Top of Germany

Sniff, sniff -- our last trip to Garmisch, Germany! It just makes me so sad! Stacy had been before, but we wanted to show it to Wendy and we had to say goodbye to it!

First, we had to roadtrip up there...

Roadtrip shot!!!

To show Wendy all of Germany, we took the gondola up to the TOP of Germany to the highest mountain peak there -- the Zugspitze, at 9700 feet. It was beautiful!

Stacy and Wendy

Of course we ate at our FAVORITE restaurant anywhere, the Zum Wildschutz in Garmisch.

The kids in their blissful-post-schnitzel-eating-stupor!

Prost!!!

And we went to show Wendy Neuschwanstein Castle. It was the 4th time for me and the kids!

Mary's Bridge overlooking the castle

We also ate lunch at a place with an interesting name! It's not what it looks like though, it's pronounced mooka-fook
.

As always we had a "Gute Fahrt" or a good journey in Germany! I will miss it terribly!

Around Town

It's been awhile for a new blog post -- I know! I've been hearing about it from lots of people! Life got in the way! At the time of this posting, we are no longer living in Italy and I am trying to finish up the blog and be done. Don't stop looking yet though! I still have quite a few more posts to finish up our time there. There's still a whole cruise through the western mediterranean -- our last big trip. And also a smaller trip to Rimini and San Marino.

Anway, continuing on Stacy and Wendy's visit -- we spent some nice time seeing local sights and eating at the favorite spots.

At the Aviano Market

Stacy LOVES Aviano's favorite brewpub, BEFeD. We picked up from there several times during their visit. I love all the copper in their decor as well. Stacy wants to open a franchise in the US!

Yummy Galletto!

Beautiful brick, wood and copper

Taking it home!  Along with the beer in a keeper bottle and box!

Stacy helped us out by taking some family photos of us in Italy. Here are a few of the faves, taken in Gorgazzo. Thanks Stacy!

Me and my tall boy!

Bryan and sweet Sara

Seventeen years of marriage!

The Watson Famiglia

Venice, Murano, and Burano

I took Stacy and family to Venice the first year she came to visit, but her mom had never been, so of course we had to go! But, to make it even more interesting, even I had not gone to the outlying Venetian islands of Murano and Burano, so we ambitiously added that into the day. Murano is world famous for it's glass making and Burano for it's hand-made lace. After visiting the islands, we did a whirlwind quick-tour of Venice for Wendy. All of this made possible by the handy vaporetto boats that take you where you want to go.

On approach to Murano

Looks like a mini Venice

Glass flowers adorning the door of a glass factory

We watched this man make a glass statue of ...?

A horse!  All finished!

Another boat ride took us to Burano ... colorful and beautiful!  I love this shot!

A lady making lace -- not many women have this skill anymore.  That's one reason it's so expensive.

Sniff, sniff ... my last chance for Venice photos!

On the way back to onto Venice from Burano

Pier near St. Mark's

It's ALWAYS crowded in Venice! 

St. Mark's Basilica and Piazza

The Rialto Bridge

Stacy and Wendy posing on a bridge over the Grand Canal

It was a long day, but we had perfect weather and got it all done! Now we can relax a few days! (next up, photos of our fun around home in Aviano and Dardago)


Time for this blogger's sappy, nostalgic musings...

This was my last trip to Venice for at least a very long time.  Since it was so close, we went often, and took any guests there who were visiting us.  I've been at least 15 times, but still don't really know all the in's and out's.  It's a interesting and mysterious place -- dirty but beautiful, crowded but lonely, historic but new.  They say it's slowly sinking into the Adriatic ... I'm glad to have placed my footprints there before it does.

Salzburg with Stacy (Again!)

So, my sistafriend-turned-cousin Stacy (who has visited each year we've been here -- yay!) and her mom, Wendy, came near the end of April. They flew into Munich and trained over to Salzburg for me to meet them there. Oh darn for me, one last trip to one of my favorite cities in Europe! Since Bryan had to work, and Andrew had Boy Scout camp, it was just me and Sara on a roadtrip. In choosing photos for this post, I realized that all them are basically of Sara and of our Sound of Music tour we all took. So, if you don't like the Sound of Music and/or you don't like seeing tons of photos of my beautiful daughter (how could that be possible?) then this is not the blog post for you! If, however, you are a SOM fan, this is a great way for you to see shot locations from the movie. With all my trips to the city, I had never done the bus tour of the SOM sights. This was my FIFTH trip to Salzburg (OMG!) but I promise you, I experienced it differently each time and I would gladly go back again and again.

First order of business -- beer and schnitzel!

Sara, with Salzburg in the background, posing with the locks-of-love people put on the bridge

Walking along the Salzach River

The extremely hokey-but-you-still-have-to-do-it-Sound-of-Music-BUS!

And this is no ordinary bus!  They want you to sing along and have fun!  The glove compartment is a cooler where you can get BEER all morning on your tour!  Wendy and I took advantage of this at 10:30 am, because it was 5:00 somewhere! 
And it did help kill my singing inhibitions, let me tell you!

This is the house they used for the backyard/lake scenes in the movie.  The canoes tip over right there!

Girls' Club -- Me, Sara, Stacy, and Wendy

Nice shot of beautiful lake and mountains and 2 beautiful ladies!

The house they used as the front of the Von Trapp mansion scenes. 
Maria skips her way up to the gate singing "I Have Confidence!"

The gazebo they used for exterior gazebo scenes. 
It was too small for the interior dancing scenes so those were done on a sound stage.

My beautiful flower among the tulips at the Hellbrun Palace where the gazebo is kept.

The exterior of the church where the wedding scene was shot.

The interior, used for the wedding scene between Maria and Georg Von Trapp.

Awesome view of an Austrian town on our drive.

Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do!  Sara stands exactly where Julie Andrews did for this song 50 years ago.

The green tunnel that the Von Trapp kids ran through in "Do-Re-Mi"

Me and my angel at the Pegasus statue in Mirabell Gardens where the Von Trapp kids run around.

Of course, we had to visit the Augustiner Brewery and get a pretzel bigger than Sara's head!

Got beer? Stacy and I always share lots of laughs!

Lots of spoiling was going on...

And finally, we love Salzburg because of the friends we have made there. Marianne and her parents always make us feel at home at their B&B. In fact, this time, they were closed for renovations, but let us stay anyway and have the whole place to ourselves. AND, we were Marianne's last guests, since she is finally leaving the family business to pursue her own life. We made plans to keep in touch.



The Hirschbichler Family

Sara LOVES the hand-made kitty cat doll Marianne gave her as a farewell gift.

The four of us girls loaded up and headed home to my house for a week of adventures ... we went to Murano and Burano Islands in Venice and to Garmisch Germany! Up on the blog NEXT!


Time for this blogger's sappy, nostaligic musings as I get ready to leave Europe...
A sad farewell for me! Salzburg will always hold a place in my heart -- for many reasons. Happy snow-covered family memories, Marianne, one of my all-time-favorite movies, great beer, giant pretzels, Christmas markets, sharing special times there with people I love like the Essigs, the Blakes, Uncle Skelly and the Billhartz. Just look back at my blog if you want to see the 4 other trips there. Sigh. I will have to return -- someday...