Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas jammies

Austria 2

Vienna or Wien, Austria

The second part of our Columbus Day weekend was spent in lovely Wien.  We loved visiting this city, but we learned a few things from this trip.  1st, we do not like driving in big cities, with lots of traffic, and narrow streets.  2nd we need better maps when we travel!! 3rd we need to learn to take advantage of local public transportation better ( I think we walked the kids legs off in Vienna).   Funny story now that I am on the walking and public transportation subject.  On our first day of Vienna, we didn't have any of the above 3 points and we were walking everywhere because driving was so scary in our big American car.  Everything in Vienna is tall and white.  All the building block out the view so you have no point of reference while walking.  We thought we were walking back to where we had parked our car, and knew it was a ways off...but nothing looked familiar yet everything looked the same.  So, we finally get to a metro stations and start referencing ourselves with the map.  We found out we were walking the opposite direction for quite a ways.  Never have I seen three more disheartened girls.  "What, we have been walking forever for no reason!" says Hannah.  Cora had said " you just like to torture us by walking and walking and not feeding us".  Very disheartened!  Well, we discovered how easy using the local metro system was.  We hopped a subway and we were within a couple blocks of our car in a matter of minutes.  That lightened everyone's mood extremely!

Hofburg Shloss

which is now just a series of museums and exhibits.  Each wing of this magnificent palace is a separate museum.  Of course you have to pay for each admission to each museum separately too :)

Schonbrunn Palace

And here is Hannah.  I think I have mentioned before how Hannah is against pictures right now.  So most of the pictures we have, Hannah is being zany!

The Judicial buildings of Vienna, Austria

A typical Vienna street.  

All those tall white buildings blocking out any point of reference for directional purposes.

St. Stephen's Dom

A beautiful church!

All the architecture in Vienna and Salzburg is amazing.  I loved looking at all the buildings.

In Hollywood, CA, modern day musicians have stars.

In Vienna, Austria, musicians of time gone by have stars.

One of our favorite parts of traveling, is trying all the local food.

Look at those pretzels!  Yum!

 More pictures of us eating.

People were stopping and taking pictures of us.

A crazy lady with 5 kids, three of which she was pushing in a stroller...

I loved this picture.  This was our first introduction to European winter.  It was very cold in Austria when we went.  Even the horses are wearing little hats to keep their ears warm.

We visited a couple of museums while there.  This one is the Schatzkammer in the Hofburg Schloss.  It boasts the most important treasury in the world.  Which includes this crown ( I liked that Hannah looks like she is wearing it in the picture) This crown is the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire (crafted around 962).

Another museum we visited was the Natural History museum of Austria.  Mainly it was a big exhibit of taxidermy.  However, look at those ceilings!  You just don't see frescoes like this in America.

The highlight of the day for the girls.  A hut made of mammoth bones.

It was a fun trip, but for future reference research exactly what you want to do.  I had in mind several things I wanted to see...namely the Vienna boys choir, the Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish riding school and the national art museum.  All these things we either doing "shows" on days we were not there, or they were completely closed.  Most things are closed on Monday's in Vienna...it is their day of rest I guess.  Still a fun trip, but I do want to go back before we leave Europe!

Austria part 1

Salzburg, Austria

Over Columbus day weekend, Matt and the girls had another wonderful four day weekend. We decided to on our first, official, trip out of the "country". Austria is fairly close to us, only about a couple hours away, so on to Austria we went. We did a little loop and went down to Salzburg, then to Vienna, and then home. It was a wonderful trip, and helped us feel more at ease traveling abroad with 5 kiddos.

Here is the Salzburg skyline. This is a great shot of Hellbrunn Schloss, plus you get the spires of St. Peter's cathedral in there too. We didn't do the whole Sound of Music tour, but we did hit a few stops that were in the movie. The most famous being the fountain, and the graveyard (which isn't at the Abbey, but behind St. Peters!) where they are hiding from the "authorities". More on all that later!

It was rainy and cold, cold, cold, while we were in Austria. This was the first time this season where we broke out our winter coats, hats and gloves! Here we are, walking across the bridge into the "old town" to see some sights.

I thought this old church was pretty neat. We couldn't go inside, but it is right behind St. Peters. I think it may have been the original "St. Peters" before the "new" one was built, but I am not sure. Anyway, I just like the date. It was built or finished I should say, in 1491. A year before Columbus sailed to discover the Americas. I thought it was very fitting for our Columbus day weekend trip.

Inside St. Peter's

Behind St. Peter's there are catacombs built into the side of the mountain. The girls and climbed up through the tunnels to see it. There wasn't much to see, but it was a cool climb inside the mountain, and we got some lovely views of Salzburg.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....

