W33 of Y2

We decided to explore Austria over Columbus Day weekend. It was a quick trip and jam-packed! We left in the wee hours of the morning and drove a few hours before the sun came up. All the kids woke up while the sun was rising and the beautiful golden arches were calling our names!!

First stop: Wien (Vienna)

Wow! This city is amazing! So much to see and so little time... especially with 3 kids in tow whose little legs just don't run as fast. I decided you really need a minimum of 3 days in this city to really appreciate everything there is to see here. But, we hit a lot of the main sites and had a great day! A little side note that wasn't so great though... Jeremy accidently booked a 6-bed hostel instead of a hotel for us. 6 bunk beds for 6 people (including our aupair!). The kids thought it was awesome though that we all got to sleep in bunk beds in the same room. lol! They also had some type of a Nazi vs. Muslim protest going on downtown... there were a lot of polizei there and everything seemed peaceful enough but it was not the highlight of the day. The highlight of Vienna for me was dinner and the orchestra/opera at the Schönbrunn Palace. The music was Mozart and Strauss who both used to play here. It was magnificent! We also enjoyed the hop-on, hop-off bus tours (after we finally figured out how they work!)

Second Stop: Salzburg

Jeremy did MUCH better on the hotel in Salzburg!!! It's hard trying to figure out where to stay and what the hotels are like over here. It's usually all done online and in another language to it's not really clear what you're getting. You can't always tell by price either. One night at the hotel in Salburg for 2 huge rooms (our aupair had her own room and all 5 of us fit in 1!) cost the same night at one room with 6 bunk beds in Vienna. You just never know what you're going to get. The boys loved the jacuzzi tub with color changing lights, the free breakfast was all organic and really good, and we had a swimming pool to ourselves during our stay. Daddy did good! :)

Other highlights of Salzburg... our hotel was in a great location. A short 10-15 minute walk and we were downtown. There just so happened to be a fest going on the day we were there so that was lots of fun! We also toured the Hohensalzburg Fortress. It has a very interesting history and the boys loved seeing the torture chamber and dungeon, and walking through the catacombs and cemetery. It was interesting to learn about how salt allowed these people to survive from ever being seiged since it preserved their food for so long. Jeremy and I enjoyed an interesting and hilarious dinner at a very locals-only type "restaurant". It is in an old Monestary and wasn't exactly like any restuarant that I've ever been too. We sat at the same table with some Austrian men and had so much fun talking with them for hours. By the end of the night we were all friends!

Last stop: Hallstat and the Salzkammergut Lakes

Oh. My. Gosh. That is all I can say about this place. This was an unexpected "side trip" that we decided to do at the last minute. It is just 45 minutes outside of Salzburg and we read about the salt mine tour here so that was the reason we made the drive. However, after getting there we found out that Whitney couldn't go (only 4 and up) and the tour was a minimum of 4 hours and we still had to drive home. It was ok though - this was my absolute favorite part of our entire trip! This is what I think of when I think of Austria and the Alps (vs. big cities), it was more "sound of music"-ish. We had to pull over several times along the way because the drive was so breathtaking. I was worried we would actually get into an accident! The history for this area dates back 4500 years ago! We drove through the Alps and past many charming villages and lakes until we reached Hallstat. We had a quick lunch and shopped for some souvenirs and then it was time to head back home.

I have to say that I think we really lucked out with the weather. It was beautiful, perfect weather every single day. Blue skies and sunny but a nice, cool breeze. I think it was in the upper 60's the whole time. This has to be the best time of year to visit Austria with the trees changing colors. It was just so unreal how beautiful everything was. I really had to hold myself back from taking too many pictures and not posting ALL Of them! Of course, you can never truly capture the beauty with the camera anyway... I know I will never forget it though!