier, shorter, rolling mountains to the valleys filled with miniscule villages and beautiful lakes.


My husband chose to come here on Father's Day, and we are all glad he did. Even Romona, who was not thrilled in any way to commemorate anything of the Nazis, and especially not fond of heights, enjoyed the views immensely, with the help of her motion sickness medicine. It was a gorgeous day for the visit, and not one that any of us will likely forget.

Celebrating 5 Years

We hosted Ariel's 5th birthday celebration here, at home in Germany, this past Saturday. We had a few friends and their kids over for cake, presents and playtime. Ariel wore her new blue dress from her friend Emma, and she looked beautiful. The cake was decorated by MawMaw, my husband's mother, who was visiting us from the States. It turned out great, and was a joy to eat too.

Ariel had been looking forward to her party for quite awhile, epsecially since this is her first party with friends. She also thought that she was turning six since we had celebrated last week on her actual birthday, so it was a funny mixup to try to explain to her. Kids are so anxious to group up, aren't they?

She loved helping to get ready and watching the cake being made. She wanted to have cake time first, so as soon as everyone came, we lit the candles and sang her the birthday song. She was SO happy. It took her two breaths to blow out the candles, but she did it. Then she chose her piece- the part with her name on it. Yikes. It was a huge piece. But, she only ate one bite of the cake, and scraped all the icing off and ate that. Sugar freak! Her daddy ate the cake for her. He doesn't care for frosting much, so they were both happy.

Presents were next on her list, and so she tore into them. She got a lot of clothes, shoes, a ballerina outfit, a computer game, a book, a video, some ponies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls. She loved everything, but quickly tossed each gift aside to get to the next one. Nathaniel tried to help open them too, but she was quick to stop his efforts. Poor little guy. lol

We then played put the sticker on the pony~ a modern version of pin the tail on the donkey. It was cute, and the girls loved playing the game- Nathaniel too. But the other boys were not interested.

Overall, it was a lovely party and we had fun.

Happy 5th Birthday Ariel!

Ariel turns 5

The saga of a child turning 5 is an exciting process, as it is quite possibly the first birthday that they will actually remember. It is a marking point in the history of their lives, and they all of a sudden seem to have grown up in the eyes of parents. No longer a baby in any way, and capable of following directions, dressing themselves, carrying a conversation, and learning to help with chores, write numbers and words, there is a lot they can already do. Definately ready for school.

This year we celebrated Ariel's birthday in Austria. We let her open her presents right after breakfast, as she was so very anxious for them. She was so excited to get some clothes and The Little Mermaid movie. Then we headed out for the day to the Salzburg Zoo and the Hellbrunn Gardens. It was a lovely drive thru the backroads to get there, and the zoo is built into the mountain and is absolutely lovely.

After a snack and a couple hours in the zoo, we walked the path that connects to the Hellbrunn Gardens. They have a very large, shaded playground across the way and that entertained the kids a bit. After another long walk to the garden grounds and another snack, we finally went in to see the trick water garden. It was cool. The guide was the one who was controlling the hidden spickets, so he could time it just right to get people wet. Ariel loved it, but just as she was in the highlight of the mood, a guy went running backwards thru the pathway, and completely ran her over and she ended up with scraped hands and knees, and a very sad birthday girl. I was not happy about that at all either, but the man apologized a couple of times and got her a juice box.

Back through the zoo we walked to get to the car, and the bears were being playful. They came down the mountain and swam in the mini river, so we got a really close look at them. Nathaniel loved it! The bears were his favorite by far.

Later in the evening we took the kids to Burger King for dinner, with a playplace inside, and air-conditioning. It was nice. After dinner we had an appointment for a pony ride. It was at a place down the street from our hotel and they had a cute little pony.

Ariel rode first, down the street to the riding ring. It sat beneath a mountain, and was gorgeous. She enjoyed it so much that she didn't want to let Nathaniel have a turn. Nathaniel loved it too and didn't think 10 minutes of riding was enough. But, it was Ariel's turn again, and she rode the pony back to the barn. There we were met by a very friendly dog, who happened to have pups. So the kids enjoyed playing with them for a bit before we had to go. And that was Ariel's wonderful 5th birthday.

