Living like the Locals-Woche 16

We finally got to sing to Dan for his birthday.  Since there are no Dairy Queens here for his traditional ice cream cake, he asked, instead, for a chocolate pie.  Saturday we were too chocolated out from Zotters to eat the pie.  So Sunday, we finally sang to Dan.  It wasn't such a bad deal for him.  He got to spend his birthday in Salzburg, open presents the next day, and then eat pie a week later.  The party just kept going!!  It was hectic week again, for Dan.  He's trying to keep up and catch up with everything going on at work.  It doesn't ever pan out though because he spends 80% of his time in meetings trying to solve all the problems of the company, but never gets any time to actually work.

The week started out great.  Of course, there was a holiday.  I don't know what day we were celebrating, but we decided to have a BBQ at our house anyway.  We invited three families over.  We didn't have enough groceries to feed three families, but no big deal, we would just go on Monday morning to pick up some more stuff.  Boy were we wrong.  We drove all over town and could not find a single grocery store open.  I thought we were doomed.  I did have some meat in the freezer, but I only had 1 small bag of potato chips, and no fruits or vegetables.  My snack cupboard was empty and even my chocolate stash was gone.  We really had no food.  Luckily, one family had to cancel and although we were sad they couldn't come, we were relieved that there were only two families who would go hungry at our BBQ.  The only signs of life in the whole town were a few bakeries.  We stopped to drown our sorrows in krapfens (Austrian doughnuts).  We ended up buying several items, hoping to cheer ourselves up.  It was fun to come home and try all our finds.  The BBQ ended up working out just fine.  Dan found some potatoes and made a German potato salad.  I found a box of powdered sugar hidden in the drawer, and I was able to make another chocolate pie.  Our guests ended up bringing stuff to add to the meal, and we ended up with a feast.

We recommitted to an exercise and diet program, starting after the holiday.  Insanity every morning really wakes you up.  Staying on the diet has been okay--first week down.  Finding foods that are diet foods is a little harder here.  It takes some time to figure out where to purchase low fat cheeses, and where to find lower fat cuts of meat.  When we first got here, we were just excited to find anything we recognized.  It didn't matter how many calories it contained.  The diet craze seems to be only a thing in the U.S.  Finding protein powder or meal replacement shakes or bars is very difficult here.  There are a lot of fruits and vegetables, but they do not keep very long.  It seems that a container of strawberries or tomatoes can go bad the day after you buy it.  I guess that is why people seem to shop everyday.  Not only are the refrigerators small, but the food doesn't last as long either.

It is now Spargel season.  It this the time of year when asparagus is ready and abundant.  It is almost celebrated, as the Austrians and Germans buy the asparagus and serve it in all kinds of ways for every meal.  The local delicacy is weiss spargel (white asparagus).  I think that they grow it under some sort of cover, where it doesn't get to see the sun, thus the chlorophyll can't turn it green, or something like that.  It is a specialty, but it actually contains fewer nutrients than the regular green.  This year, because of the crazy weather, the crop season is small and short.  I bought a bundle of asparagus from a local farmer and paid 5 Euros for a half kilo.  At that price, we're not buying tons and certainly not serving it at every meal.  Hopefully next year, we'll be able to enjoy Spargel season to its fullest extent. 

All the kids were in their Spring concerts this week.  They put the concerts on during the day, so Dan was not able to attend.  Dyllan needed to be wearing a white shirt and black pants or skirt.  No problem, I thought.  I went down to the store to purchase them.  Unfortunately, they didn't have anything black because it is Spring.  So, I went to a few more stores--without any luck.  Dan got home from work, and he drove us to 6 more stores, all of which did not have anything black in Dyllan's size.  Sometimes, I miss not knowing where to go shopping even.  Finally I called a friend and she suggested a store.  It was close to Dan's work, so I had him stop by on his way home the next day.  He found a cute black skirt and white shirt without any problems at all.  The good news is, now I know where to go shopping for clothes!

