Salzburg ~ Day 2 of our Trip South of the Border

~ Cafe Ritter ~
I've said it before and will say it again - I LOVE ALL THE FLOWER BOXES!
And...our front porch will be looking something like this eventually!

On Saturday morning, we ventured over to Salzburg after pastries at Cafe Ritter.  I wanted to be the typical American tourist and climb on one of the 'Sound of Music' tour buses, but I must not have made my boys watch that movie enough before coming to Salzburg....can you believe that I was the only one with this interest?!  We opted rather to walk around the city for a few hours and then find a place to hike into the mountains.

As we were locating tourist information, we happened upon the statue of Mozart in the city center.  We laugh at the picture below!  I forgot to tell Tracy that I wanted Mozart in the photo!

We chose to meander the streets with our main focus of being to make it to Schloss Mirabell and the gardens around it.  It is truly a beautiful city with massive architecture and wonderful street musicians and performers.

Beautiful music - we enjoyed them for some time feeling like we
enjoyed ourselves a concert without the cost.

 

We sat on a park bench and listened to these two for
some time as well.  They played very soothing pieces.

We thought this guy was a statue at first glance!

 

These two performers were fascinating to watch.  One whistled and the other tweeted to get kids' attention - they were such great statues and often ended up sending younger children behind their parents' legs!

 

This is of us enjoying our Mozart Kugeln.  They are bite size treats made
only in Salzburg....or at least that is what we were told.

 

The making of Mozart Kugeln - I'll try just about anything dipped in chocolate!

 

The following photos are of some of the massive architecture that we saw in the City Center - we love to look for dates on buildings.  The earliest date we've found so far is actually from a structure here in Göttingen - date was from the 1100s.

Noah is as tall as the blocks of stone at the foundation of this building - took
us quite a while just to walk around the perimeter!

 

I have a photo of the rest of the family by this fountain, but
everyone was getting so wet that it didn't turn out great.
The water was spraying a good 10 feet from the wall.

 

1382!

 

These kinds of colorful odd shaped benches were all over the city.

 

 

 

 

 The next several pictures are taken in the gardens surrounding Mirabell Palace - several of the family opted to sit and listen to musicians while enjoying a shady spot....it was quite hot that day.  Hence all the pictures having just one or two of the boys in them!

 

 

Hohensalzburg Fortress is visible from
many points in the city.

 

 

 

 

 

This view shows the Pegasus fountain that was in
'The Sound of Music' and the Hohensalzburg Fortress
at the very top of the hill.

 

Just one more idea to implement!

 

 

Josiah had to get on tippy-toes just to see
through the key hole - he also lifted Noah
up so that he could peer through as well.

A better picture of the Hohensalzburg Fortress on the hill -
you can take a trolley up to it for little cost, but the crew was
ready to hike by this point.

 

  

This is the largest chess board we've ever seen!

 

After getting our fill of Saltzburg and of course, eating ice-cream for lunch, we ventured back towards Berchtesgaden in search of a hiking spot.  In addition to hiking, the boys really wanted to swim so we got directions to Lake Königsee while also getting information about hiking trails.  We opted for swimming first so that their shorts could dry while hiking - we hadn't planned on swimming so were not prepared with suits or towels.

 

 

The water was freezing!  Tracy and I had our feet in long enough
to begin to get numb.  Needless to say, the boys were not wanting to
swim long.  Noah would want you to know that he was the first
of the boys to go the whole way under the water.

 

The gal at the information center suggested a hiking trail that was only about an hour's hike and had a restaurant at the summit.  Perfect!  We were all looking forward to dinner and the thought of eating on at a mountain-top restaurant sounded fun and romantic.  This was another time that we were so thankful for GPS - we had a map of the local trails and roads leading to them, but it's just so easy to punch in a street name.  So we plugged in "Kneifelspitzweg" - the name of the street that led to the trail head - and followed the directions to a T.  The information gal told us there was a parking lot with markers for the trail so we simply followed GPS directions.  As the roads took us higher and higher into the mountains, they also became more and more narrow.  The final direction said to make a U-turn and arrive at your destination.  So Tracy made a U-turn - it was then that we could see the driveway to a hotel...a very steep driveway.  He gunned the vehicle and made it up into the parking lot.  We then saw the road sign for Kneifelspitzweg and realized we must be at the right place, but looking at the map we also realized that we had another mile or so on this "road" before reaching the parking lot. 