Salzgammergut

The lake district in Austria is absolutely gorgeous. We took a scary road from Golling an der Salzach to Fuschl am See that went high up in the mountains. It had some remarkable views, but it sure was dangerous to say the least. It was about a 45 minute drive, and I think Dustan enjoyed every minute, trying to make me and Romona sick. Luckily the kids were sleeping, so we didn't have any puking going on.

After this trip in the car, we were ready to get out and get some fresh air. We checked into our pension, which we do NOT recommend to any at all. However, check out the view from our balcony at the left. Romona's view was cool too, even though she was stuck 3 flights up in the attic.


After we rested, we got ready for dinner and a short walk to get to a restaurant down the street. A thunderstorm was rolling in as we arrived, and so we got a window seat to watch it pour. Man, the weather sure changes fast there in the center of the Alps. This particular storm brought with it lightning and hail and at least 2 inches of rain. But, an hour later when we were ready to leave, the sun had been out for about 25 minutes, and despite the cooler temperatures, the pavement was drying up and the puddles were not nearly as large as I thought they should be.

The rest of our 2 days in the district were spent relaxing & doing some laundry in the sink. We found the local sommerrodelbahn, and had our fun with that. The kids loved this one, and so did we. They had a hook they'd attach to the back of your sled and it would drag you backwards, high up to the top of the mountain! I almost lost my sandals a couple of times because it was rather steep in some places and the slope made me slip on my sled.

You could see a long ways up there, and it was very beautiful. It provided me a great opportunity to talk to Ariel about God's creation and how things were made, what great thought and planning this all took and the pure enjoyment of the senses soaking up the fresh morning smells and sounds, and the sunlight on the earth was amazing.

We went driving in the area a couple of times and found the picturesque town of St. Gilgen. You could rent electric boats, and there were quite a few out on the lake. It is an adorable town to visit. We also stopped in St. Wolfgang for dinner one evening. Walking along the streets here was cool, although rather steep in some places. The town sits on a hill, and the buildings were beautifully done.

There is so much to see and do here in the lake district that we would really love to come back and see. It was a great place to visit.

Potty Training

What else is there to say on this subject? Except that the current efforts by my son are not really great. The first day was encouraging, including a number 2 on the potty. Shocking, I know! But, in the 2 days since then, there have been many accidents. Yikes. This stage I am not thrilled about to say the least.

Despite this, he is still adorable as ever; Mommy's little sweetheart.

Salzburg

We began our trip to Austria by a short drive turned long by a stau. Not a great start to a great vacation, but hey, we survived with minimal fussing and sweating.

After 8 hours of traveling, we arrived in Salzburg on Saturday evening, ready to rest and happy to finally be there. We stayed in Hotel Pension Gerl. It was a great hotel, with very comfortable furnishings, an indoor pool, a small playground with an outdoor pool and good food. Imagine all this with being affordable, even with the poor exchange rate, and voila, it is the perfect place to spend a holiday.

Salzburg was filled with busy days and relaxing evenings, just as we had planned. Several evenings were filled with thunderstorms but we took advantage of this and swam or had a late dinner and just relaxed.

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Altogether we spent 6 nights in Salzburg, but only spent 4 of those days actually visiting the city. And with kids tagging along, it took us that long to see it. The first day going into town was exciting for us all. I have always wanted to see it, probably because of the influence of the Sound of Music on my life at such a young age. Finally, visiting the city of Mozart!

The parking is inside the mountain which encloses Salzburg on one side, while it faces the Salzach River on the other. We first visited the University Cathedral and then the famous Salzburger Dom. What beautiful churches! The paintings and details in the Dom were amazing. So detailed that you could stare at the ceiling far above you and still not see everything for about a week. Apparently the Dom was bombed during the war, so the paintings look extremely new and bright compared to other churches whose artworks are original to the building from the 1400s and on.