At the concert, Dyllan played her cello and sang some songs.  Deagan got to sing a few songs with his class as well.  They both did a great job.  Their music teacher is a really fun lady who does a great job with all the kids--even the pre-kindergartners.  Dane played recorder in his concert and sang some songs as well.  I was unable to attend his concert, as I had an appointment to meet the pool guy to set up the pool for the season.  Since so many people are unable to attend the concerts during the day, there is a high demand to record them and sell them on DVD.  I was sad to have missed Dane's concert, as was Dan, to have missed all of them, so I think I will be buying the copy.

So, the pool is cleaned, filled, and turned on!!  It is sparkling and very inviting!  The only trouble is that the weather turned this week and it is cold.  The higher hills got some snow in the past couple of days.  We didn't get snow here, but it is certainly too cold and windy to swim, or at least, I thought it was.  The kids couldn't withstand the beckoning pool.  They begged for us to go swim in it to try it out.  I finally let them get in, telling them that it would be cold.  They all decided to see for themselves.  Deagan jumped in and swam about 4 strokes and clung to the side and got out.  Dyllan took about 15 minutes getting in the pool, and only swam about one foot farther than Deagan, just to say she had done more than him.  Dane didn't bother even getting his swimming suit on.  He hiked up his pants, and only went in to his knees.  That was enough for him.  Deagan, however, when he discovered that Dyllan had gone further than him, was distressed enough to jump in, swim farther than Dyllan, get out to warm up, then jumped in again to swim just a couple of feet more, just to seal the deal that he won.

Both Dane and Dyllan were invited to birthday parties on Saturday.  It is unusual for a party to be on a Saturday instead of Sunday anymore, so we try to support the ones who keep their parties off the Sabbath.  We took the kids to the store to buy the birthday presents.  Then we were off to Dane's party.  The traffic was horrible on a Saturday, and it took us about an hour to get him there.  By the time we arrived, it was time to leave to get Dyllan to her party.  It was, of course, on the other side of town.  We drove over to her party.  Her party was only 2 hours, so we didn't think that it would be worth the 30 minute drive home to have to come all the way back out to get her.  So, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were two kids down for a couple of hours--shopping, here we come!!.  We had already parked in a garage, so it made more sense to walk to a store.  I looked for the closest store on my phone, and we headed that direction.  We walked and walked and walked.  It seemed longer than it was, because it was chilly and windy outside.  We were not finding the stores we were looking for.  Finally, after about a half hour of walking, we finally got to the mall.  There happened to be a McDonald's there.  Deagan noticed it right away.  He asked if we could cross the street at the intersection.  Dan said that it would be okay to cross.  Deagan said with a very excited voice, "Since we're here, can we stop at the McDonald's?"  Dan said, "Well, maybe".  Deagan, trying his best to sound convincing said, "but Dad, McDonalds is cheaper today."  Dan asked him what would make them cheaper today, a normal Saturday?  Then Deagan said, "We don't have Dane and Dyllan with us so we don't have to pay for them!"  After that clear display of clever smarts, we couldn't help but buy him lunch.  After the lunch stop though, it was time to head back to pick up Dyllan.  We never made it to any stores.  We did pass a KFC on the way.  Good to know that there's one in Vienna, just in case.  And as you might guess, after picking up Dyllan, it was time to head back over to get Dane.  We spent just about all day in the car on Saturday.  It was still fun to hang out and to see parts of Vienna that we hadn't explored yet.

That night everyone was sugared out and tired.  We settled in for a movie night.  You wouldn't guess what the kids wanted to watch.  First on their list was The Sound of Music.  It made me smile to realize that maybe somehow through all this, our kids are learning something and will remember this experience for the rest of their lives.