At this point, we were wondering what to do.  We weren't sure if this road was for vehicles or bikes, but the boys were really excited about the hike so Tracy decided to take a chance.  Let me just say that the drive into the hotel parking lot was nothing compared to the stretch of road ahead of us.  Tracy put the car in first and started off....for about fifty yards.  I started with, "I don't think this is a road, I don't think we should be trying this, etc" - oh, so helpful of comments at moments like this!  Tracy wasn't sure either as our car barely fit on the road so stopped in the middle of a climb.  He turned to me and calmly said, "This isn't good."  Talk about tense!  He decided to back down to the hotel because that was really the only option, and I decided to start praying.  I'm not sure if I've ever done this before or not, but I started praying out loud for our very lives as Tracy backed down into the parking lot!  I'm sure that I helped the boys' mind-set and probably put Tracy at ease, too!  Ummmm....I didn't know what else to do!  Long story short, we got out of the car to make a gameplan of what to do and within two or three minutes, two Smart cars whizzed right up that very road we had just backed down.  Tracy estimated that the slope was close to 40%, so I opted to walk until it was a lesser grade.  All that to say, we did finally make it to the parking lot for the trail...with a few more gray hairs.

The hotel with our little red vehicle parked off to the right.

This is the view from 10 minutes into the hike just before entering
the woods.  Had we gone no farther, it was a beautiful view.

Well, I wish I could share pictures from the restaurant and its view.  I wish I would have seen it.  But alas, we made a foolish decision as parents and are very thankful that our kids are obedient and listened to us on this particular day.  Long story short, the boys wanted to HIKE not walk some sissy switchbacks.  Mind you, the entire hike was switchbacks after the first 15 minutes or so...not an easy climb for Tracy and me!  So we told the boys they could take the shortcut up to the next switchback and wait for us.  We connected again and they asked again.  As long as they stayed together and waited for us at the next joining of the trails, we were cool with them scaling the mountain rather than hike with us.  Well, wouldn't you know it?  Our trail didn't have another switchback for about five minutes so we got separated and couldn't hear each other any longer.  We were just sure that we'd connect back with them soon so kept hiking.  After about 20 more minutes, we're both getting concerned and asking everyone we passed if they have seen four young boys.  Tracy finally decided to sprint ahead to the summit as we were just sure they beat us to the top and were waiting for us.  And no, they weren't there either.  WHAT HAVE WE DONE?  We allowed our kids to hike away from us in the Alps without so much as a bottle of water with them!  A mistake you only make once in your life - glad ours is behind us!

End of the story is that our boys listened to us.  When they reached the trail joining their short-cut, they waited for us.  They stayed together and waited....for nearly two hours!  The problem was that they connected back up to another trail which also led to the top, but we told them to wait for us.  All the while, we were hiking on a different spot from them.  Needless to say, by the time we found them, the restaurant was closed, Tracy was the only one that got to see the view from the top and we had some very disappointed boys.  I was so happy that we weren't calling in a search team that I didn't care where we ate dinner that night!  Twice on my hike back down the mountain (we decided I would hike back to the car in case they ended up going back there), I had to retrace my steps as I couldn't quite remember where I was at - yes, that added to my panic.  Thankfully, we serve a big God and He was reminding me of truth as I hiked.  And thankfully, we have trained our boys to listen to us - this was one day it paid off.  They talked long and hard about separating so as to find us more quickly.  It may have worked but I'm thankful they obeyed!  We ended up eating dinner at a fun restaurant in Berchtesgaden.....we're saving the restaurant at the top for another trip south.

The boys found a fountain to wet down their hair
before stopping at a restaurant in the city center.
We all felt pretty sweaty and grimy after that day.

 

This restaurant served only typical German dishes.
We ordered about five meals and passed them around
to share.  The couple at the table behind us kept
laughing at our attempts to sample every plate.
Tracy has a brats and potato salad dish.  Joj and Noah have
Pommes and currywurst...basically hotdogs.

Josiah was so excited that all the wurst was linked together!

This was a ham hock with potatoes and sauerkraut.  We also
had some steak dish that was also quite delicious.

This was one of those days that you say, "All's well that ends well."  It was a day we won't soon forget.  The boys got their wish - they really hiked the mountain side.  They also decided on this trip that they could move to the Alps indefinitely....as long as their friends and cousins moved over here, too!

Heading South of the Border ~ Day 1

On August 16th, we literally squished ourselves into another rental car and headed south of the border to Austria.  Before leaving, we were determined to get the GPS into English.  Tracy has been in German language school for about a month now so was able to poke enough buttons to eventually get us there.  So very thankful for English GPS!  Listening in German still takes so much effort for all of us.

Vehicles are very compact in Europe.  This car technically seats seven - I think it should be advertised that it seats seven three-year-olds.  All of the boys' knees were touching the seats in front of them.  We had bags at our feet and on our laps.  And yet, we were so glad that we could find a car that fits our family - a six seater can be hard to find!  After experiencing some of the narrowness of the roads though, we completely understand why the cars are so compact.



