Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Germany

To say that we had a good time this week would be an understatement. There wasn't any shortage of laughter or story telling. Dan planned a great trip for us hitting many countries. We spent the first weekend close to home showing them the Heidelberg area. I took them to France and shopped for pottery on Friday while Dan took us the following day on a river cruise down the Rhine River. Looking at castles for a couple of hours was very nice.

Monday we were on the road heading down to Rothenberg ob der Tauber. This is my favorite place to take people. I absolutely love all the Christmas stores they have there. Patsy and I could have spent way more time and money there. Unfortunately we had to get on the road to Dachau but it was closed when we got there. What a disappointment, especially since Dan and Patsy stayed up Sunday watching Schindler's List. After Dachau, we were off to Salzburg, Austria...home of Sound of Music. We also watched The Sound of Music before we went.

Tuesday we went on the Sound of Music tour. What we couldn't see on the bus we walked around the town to find. This led to a lot singing (not all good) in the car. Salzburg was a GREAT town. I would highly recommend the tour and town. Wednesday ,we went to Berchtesgaden - this is in Germany only 15 minutes from Austria. We went on a Salt Mine tour here. This was my idea of a good time since I'm in love with salt. By the way, our tour guide looked just like Grandpa Vic...boy I wish we would have taken his picture, since I have a picture of everything else. The girls ejoyed it because they got free salt at the end of the tour. Little do they know they actually paid 15 euros for it (the entry fee). We were also supposed to go to the Eagles Nest but it had snowed so we couldn't get to it.

Back to Germany on Wednesday to Neuschwanstein. This is one of the most recognizable castles in the world. This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney to build Cinderella's castle. It is fun to see theses castles and the way they used to live in the 1800's. The gifts of gold and silver they gave to Kings and Queens were awesome. Maybe I was suppose to be a Queen. I would love to have these things sitting around my house.

Thursday afternoon we were on the road to Liechtenstein. This is a small country between Austria and Switzerland. The view we saw here was breath taking. Our hotel was great as it looked right out over the mountains. We arrived right as the sun was setting over the mountains. Who cares if right below there was a cow barn that smelled like...well you can only imagine and a church that rang it's bells on the 15 minutes and more at the top of the hour.

Our final day was in Luzern, Switzerland. We walked around the town and saw some famous bridges dating back to the 1700's and a church that was dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. The highlight of the day for everyone was the ride up to the top of the Swiss Alps - Mount Pilatus. We road the train up and were able to really enjoy the beautiful colors of the trees. We went up 7000 feet above sea level. We were almost knocking on heavens doors. No matter how many times we go to Switzerland and see the mountains it never gets old.

Friday evening we drove back to Rauenberg and had a nice rest in our own home. Saturday was filled with just some relaxation at home while Dan took his mom and Janet to see where he works in Mannheim. Sunday, I took Patsy and Janet to the Blackforest for a day of shopping and some light hiking to the waterfall. This is the same area that we went to in late September before the Octoberfest in Stuttgart.

Overall, the week and this weekend were great. We had a nice trip and were able to see a lot of areas in a short amount of time while enjoying some time with Patsy and Janet. They return to the US on Wednesday. Glad to have our first visitors and very happy that the weather was good while they were here. Enjoy the photos from our latest adventure.