Forget Willy Wonka, We Found the Golden Ticket at Zotters-Woche 15

Another fun packed week.  Dan worked tons of hours again and had two dinner appointments, so the kids and I spent time hanging out.  Both Dyllan and Deagan had field trips this week.  You can tell that the school year is winding down.  Dyllan got to see Hundertwasser's house and museum.  They went to a park for a picnic lunch afterwards.  Danyon and I met her at the park and picnicked with them.  Then they got to play at a playground for an hour and a half.  Deagan got to go to a farm where he made himself right at home and tromped through the camel poo.  He saw weird looking sheep, chickens, bunnies, camels, horses, and the farmer.  It was a little stressful in the morning before he left because he needed to bring a lunch and after searching the kitchen over, we couldn't find his lunchbox.  Then we remembered that it got thrown away with the backpack last week.

Dyllan had her first friend over to the house on Friday.  Her friend is Chiara.  She has lived in Russia and here, and speaks German and English very well.  They seemed to be having a great time playing as Dan and I were working out in the yard.  We are proud to say that after 1 1/2 weeks of mowing the lawn, it is finally complete.  No, our lawn is not that big.  Our neighbor thought it would be a great idea to get a robotic lawn mower that would do all the work automatically.  He ordered one, but it took a few days to get here.  When it finally arrived, he discovered that he did not have all the parts (he was missing the ones that allowed you to program the boundaries of the yard into the mower.)  He charged it up anyway and set it loose on the yard.  The lawn was so long, that the mower was struggling a bit to cut through it.  It was able to cut a few places here and there, with no rhyme or reason to where it was cutting.  After a few minutes, it needed to be charged again.  He did this process three times, and ran out of time.  It left our lawn looking like a bad hair cut gone worse.  The next day, he tried again.  More of the lawn was cut, but still not looking good.  A neighbor came over to feed the cats while we were gone, and she sent me a text asking what had happened to our poor lawn!  When we came back from our trip, more was mowed, but now the grass that was mowed first started to grow again so we had several different lengths going all over the lawn.  After another week of trying to get it mowed (even enlisted my help to charge and set the mower free whenever I got the chance during the day), the neighbor bought a hand mower and finished it up.  We bought a weed whacker and finished up the edges.  Now it looks great!  We just need to get the mower started again so that we can keep it under control!

Saturday we had a fabulous day!  As part of Dan's birthday, we had reservations to go to the Zotter Schokolade Factory.  It is a two hour drive south of Vienna.  We didn't want to waste any time, so we signed up for the 9:00am time slot.  We dragged the kids out of bed early that morning to be sure to get there on time.  The tour started out with a video explaining where the cocoa beans come from and the kinds of ingredients that they use.  The video was all in German and the kids kind of got alarmed when they showed a very close up shot of a cow pooing.  They weren't sure how that would make good chocolate.  Dan and I were able to understand part of the video and we reassured the kids that they used the poop for fertilizer, (at least that's what we told them).  After the 15 minute video we picked up an audio guide in English.  And with our kissing spoons in hand (a kissing spoon is a kind of spoon that you would find at the Chinese Restaurant), we turned on the guide and went to the first room.  They had several containers of different cocoa beans from different locations like Nicaragua or India.  You could taste any or all of them.  I tasted three, and was amazed that there really was a huge difference in the flavor of the cocoa bean, depending on where it came from (probably different animal fertilizers!)  Next we went up the stairs, where we could see all kinds of machinery to separate the cocoa beans from rocks, debris and other things.  They also had roasters and other types of blah, blah, blah.  We were distracted by the chocolate fountain running in the center of the room.  We approached the fountain with our spoons and took a taste.  The kids all but spit theirs out.  They were wiping their spoons off with napkins as quickly as they could.  This was pure cocoa bean with nothing else added.  They had only liquefied it.  It was bitter, not at all sweet, and very strong.  I had one little drop, and the flavor completely filled my mouth and was not very pleasant.  Next we walked down a corridor that had little samples of different cocoa powders.  They started with almost nothing added to decreased cocoa amounts with different percentages of milk, sugars, and fats.  The last one in the corridor was white and very sweet.  Next we went down the stairs to what they call the filling station.  In this room, they had 15 different chocolate fountains with different percentages of cocoa.  They started at 90 percent and went down to milk chocolates of varying percents, to white chocolate.  Then they added things like caramel, soy milk, or coffee to the chocolates.  You went down the line of fountains and could try as many or all of them as you wanted, using your kissing spoon.