Haus der Natur was a fabulous visit on the following day. It is a history museum, come alive with great exhibits and a lovely aquarium. I think this was Nathaniel's favorite, aside from the bears in the zoo. We saw so many lovely buildings while roaming the streets, and we found the beauteous horse mural wall with a statue of a man and horse in the center of a platz. We found out that this is where the watering hole was for the horses a century ago. The murals are very well done, although aged and starting to crack and peel in many places. But from the street this is not noticeable, and it is a lovely site to behold. The kids loved the murals too and each picked out their favorites- Ariel's was the Appaloosa and Nathaniel's was the Black Stallion.

Hohensalzburg Fortress was next on our must see list. So, we purchased funicular tickets to ride almost straight up the mountainside. Are you crazy??? It was either test my mother-in-law's closterphobia for a minute or else test my sanity whilst trying to urge 2 little kids up the long hour hike to get to the top. I thought it was exciting. So did the kids.

It was rather quiet in the fortress when we arrived. We investigated a little bit, then found the war museum that is located there. That was pretty cool. Seeing Austrian historical uniforms (with feathers) and achievement medals, weapons and miscellaneous things such as musical instruments and even a chastity belt was pretty cool. The kids had fun playing on an old cannon while we looked around. There was also an orchestra room that was set up as it used to be. The room had carvings everywhere and they were painted and trimmed with real gold. They had guards walking around in these rooms to ensure no vandalism. Gold within touch is just too irristable for some people.

Salzburg was fantastic. We would love to go back and actually get some souveniors, such as a painting for my house... the rain also prevented us from making it to see the Mirabell Gardens, so that would be nice too. What a fantastic trip!

Home, Sweet Home

Vacation is great, but there is nothing like home. It is so nice to wake up in one's own bed and being surrounded by familiar things, the complete satisfaction and security home brings is a wonderful thing. Especially for children. The kids are 100% better now that they are back home. Not that they were evil on the trip, but they weren't exactly angels either. They exhausted us out for sure. It is just great to be home!

Anticipation

Excitement is filling the air here in our home, for the arrival of my mother-in-law. The kids can hardly stand the waiting. The countdown has been going on for months, and they are happy that there is only 2 days left 'til they can see her.

We're gonna stay in Salzburg for 6 days and see the sights (click on the highlighted words to see details)- Konigssee, Schloss Hellbrunn (probably on Ariel's birthday), Hohensalzburg Fortress, Mirabell Gardens, the Residence Square (remember this from the Sound of Music?), Salzburger Dom, perhaps a day trip Obersalzburg (the Nazi stuff), and definately stopping at the Gollinger Wasserfall on our way out to the country to stay at a Fuschlsee.

We will be swimming, hopefully finding a pony ride for Ariel's birthday, and finding a rodelbahn while there too. We only have one heat/rainy day option so far: Haus der Natur, which looks really cool. This is the hotel we're staying at in Salzburg: Hotel Pension Gerl . It has a pool and a restaurant, so we can stay and relax and not go anywhere if we're pooped. We're getting a junior suite, so we can have some space, and my mother-in-law will have her own room, but I think Ariel will want to stay with her a couple times. We'll be staying at the lake for 2 days, and then tentatively stopping in Ulm on our way home for a day and spend the night. Then we'll tour the town in the morning and then drive home in the afternoon. So, it will be a 10 day trip altogether, and we're excited. I can hardly believe that it's vacation already!

We are so excited for vacation and birthdays and summertime and potty training. Oh no, wait. Not happy about the training, but happy for no more diapers. That is the goal for the end of the summer: no more diaper bags and no more strollers. Sniff sniff... my babies are growing up! But not 'til after vacation. Who wants rotten laundry in the car on vacation??? Ewwwww

Auf Wiedersehen

Children bring laughter

Ariel's quote of the day:

"When I laugh my belly jiggles!"

Giggles and a swirling little girl. Oh what a happy girl indeed.

And then there's the boy. Showing us new things everyday. Today it was a double fisted, 1-2 upcut punch to the wind, complete with perfect stance, arm motions and grunts. Absolutely hysterical!

I love my babies and watching them grow!