The girls and Matt trying the Chestnuts

The consensus is...they are ok, but very different from what we are used to. They are soft and sweet. It was fun to try them though. You see chestnut venders all over in Austria, and at the Christmas Markets here in Germany.

Of course we had to stop and see Mozart's birthplace while in Salzburg!

This was a pretty neat museum, it was set up with interactive displays so the kids liked it. I thought it was cool to see some of the original instruments and sheet music owned by Mozart. Alas, we couldn't take pictures inside, so here is the outside.

We decided to drive along the Grossglockner Alpine Highway for a bit. It takes you along a route through the Alps that dates back 2000 years before Christ. It is said to have been the route used by the celts and Romans, and was the third most popular route until the 17th century. We drove on it for the views :)

We stopped in a sleepy little town called Bad Gastein

Right through the center of the town there is a huge, multi tiered waterfall. You can view it well from a rock bridge in about the middle of the waterfall (towards the top between the buildings), that offers a great view of the 1st tier and 2nd tier of the waterfall.

However, we didn't go to the bridge, we decided to walk to the bottom of the waterfall. It was a pretty cool, and unexpected sight to see! According to legend, the mists from the waterfall is supposed to have healing property's.

It was a fun little trip to Salzburg, now off to Wien!

Reasons...

I have never thought that I was that great at keeping up my blog anyway...but now I will be even worse :). Just be patient with me, updates will appear as I have time. NO, I am NOT pregnant...for those of you who are LDS, I have just been called as the Relief Society President.

There always seems to be a "surprise" around the corner in my life. Good times :)

Anniversaries gone by...

Shortly after arriving in Germany, Matt and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I still can't believe 14 years have gone by. We have covered a lot of roads in that time. Literally and figuratively. We decided to keep it fairly low key this year,

what with the move and some other travels we had been doing (due to Matt's job). We went out to dinner, alone!, which hasn't happened in a long time. So that was very, very nice. Even though we kept it low key this year, we are planning a very nice getaway weekend (just the two of us...NO KIDS) for our 15th anniversary.

Matt kept with tradition and bought some lovely roses. I do so love getting flowers!

Here is an "old" picture :)

I loved and still love my dress. It was a very classic style at the time, but my favorite was the bow. One night, after we had just gotten engaged, Matt and I were sitting on the couch at his Mom's house going over bridal magazines. So much fun for a guy, I am sure. But it was an exciting time, we were getting married!! So I am sure he humored me. Anyway, I asked him what sort of wedding dresses he liked. We looked at lots of different designs, and he finally told me that he wasn't that picky...but he WOULD like a huge bow in the back. I am not sure why, even to this day. Whenever I ask him, he just says that he liked women who wore bows...they are feminine. Well, soon after I canvased the bridal shops with friends, trying on all sorts of dresses. I just could never find the "one". Or I would find one, but it wouldn't have a bow...or it wouldn't look right on my body type. So eventually my Aunt Alice (whom I love so dearly) got involved. She is an amazing seamstress, and had sewn several ball gowns for daughter's in-laws. She mentioned that she would be willing to make my wedding dress. Within a couple of hours together, we had found a pattern I liked in a style that I knew was flattering (AND it had a bow!), we found a beautiful, delustered satin, Lace for the overlay and special ordered some lace that matched the overlay for the edges. After a summer of sewing countless hours, my dress was ready. It is still one of the most beautiful dresses I have seen, to me. I love it, I love all the memories it brings back when I see it and touch it, I love the LOVE that was put in to making it. I am and will always be so grateful to my Aunt for playing such a huge part in making my wedding day so special. She did an amazing job, and I ended up with the perfect dress!

When ever we move, I take out my dress and make sure no damage has been done and that it is still holding up in storage well. This year, I happened to take it out while the girls were around, and they all wanted to try it on. I remember trying my mom's wedding dress on when I was a young girl. I felt like a princess in that long, flowing dress. So when my girls said they wanted to try on my dress, I excitedly agreed.

Above is Anya and below are Hannah and Cora

Just Because...

Weiss Kirche

I think this is probably one of the more popular churches in the bavarian region for tourists. But we wanted to see it anyway. On our last day in Garmisch, we drove out to see the famed WeissKirche

The White Church is a pilgramidge church. Many come to offer prayers here and travel far. The interesting thing about this church, is that it is built in the country. It sits out in the middle of a couple cow pastures. Once you step inside you think that this grandeur is very out of place in a cow pasture. That is what I love about Europe...the unexpected grandeur.

These next couple of shots are of the inside and ceiling. This building is a classic example of the Rococo Style that was popular when it was built.

My girls have developed a great love for lighting candles and saying little prayers.

Very Catholic of them!

Jack was determined to find his way into the donation and Tithe box.