In the middle of the tour, we sat on a bench outside listening to the audio guide.  When who should come waltzing out of the door?  It was none other than Mr. Josef Zotter, himself.  His business has been so successful, without much, if any, advertising, that they use his business model as a case study at Harvard Business School.  He stopped to visit with us and to talk to Danyon.  He was polite enough to let us grab a snapshot with him.  It was cool to meet him.  I think that if I were the owner of such a business, I would probably weigh in about 150lbs more than he does.

We each went back for seconds of our favorite

A toast:  To savoring each bite!

The next room we pretended to listen to more of the guide, but again were distracted by all the containers in front of us.  In this room, they explained different additives that they used in their chocolate; Things like coriander, cardamon, cumin, cinnamon, mint, anise, vanilla, chilies, etc.  We could not eat these, only smell them.  We thought we hit the jackpot at the next area.  There was another long corridor with little slot handles along one side.  If you pulled the slot handle, it sliced a quarter inch piece off the end of a chocolate bar.  They had several kinds of chocolate bars in here to try.  My favorite was the strawberry bar.  Dan's was the Raspberry.  There were other fruit flavors like chocolate banana or chocolate pineapple.  There were white chocolates, caramel chocolates, dark and milk chocolates, etc.  Moving up the stairs, you could pull more slots that had what they called chocolate lollies in them.  They say these are for kids, but Dan and I didn't have any trouble trying them all on our way up the stairs.  At the top of the stairs we found another huge room, with little cable cars carrying chocolate bars on conveyor belts all around the room.  These were the Mitzi chocolates.  These are chocolate disks that you put into hot milk and melt so that you can drink your chocolate.  There were several samples of the Mitzis in both chocolate form or already pre-mixed with milk.  You could try all the flavors.  They even had a game where each Mitzi flavor was numbered and you rolled two dice to see what flavor you came up with.  The truly indulgent part of this room was that you went to the bar and picked up your glass of foamy, hot milk.  You picked a bar of chocolate from the cable car conveyor belt and you dropped it into your glass.  Wait a few minutes, stir, and enjoy!  There are several creative flavors to choose from--some have chilies in them and are spicy, Dan's had squash in it, and it was surprisingly very good.  I went for the more traditional Caramel Cashew and I wasn't disappointed either.

From that room, we went to a hallway that had several of the nougat chocolate bars in sample sizes on a Ferris wheel conveyor belt.  The nougat chocolates have a soft centered middle.  I wish I could tell you in more technical terms, but all of us had abandoned the audio guide all together, and were just focusing on sampling.  After all, we hadn't eaten breakfast!  From that room, we went into another corridor that had several copper kettles lining both sides.  In the kettles were little candy pieces about the size of a chocolate covered raisin.  These came in a huge variety of flavors and had nuts or fruits in them, or just about anything. 

The final room, was a hallway that had another conveyor belt of alot of the different kinds of chocolate bars they made.  You took your miniature, wooden fork and went to town trying to try as many of them as you could.  Eventually, we could all say that we had had our fill of chocolate and we felt guilty for staying there so long, so we continued on to the gift shop, where despite our full bellies, we still bought chocolate like crazy!

Waiting patiently, or not, for lunch

 After the factory, we toured the rest of the grounds.  They have a small farm/zoo there.  Everything is organic (including all processes of the chocolate manufacture).  There is a restaurant that you can eat at that serves only the food grown on the property.  All meat is slaughtered and processed at the farm.  All cheeses are made and aged there as well.  Every spice used was grown on-site.  The food was alright, but I've discovered that maybe I don't mind the taste of pesticides.

