European Vacation-2008

This year for Thanksgiving Dan and I decided to take one last trip before our baby comes in May. My parents have a timeshare in Austria so we set up our home base in Salzburg, then took trips to Prague, Budapest, and Germany. Europe is so beautiful and everything is so old. The part about Europe that shocked me the most was that you have to pay to use the toilets. Are you kidding me? Normally it wouldn't have been such a big deal, but for a pregnant woman who has to use the bathroom every 20 minutes, it really added up. I felt like I spent more on toilet use than I did on souvenirs or anything else.

So, we got into Munich, Germany on Saturday, only to find that American Airlines had lost one of our bags! So, we had to wait around the airport for a few hours until they could send it in on the next flight. In the meantime, we picked up our rental car and figured out how to program our navigation unit. By the time we had it all figured out, our bag arrived, and we jumped on the road headed to Austria. And when I say "jumped on the road," I really mean it! We took the German Autobahn (for those of you who don't know, that's a freeway with no speed limits!) going as fast as our little Kia Sportage could take us (about 110mph - and we were being passed by BMWs like we were standing still!!) for an hour or so before the weather took over.

We went from driving about 110mph to 50mph as we hit a massive snowstorm (and keep at mind, at this point we had been awake for about 30 hours) which followed us all the way into Austria. But it got worse. The place we were staying was located in the Alps, which meant an additional 2 hour, grueling drive up the mountain in increasing whiteout conditions. It was awful. Oh, and did I mention we hadn't eaten in 15 hours? Yeah. Fun.


Well, after we finally made it to our little chalet in the mountains, we grabbed dinner in the hotel restaurant and hit the sack. After sleeping for 10 hours, we woke to one of the most beautiful scenes we've ever seen. The hotel was on a frozen lake in a valley with mountains all around. The sides of the foothills leading to the lake were dotted with snow covered cottages here and there. It was gorgeous. However, we couldn't stay to appreciate it for long, since we needed to get on the road to make the 5 hour drive to Prague!

Here are some pictures of a view from our balcony:

We arrived in Prague on Sunday around 3pm and headed straight to Old Town Square. The Old Town Square is one of the two main squares in the city centre. With its ancient buildings and magnificent churches, this is one of the most beautiful historical sights in Europe. The next morning we explored Prague then headed to Budapest. Here are some pictures taken while in Prague:

Old Town Square Astronomical Clock

In the middle of Old Town Square

A few views from the Charles Bridge

This is atop the Prague Castle, the view from there was amazing!




We loved this street, it was actually quite steep and we had to walk all the way
up it to reach the Prague Castle.

Golden Lane (tiny old houses that have been made into shops)

Typical Metro shot

The only thing I wanted to buy while in Europe was hand painted eggs from Prague. I remember seeing them years ago at my friend's house who had just returned from Prague and I swore one day I'd get me a bunch. We looked for hours to find them and when we did I went crazy!
Aren't they beautiful?

We left Prague around 4pm and arrived in Budapest, Hungary around 9pm. I LOVED Budapest, one of my favorite cities so far. Everything was so serene and peaceful and the fresh fallen snow made it more so I believe. Our hotel was in the castle district so we started off our morning walking around there.

Fisherman's Bastion is is one of the most popular spots of the Castle District

View of the city from Fisherman's Bastion

St. Stephen's Basilica is the largest church in Hungary

Dan in front of Parliament

Dan's stiff competition

"Gerbaud's" - the best hot chocolate joint in the world!

After Budapest we hit the road again and traveled back to our condo in Salzburg, Austria. By this time I was so sick of driving and was ready to stay put. We spent two days in Salzburg which was plenty of time to explore the city. My favorite part of Salzburg was The Sound of Music Tour. I have loved the Sound of Music since I was a little girl so this was a highlight of our trip. Dan was hesitant to do it at first as he had never seen the movie (I made him watch it before we left) and he ended up loving the movie as well as the tour. You can't go to Salzburg without taking the tour!

The gazebo where Liesel and her boyfriend sang "I am 16 going on 17". I wanted to go in and dance around the benches, but it's not open to public anymore thanks to an 82 year old woman. Several years ago she thought she was younger than she was and started dancing on the benches. She ended up falling and hurting herself. They have since closed it to the public.

The Do-Re-Mi steps in the Mirabella Gardens. This was as close as I could get as
they were blocked off due to the winter.
Does this fountain look familiar? Maria and the Von Trapp children danced and
sang around this horse fountain in Mirabella Gardens.


Leopoldskron - the backyard of this house was used in filming the Sound of Music.
This is the backyard for the Von Trapp family.

This is the lake where Maria and the children fell into the water.

Lake Mondsee - the opening scene of the movie

This yellow house is the front of the Von Trapp home. Maria got off the bus here and started singing, "I Have Confidence" while she danced down the pathway.

The church in Lake Mondsee where Maria & the Baron Von Trapp got married
(just in the film, in real life they got married somewhere else).

The inside of the church

City of Salzburg, Austria

On top of the Salzburg Fortress

Salzburg had some of the best Christmas markets around. We actually spent the
majority of the time shopping for family Christmas presents. Dan is such a trooper
for strolling through these markets with me for hours!

Hallstatt, Austria was another one of our favorite spots. It is a tiny, (I mean tiny) town right on the lake. It takes 10 minutes to walk from one of the town to the other end. We didn't stay there long (much to Dan's dismay) because I was starving and everything was closed, but we enjoyed the 15 minutes we did spend there.

This is the main road through the town.
See what I mean when I say "tiny?"

Friday morning we drove to Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen, Germany. The castle is a 19th-century Bavarian Palace built by Ludwig II. The palace has appeared in several movies, and was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland and for the Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom.

The walk up to the castle was brutal, so I opted for a horse carriage to take me up.
I kind of forgot that I'm extremely allergic to horses, and was
miserable the rest of the day!

On the way back from the Neuschwanstein Castle, we stopped in a small town called Oberammeragu, Germany. It too was an adorable town and had I not been famished we would have stayed longer and shopped.

Speaking of food and being hungry, one of my favorite parts of the whole trip was the food we ate. We feasted on bratwurst, sauerkraut, Bavarian pretzels, hot chocolate, apple strudel, gingerbread, and crepes. Good thing we walked so much and I could burn off a few calories, or I would have come home a blimp!

This was our Thanksgiving dinner! Weiners & Saurkraut!

I'm so glad I was able to take this trip with my husband, heaven knows it may be our last big trip for a long time. Thanks to my parents who hooked us up with a condo in Austria!!