In July, Nick had a 3 week trip to Austria for the Senior World Championships. The games drew European soccer game-like crowds & were very well received and supported. I joined Nick toward the end of his duties & was able to be there for the championship game against Team Canada.
Team USA came away the clear victors & the celebrating began.
Go USA!
While the team was preparing for their final game, I spent a couple of days galavanting around Vienna with the coaches' wives.
Belvedere Palace
(Just a small summer home)
Pucker up!
There were a bunch of these funny little sculptures in the Belvedere Palace art museum.
The grounds of Schonbrunn Palace
(This is what our backyard looks like too.)
One of my favorite places in Vienna - the Naschmarkt. It's a huge food market that is open every day & on the weekends there is a flea market as well. It's like a city-wide garage sale.
I don't recognize some of these berries & would never venture to eat them in the wild, but I'm guessing they're edible since they are for sale.
Guess what this is?
Rabbit.
How come I can never get my basil to look like that?
Our favorite pushy salesman. He ended every other sentence with "It's ok, baby!" in his Italian/German accent. We got free samples of just about everything though. My favorite were the tarimisu covered almonds - yum!
Crown jewels
Just one of the many gaudy displays in this exhibit.
St. Stephen's Cathedral - impressive, inside & out.
One of the many street performers in Vienna.
After seeing the team off at the airport, Nick & I boarded a train heading to Salzburg.
Mirabell Gardens with the Hohen Salzburg Fortress in the background.
Mirabell Gardens
Mirabell Gardens
The hydrangeas all over Austria were unreal.
Old Town Salzburg
Where Mozart was born.
Since Salzburg is Mozart's hometown, he was everywhere.
Old Town Salzburg Cathedral
Playing a game in the Hohen Fortress courtyard. I won. Nick didn't get any of those rings on the unicorn.
View from the fortress - Salzburg
Old Town Salzburg
Sound of Music Tour Bull
We didn't go on the tour, but liked the bull.
After Salzburg, we drove deeper into the Salzkammergut region (mountains & lakes) & spent some time in what became our favorite place in Austria - Hallstatt, a tiny salt mining town.
Pear tree growing against someone's house in Hallstatt
Painted skulls in a creepy little charnel in Hallstatt. Real estate was so hard to come by that they would dig you up after 10 years, remove your skull and large bones, paint you with loving symbols, & then place you here to rest.
Most people just get cremated now. Hmm... wonder why?
Lake Hallstatt
One of the best ways to see the village - by boat.
The next best way to see Hallstatt was from above as we hiked up to the entrance of the salt mine.
Getting ready for our salt mine tour. I was really grateful for these nifty outfits they gave us. The mine was freezing & the added layer did not hurt!
One of the wooden slides we went down in the salt mine when moving to lower levels. You actually go pretty fast with those outfits they put you in.
Trying to brake isn't a good idea, they said.
Nick & I raced... I won.
(Can you tell that I find the need to gloat when that happens? It's because it's so rare.)
Our last stop - St. Gilgen on Lake Wolfgang
Beautiful turquoise water that isn't done justice in the pictures.
A really cute Austrian resort town.
Some swans and the local children enjoying an evening dip in the lake in just their underwear. Finally some nudity on this blog that doesn't involve OUR children.
Nothing screams resort town more than mini golf... but their version omitted the green turf - just straight cement in St. Gilgen, Austria. (Nick won.)
Our charming hotel in St. Gilgen
On our drive back to Vienna before catching our flight home, we hit one last highlight... a rest stop. Yep, you read that right. The Austrians know how to do rest stops right. It was incredible. The whole place was one massive gourmet cafeteria. We had to take a few pictures to attempt to capture how awesome a rest stop could be, but we were asked to refrain from photography by the staff. Dumb tourists.
Here is the pasta bar. All the pasta is made fresh & then cooked to order. You could tell we weren't too far from the Italian border.
Juice bar - any kind you could imagine.
The beer choices, of course.
Salad bar
Salad bar
And my personal favorite... the gelato.
I also had to take a picture of the bathroom stall because I thought it was pretty funny that an ashtray came standard. Gotta love European tobacco habits.
After an incredible trip, we were ready to head back to see our girls. We owe Nana & Papa Inzerello a huge thank you for making that once-in-a-lifetime trip possible!
