"Joyeux Anniversaire" to Elaine. Thinking of you on your special day.
So, taking up where we left off last week.
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| SALZBURG - AT BASE OF CASTLE |
After our beautiful stay in Venice we headed off to Salzburg, Austria. I downloaded the "Sound of Music" soundtrack to play in the car for the whole trip to get us in the mood. Austria is the most beautiful country I have ever visited. Driving through the mountains was wonderous. Vibrant green fields with the trees in autumn red bloom and the mountains topped with snow. The air was so fresh. Our two nights in Salzburg were fantastic. Brendan celebrated his 40th birthday at a traditional Austrian restaurant. We really liked the food: Wiener schnitzel, boiled beef, dumplings, sausages, red cabbage, kaiserschmarren, and a delightful dessert called Salzburger Nockerl.
(a sweet souffle, meringue thingy full of hot air and sugar.yummmmmy!)
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| VIEW FROM CASTLE |
Waitresses wear dirndls to emphasize the traditional Austrian ambience with rustic Austrian wooden chairs and tables that harmonize with the wooden beams that cross the ceiling. Pronounced arches and white walls are decorated with engravings of hunting scenes that recall an era of grandeur. What a great night. The next day, we visited the Hohensalzburg castle which overlooked the whole valley. Built in 1462, Hohensalzburg Castle is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.
To be honest, I don't have a bad word to say about Salzburg. I could live there.
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| swarovski world |
From Salzburg we drove to Dachau Concentration camp, outside of Munich. This sure changed the happy mood we were in. (I didn't feel well for hours after). Next stop was BMW world in the heart of Munich. The new 6 series is a work of art. After Munich we stopped for the night in Innsbruck, Austria. Innsbruck has a lovely cobblestoned old centre, where you can walk around. The next day we visited "Kristallwelten" or in english "Swarovski World". This is Grace's Happy Place.
This was quite an interesting place. It is a walk through museum of Swarovski pieces and artistic displays made with crystals by different designers. At the end there is a shop with the latest works that you can buy. Of course we left there with our wallets lighter!! From here we then drove through the day to get to Saint Mortiz for the night. That was another beautiful drive through the Swiss Alps. Upon arriving in Saint Moritz we were amazed to find that all the hotels were closed. As we had not booked any accomodation and after much heated discussion, we decided to drive on through the night across the snow ridden Julier Pass back down to Bad Ragaz to spend the night.
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| Crying Lion of Lucerne |
After destressing for the night, we drove on to Lucerne in Switzerland. Lucerne was a lovely medieval city built around a lake, surrounded by the swiss alps. Highlights were the wooden covered bridges, the old walled town, the clock towers, and the famous crying lion monument. Mark Twain discribed the "Lion of Lucerne" as "the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world" - we all agreed. It was carved out of limestone in memory of the heroic death of the swiss mercenaries at Tuileries 1792.
The Lake of Lucerne is full of white swans, that love to be fed. Adele and Ellise stole enough bread at lunch to have every swan in Lucerne follow them around the lake. People were stopping to take photos of them with their bevy of swans. After some fondue, and a wonderous dinner at the famous "Old Swiss House" our tummies were full and our wallets were empty. So we decided to head back to our villa in St. Remy.
Au Revoir till next week!!
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