Josiah's Birthday Celebration

On Joel's birthday, Josiah questioned whether he would get the "exact same treatment" or something different on his special day.  We didn't make any promises but thought, 'How easy can it be? A chocolate bar, some gum and a cake? You bet you can have the same thing, buddy!'  So on August 13th, Josiah awoke to a chocolate bar and a pack of gum at his place at the table - and he was thrilled!  Funny thing was two days after his birthday, he commented, "This is the longest I've made a pack of gum last!"  Truth.  He goes through a pack of gum in a day (sometimes a couple of hours) when it is his to have.  And truth.  He is not allowed to have his own pack often because he lacks self-control in that area.  It is the same thing with me and chocolate chip cookies.  I can eat the whole batch so I only bake them about once a year.  And then end up sick from the sugar overload.  It's nice to have the boys at the age where they really get it that the bikes we purchased the first week here were their gifts.

Joj requested to be able to pick out his own breakfast pastries so Tracy took him to Kaufland's right after he woke up...nice treat for me to not have to head out quite so early that day.  It's been more than once that I've had to go right away in the morning because we literally don't have anything to eat for breakfast but maybe a carrot or two and a handful of rice.  Still adjusting to shopping every day....I know, I've said that before!



For dinner, Josiah requested homemade pizza - I had only made pizza once up to that point as it has taken me a while to get in the groove with cooking like I did at home.  The boys thought that it turned out good enough that we've decided to make Friday nights pizza night.  Since I struggle to consistently menu plan one less night to think about is great with me.

 

Though it was fun to pick out a really cool looking torte for Joel's birthday, Josiah wasn't overly impressed with the taste so he asked me to bake his cake.  I had in my basket all the needed things to bake him a cake but discovered a really neat frozen torte as I made my way to the grocery check-out line.  It wasn't overly priced and was CHOCOLATE  - how could I go wrong?  Everything still takes me longer here so not having to bake a cake sounded really nice.  Thankfully, Josiah liked my choice of tortes.  The only real problem was that yet again, I purchased more than I could carry.  I ended up having to walk my bike home with the cake on the seat.  Now some would ask why I didn't just try to ride one handed.  Well, I've tried that before and decided I like my skin on my body rather than the road.  Actually, it wasn't that bad but close enough.

There is a photo of Tracy in his parents' kitchen when he was about 13 or 14.  He has the exact same grin on his face!  It's uncanny how much they look alike, except that Tracy's hair was darker by this age.

Just to show the yummy layers

Love these smiles!



Joel's 13th Birthday

Though we purchased birthday bikes for all the boys the week we arrived, we still want to make the actual day a special one for each of them.  So when in Germany, do as the Germans do, right?...and purchase a beautiful torte!

Joel turned 13 on the 15th of July, a Sunday.  I asked a few ladies where to get special pastries and cakes and was given two different places to consider.  One shop is just around the corner more or less so went there first.  I ordered breakfast from there - a strawberry torte looking thing.  Not being sure whether that would be enough, I also purchased a few items that looked like cheese cake layered with powdered sugar and white cake.  Because we told the boys that the bikes were their birthday, Joel wasn't expecting anything.  He was so excited to see a chocolate bar and a pack of gum at his spot at the breakfast table.  And was even more thrilled with special pastries, which we haven't purchased since our first morning in Germany.

We sang at breakfast b/c I didn't know if the candles would
work in the cake we would purchase later in the day.

After lunch and a nap (remember, it was a Sunday!), we all walked to Cron und Lanz, the most well-known bakery in the city.  And let me just say, I've been wanting to spend money in there since Day 1 as the displays look amazing!  It is just what you picture when you think of German tortes and chocolates.



I wanted to get one of the chocolate ones shown here, but the gal explained that
 those have rum in them which children don't tend to enjoy.  So Joel picked
one pictured in the bottom left of the window display.



Because we sang at breakfast, Joel didn't think he was going to
get a cake!  He was thrilled to pick out a fun torte - we all enjoyed it.



Joel requested fajitas for his birthday dinner - Mexican is hard to come by here.  A little jar of salsa is 3 Euros....that's about three or four spoonfuls.  Our family tends to drink salsa....by the gallon!  We quickly came up with our own recipe for salsa and make it every weekend now.  All in all, it was a fun day.

Josiah's birthday is August 13th, so we don't have long to wait
for all these special things again!



Loving our city and yet....

We LOVE:

1. All the Eis shops - ice-cream is yummy and cheap here.  We frequent them often.  Josiah and Noah have earned several Euros by collecting littered bottles, returning them to a grocery store and collecting the money for the recyclables.  They might have enough to take the whole family this weekend!  (Though I'm not sure they want to be that generous!)

It's so hard to choose just one flavor!

At our favorite ice-cream stand

2. Not having a vehicle - this can be a love/hate relationship.  It has been so nice to not have to deal with filling up a gas tank.  And the flip-side bonus is that we are all getting daily exercise with walking and biking.  The hate part of the relationship comes in when it's raining and you still need to go somewhere.  Or for me, I tend to buy more groceries than I can carry and have created quite a circus getting them home on more than one occasion!  One month in and I'm still adjusting to having to shop literally every day for our food.

After a trip to real (pronounced Re-Al) - our Wal-mart
....poured on us on the way home.

3. Germans don't have the same safety standards as Americans - makes going to the park or the pool very fun!  Americans would do well to learn from the Germans in this respect - if you fall and break your leg, don't try to blame someone else...especially the government.

Josiah on the water slide before Daddy came to join us.

Coming down the water slide with Daddy's help in clogging up the water - the boys just flew down the slide!

High dives - Joel has even done the 10 M a number of times.

Josiah trying to convince Noah that "it's not so bad" - Noah became our first 5 M junky!

We've been watching the Olympics - synchronized diving
...think Micah and Joel might be trying it themselves!

There is a large area for picnicking so we pack lunch and dinner and make a day of it.

4. Gouda cheese!  Cheese here in general is cheaper than in the States, so we eat a lot of it.  Putting Gouda on our sandwiches in the States = unheard of (at least in our house), but we have it everyday here.

5. Innerstadt or City Center - we live a few blocks from our city center - a very fun place to explore.  Goettingen is one of the few German cities not destroyed by WW2 bombing.  For instance, Heidelberg was over 90% demolished by bombing so what we saw there was almost completely rebuilt to look like it did in centuries past.  Goettingen is the real deal!  Tracy just read recently that Goettingen dates back to the 900s.

We love all the cobbled streets - Tracy wants to redo our driveway....surprised?

This is where we generally always enter the City Center.  This is a Fussweg/Pedestrians only - no bikes. 
Germans have no problem telling you if you are not following the rules.  I've only gotten chewed out once so far,
but it was very unpleasant as this woman was quite an angry person.  Helped a bit that it was all in German -
I might not have responded correctly if I knew all that she was yelling.  I really thought she might deck me
for a minute! - thankfully, not all are like her.

The Altes Rathaus - town hall but is now a tourist information center.
 The new building is quite unattractive architecture.

Gänseliesel - the goose girl - often said to be the most kissed girl in the world as everyone who graduates with a PhD from the university is pulled around the city in a hand-cart, stopping by and climbing the fountain to give her a kiss.  We saw it happen one evening - quite a festive time, but I forgot my camera that night.

Flower boxes are everywhere - LOVE it!

Cron und Lanz is the most famous bakery in Goettingen - the window displays are absolutely beautiful!

6. No screens on the windows - I couldn't believe it when we entered our flat to find no screens on the windows as I love to have fresh air flow through the house.  They aren't needed!  We have our windows open most days that it's been warm enough and have only dealt with the occasional fly.

7. Goettingen is a safe city allowing the boys to explore on their own more than I would dream of doing in the States.  Until they are a little more knowledgeable with the biking rules, they do have limits though.  That being said, German drivers are very conscientious about bikes - no one ever seems to be in a hurry or impatient with all the bikers and pedestrians....just a part of life here.

8. Lots of family time - we've played more board games and have had more family devotions since being here than we have had in a long time.  It's been a very healthy change of pace.  I am quite sure that it has been since the boys were really young that we were home every night.

9. Our flat - we are extremely blessed with a very spacious place.  We've been in several friends' places and know just how privileged we really are!

And still adjusting....

1. Germans smoke like chimneys!  Our neighbor tells us it is at about 50%, but I would venture to say closer to 75% - everywhere and all the time.  And there aren't many places that are off-limits.  That's taking some getting used to as I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke in my kitchen or while I'm at a restaurant or wherever.  In fact, one can more easily find vending machines for smokes than for candy bars or drinks.

2.  We miss our friends and family....we talk often of what so-and-so is probably doing right now.  We also talk about the things that we are missing - like the Bastian side of the family going to Sandbridge Beach this week together.  And then we quickly remind ourselves of all the neat opportunities that we've already had and will continue to have.  Plus, we are going back home again next summer.  We know the year will go quickly, but there are ups and downs.  We had our family devotions last night from Colossians 3:15-17 - three times in those short verses, we are told to live thankful lives - so we listed off all of the things we are thankful for here.

3. Language, language, language!  You know the saying that the three most important aspects of a business are location, location, location?  Well, I'm beginning to think that to thrive here, the important aspects are language, language, language.  It's so limiting what you can talk about with people if you are dependent on them knowing your language.  Most everyone speaks some English, but I am seeing just how much of a blessing it would be to be able to really converse in their mother tongue.  As of now, we know enough to get around but not enough to carry on normal conversations.

4. Locked doors - the doors into our building and into our flat lock automatically bringing with that the need to always have keys.  Always.  Even to take out the trash.  Something we are still getting used to - but thankfully we haven't had to call to have someone open a door for us....yet.