My Knights in Shining Armor

The Dining Room

Perfect Well for Wishing

Before heading home, we decided to stop at a castle in the area.  We hiked up the long trail to the top of the mountain.  (It was actually once a volcano).  The castle grounds were cool to walk around.  You really felt like you were experiencing a part of history.  It is still surreal to me that people really did live in castles and although fairy tales and television might not be entirely historical, it is still pretty cool to think about.  Looking out over all the kingdom, from the castle, to the woods, to the vineyards, and small villages, you could really see how the Brothers Grimm could come up with some pretty neat stories.  This particular castle was on the borders of the land, so it was primarily just a protective fortification, with military Lords living in it.  There were a lot of witch trials in the area--most of which the offenses were for causing hail and thunderstorms.  They must've had a lot of storms come through because a lot of people died for causing them, particularly red heads.  One of the more famous trials in the area was a woman who was charged of making a pact with the devil because she had flowers blooming in her yard in the middle of winter.  She was tortured and killed for it, even though she never confessed.  The dining room and ballroom in the castle had beautiful in-laid wood.  Dan was in heaven looking at it all.  Although they didn't happen often in this castle, the feasts were apparently something else.  One menu was a 14 course meal.  The well in the middle of the castle seemed to be straight from a fairy tale.  It was cool to see.

The drive home was nothing short of spectacular.  We drove through gorgeous forests (I'm sure a lot like Sherwood), by several farms, and through some very small villages.  I hope that I never take for granted the fact that we drive through beautiful places that you only see in movies, all the time.  It was a very fun day.  We got home just in time for dinner.  When the kids saw that no chocolate was on the menu, they all had fits.  We almost had to get the oompa loompas to get them back in line!

We Sang in the Hills, (just to make sure they were still alive)-Woche 14

This week brought some interesting and exciting events!  It all started when I received a phone call from the school.  Getting a call from the school during the day is never a good sign.  Of course, as I (and anyone who knows him) would guess, it was concerning Deagan.  Apparently, there was a horrible smell wafting in the classroom.  The teacher could not figure it out.  Finally, after much sniffing, it was discovered that the smell was coming from a certain backpack.  The teacher located it and cautiously had a look inside.  She found yogurt had exploded in the backpack (possibly a week before) and was molding everywhere.  There were also the remains of what she thinks was a sandwich in a baggie, but it was hard to tell, as it had liquified.  What's more, the whole thing was crawling with ants!  She was not calling me to tell me that I am a horrible mother, but to ask permission to throw the backpack away, as it was beyond cleaning--way beyond.  Obviously, I was embarrassed and the only thing I could do was to laugh and apologize profusely.  The teacher kept telling me it was okay, that things like this happen (although I have a feeling that this experience went down in her journal as a first).  My embarrassment was only worsened when my mind remembered back to an afternoon when Deagan had told me about a yogurt exploding in his backpack, but I was in the middle of fixing dinner and completely forgot about it.  Dan suggested blaming the whole thing on the teacher, saying that if she would assign homework every night, then there might be a possibility that I would look in the backpack more regularly.  It made me mad that it proved the Austrians right:  I really do have more children than I can keep track of.

Salzburg and the Salzach River

Things got much better that day.  At the store, I found a new chocolate candy:  Daim.  You can find it at the IKEA, but I'm not sure what other stores carry it, if any.  These are like Skor bars in little, bite-size pieces.  The only problem is, you want more than a bite or two.

St. Wolfgangsee

Monday evening, we were out enjoying the beautiful weather.  We had some friends over and we were having a BBQ.  We found some fondue chocolate to melt on the grill (at the Hofer, which is Aldi, in Indiana), and I would recommend roasted marshmallows, dipped in white chocolate, and strawberries dipped in milk chocolate.  We sat relaxing on the patio, visiting, when we heard music floating into the yard.  There is a couple that plays accordian and sings at the Heurigen next door.  (Since the weather is nice, the dining has moved to the patio for them as well.)  We sat listening to "Edelweiss" and thought we couldn't possibly get a more authentic Austrian experience.

