Vienna, Austria (With Grandma Shelley)

After our time in Salzburg, we headed via train to Vienna.  Vienna was recently voted the best city in the world to live (for expats, Geneva is #3).  It is a beautiful city.  Unfortunately we saw a lot of places where cameras are not allowed.
The first night we got there we went to the Haus der Musik on the recommendation of a friend.  It was great!  The kids loved it.  It was basically a museum about music but very hands on and kid friendly.  We even got James a baton so that he could lead music properly since he loves it so.
Here is me and Shelley the next morning in front of one of the old Hapsburg palaces (this one is in town).  Here we saw Sissy's private rooms (she was one of the Empresses who was a bit eccentric and who happened to be assassinated in Geneva).

After the palace tour we headed over to the Amory (for Brian) to see the Hapsburg crown jewels.  It was cool.  Lots of gold and jewels and precious things.

The kids were there, of course.

In the afternoon we headed to the country house.  This is called the Schonbrun Palace.  It is just outside Vienna (easily accessible by metro) and it is huge.

Johnny clearly cannot understand this sign.

We were waiting for our turn to come up to enter the palace and rocks were very entertaining.

As were flowers.

Gratuitous self pic.

More trespassing on the grass.

We further entertained ourselves with Brian throwing the boys into the air.

Clearly, they love it!

Even Johnny.

After we left the palace (no pics allowed). We wandered the grounds a bit (which are immense).

We got lost in a maze then headed back to Vienna.

The next day we saw the cathedral downtown and took a lift to the top of the bell tower much to James sheer joy.  He would live in a bell tower if he could.  He has told me on numerous occasions that he wants to live with in the "city" (as he calls a bell tower for who knows what reason).

The view.

An attempt at a family pic.  The roof of the cathedral is done in tiles to make a fun pattern.

Brian and Shelley with Johnny.

Afterward, we took a horse and buggy ride around the city to see some sights in a leisurely manner.  Grandma Shelley with James.

Again.

What is this picture trying to say?

How about this one?

A picture of all of us together in the buggy.

Shelley, me and the boys.

The second night Brian and Shelley went to see a chamber orchestra.  They enjoyed it very much.

Next stop on the trip?  Budapest, Hungary.

Saltzburg, Austria (with Grandma Shelley)

We "surprised" Grandma Shelley with a little trip to Austria and Hungary while she was here.  We started out in Saltzburg, Austria which is a beautiful place and where Mozart happens to be from.  It also happens to be where the movie "The Sound of Music" was filmed (and the real family was actually from there as well).  I must admit that I am a bit disappointed in our trip there but only because I chose the wrong things to do in our short time (another day would have helped but time was short).  We started out our day with a Sound of Music tour because I thought it would give us a good view of the surrounding area.  I was wrong.  I would NOT recommend this tour unless you are a die hard fan of the movie and even then I would not recommend it.  Still the scenery was beautiful but I would have loved another day to really explore some of the things that our kids might have liked  better (like the cool parks).
Here is Shelley standing in front of the house used in the movie.  Isn't it beautiful?  It is a part of a university now and you cannot get inside or even very close to it.

See how beautiful the weather was?

The gazebo used in the "I am 16 going on 17" scene of the movie.  The gazebo happens to be a long way away from the house that we previously saw.

Shelley with the gazebo.

Randomly, (and totally unrelated to the movie) we stopped at an alpine slide in the country. James loved this and so we did it twice much to the tour guides chagrin.  It was cool because in order to get to the top you sad on the sled and they hooked you up to a bungee cord that pulled you backwards up a steep slide to the top.

James wanted to go super fast and so I got to take him with me.  I was afraid I was going to eat a bug the whole time because there were a few bugs around.  We would have had a video if Shelley hadn't accidentally  not turned on the video camera until we were done with the ride.  On the bright side, we have about 6 minutes of random video swinging from her wrist after our ride (yep, she turned it on when she thought she was turning it off)  (could happen to anyone)!

We did take a bit of a ride through the country to stop at a little restaurant overlooking this beautiful view.  If I ever come here again I will definitely have a car.  There seems to be a lot to see if you have access to a car.  We didn't bring ours.

Shelley, Brian and the boys.

Self pic! (just to prove I was there).

Shelley in a church (gotta take some church pics).  There was an actual corpse (an old one) on display here but that picture was lost with a bunch of other pics when our external hard drive died in October.

James pretending to lead some music and generally enjoying being out of the tour van.

Another church ceiling.  I wish you could understand that this was all carved and not just painted.  Love the churches here.  The smell, the damp feeling, everything about them!

Me and  Bubba.

We ended our afternoon here with a stroll of the tiny old town but most of the pictures were destroyed so I don't have anything to show you.  Boo hoo!  Next stop?  Vienna, Austria.

