97 Days, 12 Countries, 1 Kangoo

We last left you in Prague where the architecture was beautiful, the city very popular with the tourists, and the weather unpredictable. Last Saturday we took off early in the morning to drive 4 hours through the Czech and Austrian countryside to meet our parents (Linda, Bill, and Debi) in St. Johann im Pongau. We were greeted with a snow storm soon after we got on the road, and little did we know that the colder weather was here to stay.

Our parents had flown into Munich and rented a car to meet us at the resort in St. Johann. The town of St. Johann is a typical Alpine ski resort area – huge snow capped mountains surrounding you, shops filled with ski gear, and tons of bars and restaurants to warm up with a drink or good Austrian meal.

We all made it to St. Johann and after an early meal of schnitzel and beer we left our parents to rest from their jet lag.

Sunday we all piled into the Kangoo with Chris at the wheel and set out to start exploring the area. The weather reported cold, fog and snow flurries for the week, so we bundled up and headed to an 11th century fortress known as Hohenwerfen. I think we were all amazed at how they built this enormous castle teetering on a mountain way back when. And all horrified with the tales of torture and seeing the dungeons they used for prisoners.
We all climbed up to the top of the Bell Tower at Hohenwerfen to get an amazing view of the Salzach River’s blue-green glow below.

Instead of boring you with a long description of each and every thing we did, I’ll try to highlight the rest of the week….

Salzburg was a great little town semi-obsessed with Mozart and the Sound of Music. He wrote that, right? JUST KIDDING. Anyways, we saw Mozart’s birthplace and his main residence. The main center of town is very walkable and had many shops which we drooled into the windows. We did do a little shopping – I (Taice) found brown boots that I have been wanting and we tried the famous Sachertorte (mine is a little moister I have to say….).
Above the town is the huge fortress of Hohensalzburg, which we toured and Mom was in love with the gorgeous Magelica oven they had on display there.

We had two days of driving around to the other towns in the Salzburg area – Zell am See, Halstatt, Berchtesgarden, and Bischofshen. One was more gorgeous than the next, but I think we all agreed that Halstatt was our favorite. You will see from the picture why…it’s picture perfect. Here’s a video to prove it (note the authentic sounds of Austria):

On our last day with our family, we did our own Sound of Music tour. And no, my mom didn’t sing the whole way. Shocking, I know! Note: all of these things are from the movie, not the real life of the Von Trapps. We saw the mansion that the family lived in, where Maria danced around at the beginning of the movie, the church Maria and the Baron were married in, and where the kids sang in the Mirabell Gardens. We joked that the bus tour taking you to all of these sights takes 4 hours – and why spend that long and that much money, blah, blah…..Well, our tour took 8 hours. HA! Well worth it though, it was a great day! One of our favorite things (besides whiskers on kittens and warm woolen mittens) was the Trick Fountains at Helbrunn Palace. The Prince Archbishop Marcus Sittikus had a great sense of humor and lined his property with trick fountains to entertain his guests. They were built 400 years ago with water power from the natural springs. It was very impressive and here’s a couple videos to share:

We want to thank Debi, Linda and Bill for spending the week with us. From all you can eat rib night to heating up our toes under the hand dryer it was a great week. Hope you had as much fun as we did.

And for the rest of you – come visit! Missing and loving, Taice and Chris

Enjoy the pics: http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=183781316/a=7226152_7226152/t_=7226152

P.S. 911 is a universal number. Here’s the story – I left Chris at the bar in the hotel to go down to the car in the parking garage to grab my cell phone. I didn’t have my room key with me and after entering the garage the door slammed shut behind me, locking me in. After 15 minutes of walking the entire garage and trying every exit to get out (even manually trying to lift the steel garage door) I started to panic. Would Chris come get me? Would one of the other 4 people parked in the garage come down to their cars at 11 PM? Would I be able to just wait it out even though I desperately had to pee? So yes, I called 911. I wish we could get a transcript of that call. Picture me trying to explain that it was not an emergency. I was just locked in a parking garage and my room key was at the bar and could the police call the front desk of the hotel and have someone come let me out. I think I got the point across though and minutes later the manager came down and rescued me. We then spent the next two hours drinking beers with him at the bar and laughing at me. Ohhhh, good times.