St. Wolfgang

Since the kids had Thursday and Friday off, we decided to go over to Salzburg and check out that part of the country.  We got a later start than we had planned, and there was a little tension over the fact that I was relying on Dan, GPS and road signs to get us where we wanted to go, but without addresses or maps, it proved to be stressful.  We eventually found the right road, and we were in beautiful mountains with lakes and quaint Austrian villages, chalets, and cabins.  After a few hours of driving, we stopped at a village called St. Wolfgang on the Wolfgangsee.  It was a beautiful village, so we stopped for lunch.  We bought food from the Wurstel stand and we ate our lunch by the lake.  Dane accidentally dropped some bread, so we had some fun feeding the swans the dirty bread.  And yes, you can count them, there were seven swans a swimming.  We took that as a sign that someone's true love lived here.

The view from our room

The kids enjoyed the chess

Next we drove through more mountains and got to our hotel.  We absolutely loved our hotel and our room.  We had enough space and beds for all of us.  Breakfast was included every morning and we could find fruit, yogurt, breads, cold cuts, cheese, eggs, cereal, and hot chocolate.  We were staying about 10 minutes outside of Salzburg and we were glad that we did.  It was a beautiful location with a view of a field, church, and mountains from our room.  That night we took it easy and went to dinner at a local Gasthaus and had traditional Austrian food.  Dan and I shared a platter that had just about everything on it:  schnitzel, pork chop, pork filet, beef medalion, hot dog, veggies, and fries.  It of course, was preceded by a salat and German potato salad.  It was good.  The weather was nice, we ate outside, and the kids had a playground that they could play on while we finished up our rather large meal.  Dan also tried the garlic soup.  It is a cream based soup that was very tastey--I was worried that his breath might ruin our anniversary kisses the next day, but I ended up just eating some of it too.  We found the people in Salzburg to be very pleasant and kid friendly.  They seemed to be more patient with tourists and were generally very nice--different from what we have come to expect from the Viennese.

The Dom in Salzburg

The next morning was rainy.  We decided to do the area from top to bottom, literally.  We drove to the largest ice cave in the world.  We had to drive up the mountain 5 km.  Then we bought tickets for the tour, and had another twenty minute hike up the mountain.  We got to the air tram.  We got on, and quite frankly, were a little nervous.  We went straight up the mountain over sheer rock cliffs.  There were several of us in the little car and it swayed when it got to the middle.  I have to say that I am not one who is usually afraid of heights, but that ride kind of got to all of us.  Some people in the car refused to open their eyes the entire ride.

Looking up the trail

Looking over the edge

At the top, we discovered that we were not at the top.  We had another 20 minute hike of switch backs further up the mountain to get to the cave opening.  The trail was straight up on one side and straight down on the other.  The only thing keeping the children from falling to their deaths was a little 2 bar railing that they could have easily slipped under if they fell on the shale.  Once we got to the cave, we waited just a few minutes to catch the English speaking tour.  I was handed an oil lamp with a real open flame and was told not to catch anyone on fire.  About every 4th person had a lamp.  This was our means of seeing in the cave as there was no electricity inside.

 Our journey through the cave was cool--in all respects of the word.  We climbed 1,400 stairs through ice formations.  The guide would light magnesium at the big structures so that we could see the formations.  No pictures were allowed in the cave (I think to avoid blinding people with flashes).  Then we had another 1,400 stairs to get back out of the cave.  Dan was carrying Danyon and I was grateful.  Some of the stairs had iced over and some of the railings had 3 or more inches of ice on them.  The tour lasted for about an hour, and that was all that we could handle in the cold.  It was really neat and the highlight of the trip for Dan and Dyllan. 

Werfen

The valley of Werfen

After being on top of the world, we headed down, down, down and into a salt mine.  Salzburg gets its name from the "white gold" and they still mine tons of salt in the area.  We headed to a salt mine in Berchtesgaden, Germany.  It is Austrian law not to permit children under the age of 4 in any salt mine, but in Germany they don't have that law.  It was okay, we didn't mind driving through the Bavarian mountains to get there.  We picniced in the car on the way there because it was still raining.

