We took Mom and Danette to Mamma Mia! Since Dan needed the car, I took Mom and Danette on public transportation down to the theater. I promised Danette we wouldn't be rushed and would have plenty of time, but as we were walking to our first bus stop, the bus was going to beat us. We ran for the bus, and since I stumbled through my German, asking for 3 tickets, I bought enough time for Danette to catch up. We made our first bus! From there, the trip worked like clockwork, and we arrived to the theater in plenty of time. I think that Mom and Danette are firm believers in public transportation now. We walked right on to the subway, and then right on to the tram. Once at our last stop, we only had a 2 1/2 block walk. It was much easier than parking and walking. The play was very good. We loved the music (although it was all in German). They did have subtitles, but when you read the subtitles, sometimes you miss a lot of the action and certainly subtle facial features and gestures in the performance. But, it was a fun play with a ton of energy. It is not an intense play, and you don't get goosebumps from amazing scenes, but you leave feeling energized and like you have just been to a really fun party!
The next day, we packed up our car and headed for the hills, (literally). We drove out through the Austrian Alps. We stopped at Hallstadt. The last time we were there, it was raining and we only got out of the car to take a picture. This time, we got to stroll along the fun town, rain-free. Dan wished that we were staying there for the night. It is a beautiful little village, with quaint little shops.
We went to the Bein Haus (bone house). Since real estate is limited in Hallstadt (due to the lake and also the mountains), the cemetery is very small. They decided to dig up previous deceased--don't worry, there were rules for the grave digging. They had to have been buried for at least 10-15 years. Then they were fair game. They dig them up, set them out in the sun to bleach their bones, and then they take the skulls and paint them (kind of like leaving flowers on the grave, they left artwork on their skulls). Some of the designs are very intricate. They neatly stack the skulls and what looks like leg bones, in the bone house. Now a days, in order to get your bones in the bone house, you have to specifically ask permission (presumably before you die). I think the last person to be placed in there was in 1995 (died 1983). They say that since cremation is an option now (before, it was forbidden by the church), the need to dig up graves has been eradicated.
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| This is how the King gets treated |
After eating the "Austrian hot dog"-- the Bosna (a white colored hot dog cooked and served in a bun with curry sprinkled on it) and fries, we headed through the mountains to St. Wolfgang. This is the town that Mozart's mother was from. We strolled through this little village as well. The shops are so much fun. We ate our ice cream and wandered around, marveling at the quaint sights, beautiful churches, mountains, and lake. We saw one hotel that had a hot tub, lounge chairs, and a pool, built right into a dock on the lake. It would be fun to go back and stay there for a night or two. |
| Where's the Beef? |
After that, we headed into Salzburg. We got there later in the evening, just in time for dinner. We went to a traditional Austrian cuisine restaurant, which had the traditional Austrian customer service, as well. Dyllan ordered a hamburger. They brought her the large burger and plate of fries. Danette helped her to cut her burger to make it more manageable. To our surprise, there was no meat on the burger! We needed to let the waitress know, right away. We waited for her to come back to the table. We waited some more. We waited some more. Mom went wandering through the restaurant looking for her, but to no avail. Once I was finished with my meal, I decided to go looking again. But alas, I couldn't find her either. We finally got the attention of another waitress who then apologized and brought her a new plate with a burger with meat and new fries. She was eating that when the rest of us were eating our Salzburger Nockerl--the specialty dessert hailing from Salzburg--not our favorite, but certainly a must try when you are here. When our waitress returned, she apologized for the vegetarian burger and laughed with us, but that was it. There wasn't a discount on the meal, we didn't get to speak to the manager, and no coupons for return visits were handed out. We weren't upset, it is just interesting to note the differences in customer service between home and here.