Week by week 46

(May 9-15). This is going to seem like a huge post--and it is--but most of it is pictures. I promise not to be too wordy.
This week we decided to take advantage of a long weekend and headed up to Germany and Austria for a bit of sightseeing and family fun. We drove in the afternoon from Geneva to Reutte (Austria) and checked into our hotel. It was a beautiful drive and you would not have known that Johnny was in the car at all. James made himself heard many times.
The next morning we headed over to Bavaria in Germany to see Mad Kind Ludvig's castle! A.k.a Neuschwanstein castle. It was awesome. (This is the castle that Disney based Cinderella's castle on at Disney World). Here we are just jumping out of the car.
We decided to strap Johnny onto me because castle's are notoriously not stroller friendly. He did okay but it wasn't his favorite like when he was little.
When you visit the castle you are obligated to see both castles. King Ludvig's castle and his Daddy's castle (Hohenschwangau castle--say that 5 times fast). A family pic from Daddy's castle looking toward Ludvig's castle. You can just see it in the background peeking out of the clouds.
And then we entered the castle but since no one can take pictures in these cool places we are going to just cut to after we exited the castle. Yes, this is just after we exited the castle. Johnny was ready to be out of the sleepy wrap big time. He got out and was very happy about it.
Another view of Ludvig's castle from Daddy's castle.
Running down the trail on the way to Ludvig's castle. Did I mention that you have to hike to these castles? (Not a super horrible hike but enough to get your blood pumping if you are lugging kids and diapers and such).
A view from the bottom up at Daddy's castle.
Close up.
Then we took a bus up from the bottom to the very top to see Mary's Bridge. It is this crazy, tiny bridge spanning this super deep gorge but with an awesome view above Ludvig's castle. Self picture as we did not take the kids onto the bridge. We just took turns going out.
Ludvig's castle from Mary's bridge.
Again but you can get a better view of the surrounding area. Amazingly beautiful!!
Then we hiked down from Mary's bridge to Ludvig's castle for our tour. This is a view of Mary's bridge looking back up from Ludvig's castle. Unfortunately you cannot really understand how high it is until you are there. It is really high.
A view back to Daddy's castle from Ludvig's castle. He really had an awesome view!
The front of the castle with my boys.
Again with just me and Bubba. It is a pitty that the castle was never finished. Poor Ludvig only lived there for 100 days or so (perhaps a bit longer but it wasn't very long). The parts that were finished were amazing. I can't even describe it. He had a waterfall and a cave built in there. His bedroom took 14 woodcarvers 4 years to finish (or was it 4 woodcarvers and 14 years?). He also had running water in his bathroom (a big deal back then) and an awesome kitchen. This is a little excursion that I would highly recommend to anyone.
On our way out it started raining and the clouds started really rolling in. We were just in time! And both the boy's fell asleep on the way back to the hotel but transferred nicely to their beds.
As you can tell from the pictures, our hotel was freeeeezing!! Seriously. Fog on the windows in the morning and everything.
The town that we stayed in was full of painted buildings. All the buildings had elaborately painted facades. It was fun to walk around and see them all. This was the most "modern" facade that we saw.
Most of the buildings were pained more traditionally. Funny how they put the architectural details in with paint. So if you don't have these details yet you want them, well, just go ahead and paint them on!
The next day we headed out to Innsbruck, Austria (about an hour away) to do some nature walking/exploring with the kids. We took a lovely little walk with the kids to a "lake" (it was more of a pond).
We explored all around. James was very excited about all the sticks.
The pond.
Brian and James and Johnny found minnows in the water.
And they trapped a few in a tiny bottle (and let them go).
James trying to get the minnows. Good thing he wore his rain boots.Me and Johnny on the trail.
Then James decided that he was cold and wanted to go back. He learned that keeping his hands in his pockets helps.
Walking back out of the woods.
Our last morning we spent checking out Innsbruck. We went to the castle, took a horse and buggy ride and did some shopping. James got a toy.
He also got to climb to the top of this bell tower. He is currently obsessed with bell towers and believes that he lives in one with Jesus. (I'm pretty sure that he thinks they are all temples and that since the temple is Jesus' house that means he lives there with Jesus. Not shabby logic for a 2 year old).
View from the top.
Brian and the boys up top.
Just Brian and a happy little Johnny-Lu.
James on the way down. He insisted on jumping down the stairs and since we did a lot of stair climbing in the castles and hiking and such I was pretty tired. Also, trying to prevent a kid from jumping down tiny stairs to his death is really hard on your shoulders.
At the bottom.
A mosaic facade that we passed on the horse ride. It was really cool. This facade is entirely made with mosaic tiles! I have made some mosaics and this would be an enormous amount of work.
Me with Johnny in the buggy.
After this we drove home. Johnny again was an angel and James a bit of a devil at times but we made it and it was an awesome trip even if it was short.