At the salt mine, we suited up (after Dane helped to translate what the lady at the counter was saying to us) in mining clothes.  We boarded a small train.  It was more of a bench that you straddled, that was set on a track.  We went into the mountain about 650 m through a passage way that was no more than 36" wide and 60" tall.  Definitely not a half mile for the claustrophobic.  We learned all about how they mine for salt.  They use water and dissolve the salt over a period of time.  Then they pump out the brine and dehydrate it to get the salt.  They have all kinds of salt in the gift shop;  Different flavors, different bath salts, and all kinds of salt lamps--good for healing.  We got to go on a boat ride across one of the caverns that they had mined.  We got to taste some of the brine that they were pumping out.  It was knock your socks off salty.  But, the highlight of the salt mines was the slide that we got to use.  The miners slide down the mine on wooden slides.  Dyllan was a little nervous at first because it was a steep and long way down.  When no one would join her going down the stairs, she conceded to go down the slide with us.  Deagan loved every minute of it and wanted to go several times.  He didn't care about the salt, "just give me more slides".  By the second slide, everyone was excited to go.

We hurried back to Salzburg and got there just in time for the evening performance of the Sound of Music at the marrionette theater.  It was a shortened performance, only lasting 2 hours with the intermission.  The kids really liked it.  I thought it was really cool to see what they could do with a marrionette.  I don't know what Pinocchio was complaining about.  The theater was very neat.  The stage up front looked like a real stage complete with intricate sets.  There were two live people in the performance:  Mother Superior and a pair of legs that walked by at the end during the search for the Von Trapp family, representing the Nazi army.  Both looked huge compared to the marionettes and Dyllan asked, "Where did they find the giants to play those two parts?"  It was really nicely done and it was really cool to see the Sound of Music, right where it originated.  Luckily, it was in English (as all plays and operas done at the marionette theater are done in their original languages.)

We returned to our hotel that night completely worn out and ready to fall into bed.  We didn't even have time to eat dinner and by the time the play ended, most things were closed for the evening.  We finally got to our hotel room, and I felt like I was "Sixteen going on Seventeen", as I found flowers from Dan for our 16th anniversary.  We hadn't had any time to even think about it all day, but he still remembered.  The kids snacked on our leftovers from the night before, and were all out before 10 minutes had passed.

Back of house

Front of house

Do-Re-Mi was filmed here in Mirabell Gardens

You can never have too much of "My Favorite Things", so Saturday we got up early and went on a guided "Sound of Music" Tour.  The really fun part about this tour is that it is on bicycles.  Everyone picked out a bike.  Deagan got a tandem to ride with Dan, and I got stuck carrying a trailer and it had chubby Danyon in it, to boot.  It was still raining, so things were still very damp, but by the time we started our ride, most of the sprinkling had stopped.  We rode all around Salzburg, stopping at any site that they used in the movie.  The major ones were the vonTrapp houses (they used 2 in the movie--one for the front and one for the back), the gazebo, the abbey, and several fountains, archways, and different architectural buildings, gardens, and paths.  Amazingly, they only spent 2 weeks in Salzburg filming.  The rest they had reconstructed on sets in the US and overall, it took a year to film it.  During the ride, we had one very large hill to climb.  I think they plan it that way as we were motivated by the song, "Climb Every Mountain", Dan was one of 2 in the group to actually make it all the way up the hill without getting off to push the bike.  Of course, I could have done it too, were it not for the extra 50 lbs. pulling me back down the hill. 

I have Confidence

We loved the ride and we got to see so much more of Salzburg then you ever would on a bus tour, or even on your own with a car.  It was wonderful.  It was only about 3/4 of the way through the tour that we discovered that none of our children had actually seen the movie.  They had been singing along to all the songs and having just as much fun as everyone else, but they had no idea what they were actually looking at. 

Where's Maria?

