London ... just us girls!

While the boys went to Switzerland for Boy Scout Summer Camp (next blog entry), Sara and I headed for London for 4 days of shopping, afternoon tea, and theater! No museums, no tours, and no stinky boys! ;o) It didn't take Sara a minute to find one of her favorite stores -- Accessorize! And conveniently (with sarcasm), they are everywhere in London, so we hit about 10 of these during our trip.

Our first afternoon tea was at the Wolseley Cafe in Piccadilly! It was wonderful! Little finger sandwiches, cakes, scones, devonshire cream, strawberry jam, and of course -- TEA!

Pinkies up!

Our first show, that evening, was Singin' In The Rain! It was a good show, but our seats were pretty crummy and it was uncomfortable and hot. The on-stage raining was really cool though! The front few rows got all wet! It really was raining outside, so we sang the songs all the way back to our hotel, after stopping for a lovely dinner of Indian food!

Self-portrait!

Day two, we took the train out to Windsor -- not for castle touring, just for shopping and dining! I toured Windsor about 14 years ago when Bryan and I visited London for the first time. This was not on Sara's list!

Say hello to Queen Victoria!

We had the BEST fish and chips for lunch at the Carpenter's Arms Tavern. Then, a few hours later after shopping, we had tea at the Tower Hotel.

Tea in the shadow of the castle!

That evening, back in London, we had tickets to Billy Elliot! It was an amazing show! What a talented 12-year-old boy!

Day three, we shopped in the morning and spent some down time in the gardens at Kensington Palace. We stayed dry from a rainstorm under a huge tree.

Sara at the Palace Gate

Love my sweet girl!

Sara loved the red phone booths!

So many shoes, so little time!!! It was all so exhausting! ;o)

Our last evening, we had our best tickets yet, 2nd row at Matilda! Sara was super-excited for this one, since she had read the book by Roald Dahl, and had seen the movie. It was fantastic!  It was a matinee performance, so we had tea at the Wolseley for the second time, and dinner later of sushi!

I LOVE LONDON!

Day four, we had until 3pm until we had to head to the airport, so we walked around one of the antique and clothing markets and had a fabulous Greek lunch!

What memories we made!!! Sara was so grown up and such a fun travel partner! We got to do a lot of talking and snuggling and just relying on each other. It was a special time with her that I know both of us will always remember and cherish!

Family Invasion - Part Due

So, we also went to Salzburg, Austria! It was the 4th time for me and the kids, but a first for them! We didn't mind -- we love it there and are always happy to go back. Besides, everytime I go, I do and see something different, so it's never been exactly the same. The one thing that I do exactly the same each time though is stay at the hotel of our friend Marianne! We have never stayed anywhere else in Salzburg, and if we did, and she found out, we'd be in trouble! Here we are with our sweet hostess, Marianne, at the Hotel Trumer-Stube.

We took a walk on a wooded trail around part of town, which I had never done before. Here was the view of Salzburg from the walk.

Well, we were in Austria, so the walk HAD to involve BEER! Here we are at the Augustiner Biergarten.

Why are Cody and Joe hanging on for dear life? Check out the photo below that to see why. This is the view we saw as we rode a huge bus up a STEEP, NARROW, one-lane road to the top of the mountain (6000 ft) to see Kehlsteinhaus -- Hitler's Eagle's Nest! This is not in Salzburg, but we took a bus tour over to Berchtesgaden, Germany, only 30 minutes away, to see it.

This is the entrance to the 400 foot long tunnel that Hitler's driver would have to carefully maneuver through to take the Führer to meetings at the Eagle's Nest. At the end of the tunnel is the famous brass elevator for going up another 400 feet to the building at the top of the mountain peak. When it was time to pick Hitler back up again, the driver had to back all the way into the tunnel, because Hitler never wanted to ride backwards.

I sure wouldn't want to have to back a car through here!

Crowded in the huge brass elevator

The elevator puts you out in the last remaining building from the Eagle's Nest compound. All the rest were destroyed after WWII. The building that is left is all original, and was used for meetings and dinners. Hitler never spent the night there. He had a home nearby, which was also destroyed after the war. Once we toured the building, which was really nothing special, and is now just a restaurant and gift shop, we headed outside for the gorgeous views and a little more climbing...

Oh the amazing things these kids have seen and done!

Love this pic of Uncle Skelly!

View of the Eagle's Nest from above

After that, our tour took us to a Salt Mine! We got suited up and went hundreds of feet below ground to see how they extract salt from the earth. We got to ride these little trains through the tunnels. We also really enjoyed getting to use these cool slides the workers use to change levels quickly (kind of reminds me of fireman poles!)

Next, our tour took us to see Lake Konigsee. We got caught in some awful rain there, so I only have two good shots. The walk to the lake was on a beautiful wooded trail.

Back in Salzburg, we had dinner at one of our favorite spots -- Zum Fidelen Affen, a.k.a. The Jolly Monkey.

Silly Sara!

The week went by too fast! It was great getting Uncle Skelly and all of us cousins together again!

Cousins!!!

Family Invasion - Part Uno

Even more company, the last week of May! My uncle Skelly, cousin Stacy, and her twin 16-year-old boys returned for their second visit with us in Italy. This time they toured Paris and Normandy first before heading down to us. It was great having them back again! We had a week to do completely different things than we did the year before. One day we went over to Lake Barcis to have a look around and then we drove up the mountain to do the ropes course. It was the second time there for my kids, so they loved it and breezed through easily. It was Cody and Joe's first time and they are just not as monkey-like as my kids! LOL!

Skelly, Joe, Stacy and Cody at Lake Barcis

Monkey Sara

Sara's big finish on the zipline!

Andrew's big finish on the zipline!

Nice shot of Bryan in the woods

We drove about an hour-and-a-half over to Trieste, Italy one day, since none of us had ever been there. We did a walking tour of the town and enjoyed lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Here are some views...

Bryan with a statue of Ulysses author, James Joyce

Castle Miramar is in Trieste, so we took a tour of that. It was built around 1856 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (of the Hapsburgs) and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium. Maximillian was appointed Emperor of Mexico and was assassinated there.

Castello di Miramare

View from the castle

Small part of the castle garden

Castle boat dock/swimming area

And, of course, we went to get GELATO every chance we could! Stay tuned for Family Invasion - Part Due, where we visit Salzburg and Hitler's Eagles' Nest!