The next morning, we split up. Danette and Mom went on a Sound of Music tour. It is a really fun thing to do, but we had just done it a year ago. We headed to the castle. This castle was very much like a lot of the other castles in the area. The view was spectacular. They did have a marionette museum in one of the areas of the castle. The kids got to try to work a marionette. It was fun for them. We took the funicular up to the top. The kids were grateful that they didn't have to walk the whole way. We wandered the streets of old town, stopping for frankfurters for lunch. We also picked up a Mozart Bretzel--a large soft pretzel with jam and dipped in chocolate. We enjoyed wandering until it was time to pick up Grandma and Auntie. We got in the car and headed to Fussen, Germany. We got to Fussen (via Munich) and it started to rain. The whole town was so quaint. It really is a fun place to see. Our hotel was right on the pedestrian zone, and it looked brand new. It was very nice, for a very reasonable price. It was called City Apart Hotel Fussen. We wandered the streets that evening. We stopped for dinner at an Italian place and had some excellent food. It was my favorite meal of the trip! The next day, we wandered around the cute little town more. It was fun to do the window shopping. That afternoon, we headed to the castles. We thought that with the rain, the lines to the castles would not be so bad. Since it was a Saturday, we were very wrong. The lines to get into a tour of the castle (Neuschwanstein), were about 30 minutes long and they were booking tours that started at 5:00pm that evening--and we got there at noon. We decided that we didn't need to see the inside of the castle that badly. Instead, we took the bus up to the bridge/lookout point. I figure that we must have been in a Brigadoon moment because from the bridge, this is what we saw:
Rumor has it, that this is what we were supposed to be seeing:
We continued down the path (in the pouring rain) to get to the castle. We did finally find it! We could walk along the castle grounds (there aren't very many grounds as this castle is on the top of a mountain and forested cliffs are on all sides). We took our pictures and bought our postcards, and then took the horse carriage back down the mountain to our car. We all loved the warmth from the fresh donuts that Grandma bought. Although it was really cool to see, we were all very grateful to get back to the warmth of the car. It rained almost the entire time we were there. The temperatures were just a few degrees above freezing, and they got snow that night. It was a change from the 70s weather we had been having up until then.
From there, we drove along beautiful scenic roads to Innsbruck. We stayed at a Gastehaus. It was fun to experience true Austria in a "guest house". The next day, we headed out to the Olympic ski jump facility. It was really cool to see. I didn't realize exactly how far the jumpers fall, how steep the hill is that they land on, and how little room they have to stop at the bottom. The arena is a huge u-shaped place. The athletes land on one side of the u and then have to stop before they reach the top of the other side of the u. No worries though, as there is a graveyard directly at the bottom of the mountain from the ski jump. If you go over, they just roll you over into the grave, I guess. Dane thought that he might like to try ski jumping--that is until he experienced first hand how high up you start. It was pretty scary for him. There was one woman there who got off the elevator and wouldn't peel her back from the wall by the door. She was stuck there, and wouldn't check out the view, even with coaxing from her family (it wasn't grandma, by the way). Although I'm not afraid of heights, I still don't think that it would be a sport for me. It's a long way to fall.
Then we were off to the Swarovski Crystal factory. This was not what we were expecting. Instead of learning about crystals, how they're made, how they're cut, etc., we saw a modern art display, using crystals. Some of it was very weird and off the wall to a non-artist like me, but I wouldn't say that it was a waste of time or money. It was interesting to see the way that crystals were used to create art. We got to see the largest jewelry crystal in the world, as well as the smallest. We spent some time at the playground as well. 
After that, we decided to head back to Vienna. As Dan didn't think it was necessary to get someone to come and feed the cats for just a weekend trip, we needed to get back to see if the cats had turned to skeletons while we were gone. The drive home was pretty but we were very excited to get back home. The vacation was a ton of fun, but not relaxing. I decided that I would rather stay at least 2 nights in one place, just so I don't have to pack up 6 people's belongings every day. We were glad we took the trip and would gladly visit some of the places again. Fussen was the unanimous favorite. If you get a chance to come see us, we highly recommend it!! (and just so you know, the cats had plenty of food and water when we returned.)
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