The Abbey

There was one part of the tour where 2 girls in our group got lost.  We ended up waiting for them and losing a good 30 minutes.  Because of this, our tour guide sped through the pathways trying to make up for lost time.  This was fine, for a second or two, when I realized that going through mud is much harder than going on pavement.  My legs were burning trying to pull my bike and the trailer through the sludge of mud.  Dan's little helper wasn't too bothered by it.  He was singing "Do-re-mi-fa-so bleh (spit) cough".  Dan turned around to see what was the matter.  He discovered that his bike didn't have a mud guard on it and poor Deagan behind was getting absolutely pelted with mud.  He was pretty covered, but he was a good sport about it.  Danyon's bike trailer could have been used as camouflage as well, it was so covered with mud.  In fact, some drunk Czech's on a tour met us at a corner and just howled at how funny it was that the trailer was so covered in mud.  Danyon was still happily inside, although he did start to complain slightly when he couldn't see out the windows anymore. 

The cemetary

We are under the red umbrellas

Christmas Shop

We were really proud of all the children as they all made it on the ride (we figure it was 8-10 miles of riding).  Dane and Dyllan especially loved it and would like to do bike tours in other cities as well.  But after that trip, we needed to head back to the hotel to clean up and dry off.  That afternoon, we just waltzed around the city.  We did some window shopping in a Christmas store, we found the ghost of Mozart, we ate a famous Furst Mozart Chocolate Ball, we tasted the famous Salzburger Knockle, and we found a brass festival in the downtown.  It was still raining, so not many people were listening to the bands, but it was neat to see them all dressed in their traditional Austrian attire.  Dan has decided that he does want to own a pair of Lederhosen (although I don't know if he's going to get it.  The ones he liked were 600 Euros, just for the pants.)  He might have to settle for a shorter pair of pants and longer socks.  That night we ate dinner at our hotel.  I have to brag a little bit, because usually when Dan and I order, he picks better than I do, and I am usually slightly disappointed in my meal because his is so much better.  Well, this time, I really blew him out of the water.  I had a white asparagus in a hollandaise sauce drenched in bacon, with potatoes cut in half and deep fried.  The mixture of all the flavors was so perfect.  Dan actually turned a shade of green with envy for my meal.  Oh yes, it was that good.  Had he not needed to be back at work on Monday, he would have stayed an extra night, just to order that same dinner.

Salzberger Knockle

I'll just help myself

The next day, we took it a little slower.  We drove to the Stille Nacht Platz.  It is in a little town outside of Salzburg, where "Silent Night" was composed and performed for the first time.  The actual church is no longer standing, but they have a memorial Kapelle there to commemerate the most well known Christmas carol.  We got to listen to the recording of "Silent Night" in German, the way it was done the first time it was performed.  It was very cool.  After that, we went back to Salzburg to Schloss Hellbrun and walked around the trick fountains and gardens there. (These were also used in the Sound of Music, by the way).  It is amazing how much extra money these archbishops had to use.  The entire site was only built as a summer vacation place, but there are no bedrooms in the building.  It was only built to entertain dinner guests and to get out of the hot sun for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  The grounds are amazing and they even had their own private zoo, filled with all sorts of exotic and unusual animals.  While we were leaving the water gardens, it started to pour rain again, so we packed up and headed for home.

Roman Theater in Trick Fountains

We managed to get through it pretty dry

We took the long road home as we wanted to stop at Hallstatt.  It is considered to be one of the prettiest villages in the mountain and lake district.  By the time we got there, the rain had really settled in and we didn't get a chance to do the things we would have liked to have done.  The view was good, but not quite as spectacular as it could have been, without the rain clouds covering the mountains.  It was still beautiful, don't get me wrong, it was just a long drive to not get to get out of the car and spend some time there.  We did stop at a Wurstel stand and we tried a local favorite, the Bosna.  It was a bratworst on a toasted baguette with onions, ketchup, mustard, and curry seasoning.  We ate in the car and continued our journey home.  By the time we got there, it was almost bed time for the kids.  We were totally exhausted by our wonderful trip.  We sent the kids to bed as they sang, "So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye".