The Black Forest - Triberg

Triberg is located directly on the Black Forest railway line and is famous for Germany's highest waterfalls, which have an overall drop of 163 metres over 7 cascades. Extra bonus - it's only 50 minutes from our home in Stockach. This trip was extra special for me because of our weekend visitors!  The Palmer family came from their home in Wiesbaden & stayed the weekend. Matt & Kathy have two precious daughters - Emily (age 16)  & Lizzy (age 13).

Cecil and I met Kathy & Matt in Kansas back in April.  They were also attending the pre-command course required for future battalion commanders.  It was a really large group & I believe it was no mistake that Kathy & I shared a small group.  We became quick friends & I found it difficult to say goodbye after only knowing her a week.  The blessing is that they are stationed only 4 hours from us here in Germany!  

Kathy & Amy in downtown Triberg

Highest waterfall in Germany!  

Half -way to the top (in flip flops) and still smiling!

Somebody has a hard time staying on the path ....

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Triberg is famous for cuckoo clocks - this store had over 1,000 clocks

Cecil and Matt are both in battalion command - the Blackberry (or Crackberry) is never far away....




 Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor.Romans 12:10

Salzburg, Austria

Hohensalzburg Fortress in center city, Salzburg.  

Wow.  Where to begin?  I'll be honest; the city was a bit daunting & overwhelming to me in the beginning - so much history, so much to do, and SO BUSY!  Our first challenge was simply parking "The Beast" (otherwise known as our Ford Explorer), in the parking garage.  At one point I just took a deep breath, closed my eyes and PRAYED that we weren't going to scrape the hood of the truck! Needless to say, we took a taxi to the city center on our 2nd day visiting downtown!

Our time in Salzburg included:

*  Hohensalzburg Fortress
*  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthplace/museum
*  Salzburg Cathedral
*  Durrnberg Salt Mines
*  Salzburg's Old Town
*  St. Peter's Abbey

Salzburg Cathedral - The cathedral still contains the baptismal font in which Mozart was baptized!

Absolutely breathtaking!

Confessional

 

The boys lit a candle in honor of our friends and family - it was so wonderful to say a little prayer in the cathedral - it was packed with people but so quiet & peaceful.

Some of us didn't appreciate the architecture as much as the others....

Mozart's birthplace ... fascinating! He was born in the third floor apartment of this building.

The kitchen in Mozart's home.  

Next we took a horse and buggy tour through the city center.  Our guide, Erik, from Hungary.

Salzburg is truly a beautiful city.  Time to share some of what we saw on our buggy ride in town.

Salzburg is full of amazing street performers.  We are still trying to figure out how this gentleman stayed suspended mid-air & what kept the metallic paint from melting off his face!  It was HOT!

This cafe is over 500 years old!

Lots of Ferraris in Salzburg.  This guy looks like he'd be ok on the autobahn.

 On day 2 we ventured out to the Durrnberg Salt Mines.  How cool is this .... we traveled through the same tunnels that the Celts used to mine salts over 2,500 years ago!  Salz-burg translated literally means salt-castle!  

Salt-mining is serious and requires serious gear!

Ready to go down, down, down!

We straddled these green benches and rode the 'train' down into the mines.

The 1.5 hour tour was part riding, part sliding (yes - sliding) & part boating.

Crossing the border from Austria into Germany, several meters underground.

70 meter slide!

Dad and Hank's turn to slide!

Photobomber .... give you one guess :)

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.  Psalm 34:8

The Sound of Music - Von Marson Style

I first saw the movie "The Sound of Music" as a young child.  I loved the singing, and considered it a special treat when we were able to watch it on TV!  I have memories of yodeling and dancing around while singing, "girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes...” The musical is associated with fun and sweet memories of my younger days.  The three men in my house were real troopers and I dare say that they enjoyed themselves too!

Our family reserved a smaller bus tour for the big day.  We used Bob's Special Tours and it was beyond expectations for sure!  The adventure included a short City Tour, a stop at the magnificent Palace of Leopoldskorn, one of the two mansion used as the Von Trapp Home and the place where the children famously fell into the lake.  The tour ended with a stop at the famous Gazebo and a visit to the Parch Church of Mondsee where Maria & Georg were married!!   Our tour guide made several other super fun stops along the tour route, pictures below!

The sweetest tour guide EVER, Anna Maria from Austria.

This is totally random and equally awesome!  Meet Megan and Christy from TEXAS!!  These two sweet gals were the only other tourist on our small bus.  They quickly became my singing partners ( did I mention the Sound of  Music soundtrack was playing throughout the tour??)   My poor boys!

The Trapp-Family Home

Famous lake scene was filmed here!

THE GAZEBO!  LOVE!

I really tried hard to enjoy this tour :)  Remember the scene where Maria is singing and dancing down the road with her suitcases?  I'm sure you do now ;)

Mondsee Church where Maria and Georg were married.

Anna Marie was a fabulous tour guide.  She took us to the outdoor bob sled ride as a special treat for the boys.  Another special treat for mom, apple strudel and cappuccino while overlooking the beautiful countryside in Austria.

Hank and daddy ready to sled!

Harry and mom, self-portrait on the way up!

The tour ended in the beautiful Mirabell Gardens.

 

These two shared the back row of the van - not sure if they were paying 100% attention at all times but aren't they cute?

So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life.  That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.  Ecclesiastes 8:15