Our Autumn Holiday, Part III: Germany and Austria

Yes, you read correctly, we are still behind and this is Part III of our autumn trek. England, Czech Republic, and now on to Germany and Austria! The good news is, our kids have been raised to be road warriors, so covering 4 countries in 9 days is no biggie (at least once the complaining fades from memory).

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away (i.e. before kids), we were lucky enough to take a trip to Italy and absolutely loved it. In addition to Leah's obvious obsession with England, we were pretty sure Italy was going to be tough to beat on our "favorite places" list. 

But after starting with a couple days in Prague (see Part I posted earlier), we drove briefly through Bavaria, where we met some of my friends for dinner and visited Neuschwanstein Castle, and then spent a few days in Austria.

And we fell in love. What a breathtaking, friendly...and tasty part of the world!

Loved . . .

• Rolling green hills, steeples on the hilltops, blanketed in forest, and the alps in the distance.
• No speed limit on the autobahn and still getting passed
• Meeting up with Tanner & Charee Brown and their kids for dinner, so glad we got to!

• Family dinners in pyjamas
• Daddy buying ice cream 
• Lots of "Snap" playing

Innsbruck, Austria

Neuschwanstein Castle near Fussen, Bavaria Germany

Loved . . .

• Dreamy pistachio and amaretto gelato
• The nice guy at the kebab place who gave the kids chupa chups
• Gorgeous cuckoo clocks and chess sets

Salzburg, Austria

Loved . . .

• Church bells singing
• Street performers playing Mozart
• Wrought-iron shop signs
• Christmas store filled with hand-painted eggs
• The best sausages (the Emmentaler-filled Käsekrainer were our favorite, except Logan who preferred the classic Brat!)

• "Ti, a drink with jam and bread"...walking in the steps of the Von Trapp Family

Jude lost his first two teeth in one week!

• The magnificent stonework in Salzburg Cathedral

• Hiking thru Vorderkaserklamm--a natural series of caverns carved out over the ages by water and ice, and subsequently made very accessible by the building of wooden footbridges and staircases so you can hike right through them! Amazing and probably the highlight of all the "things" we did.

Austria and Germany definitely joined our list of places we didn't get enough of and want to come back to someday!