After some searching, we found our hotel! This is Isaac and Daphne just out front!
This is the view from our balcony:
This week, we found a big apartment/hotel suite that we shared with our friends Steve and Liz. Although this was definitely easier on the pocketbook, I think the kids were more excited than we were! And of course, Matt got them all riled up: turning Isaac's bed into a tent and giving Daphne and Zack capes so that they could be Super Heroes.
They were so adorable. Daphne kept holding Zack's hand and running around saying, "We are Super Man and Super Girl!" Then she stopped once, and thoughtfully announced, "If Zack is Super Man, then we are both grown ups, so I am Super Woman." With maybe just a little too much emphasis on the woman. (Oh, do slow down life! They are getting bigger every day and I can't quite hang on!)
And of course, the age-old, wise desire to pretend you are flying as you jump off of the top bunk. Except, I'm not sure most dads stop to take pics rather than re-directing....
The next morning, we headed out to Hallstatt! It is the quintessential little village. Completely adorable and nestled in between the mountains and the lake with waterfalls on either side
Hallstatt is a tiny little town- you essentially have to park in an external parking lot and walk into the city (although we squeezed our cars in the night before!) Even the parking lot was beautiful!
Hallstatt is one of Europe's oldest towns, dating back centuries before Christ. For thousands of years, people have been mining it's mountain for salt.
We stopped in the itty-bitty town square (definitely the smallest one we've seen) and had some breakfast. I had a ziploc bag with some oranges and plums in it; and while I was off talking to Isaac and Daphne, we turned around to see that Tori had helped herself to a plum! She ate over half of it, taking huge bites and burying her tiny face into it!
The town square is beautiful, with ivy covering much of the buildings. That's what we thought about this building at first, but if you look closely, it is actually a pear tree that grows right up the side of the building!
Here's our crew in the Town Square:
The town has two churches; the Protestant Church seen here:
And the Catholic Church, which is where the children are standing in this picture:
The Catholic Church is pretty fascinating. The Church is over 500 years old and a chapel in the back dates back to the Twelfth Century. But even more interesting than that is the cemetery, seen here:
Apparently, so many people want to be buried here, that they periodically have to exhume the bodies so that they can bury new people. Each headstone bears the names of several people. And once the bodies are exhumed, they are kept just behind the cemetery in the ossuary:
The skulls are dried and bleached in the sunlight, then painted with various designs, which symbolize things such as glory, vistory and love.
Each skull is inscribed with the person's name, birth and death dates.
Pretty interesting, huh? The pictures seem creepier to me than the actual ossuary did. The cemetery is so peaceful, and the little old lady who works at the ossuary is so smiley- it didn't seem as freaky or scary at the time. Looking back on it, I get a little creeped out!
They were so adorable. Daphne kept holding Zack's hand and running around saying, "We are Super Man and Super Girl!" Then she stopped once, and thoughtfully announced, "If Zack is Super Man, then we are both grown ups, so I am Super Woman." With maybe just a little too much emphasis on the woman. (Oh, do slow down life! They are getting bigger every day and I can't quite hang on!)Tori even got in on the fun, starting a wrestling match with her Daddy:
And of course, the age-old, wise desire to pretend you are flying as you jump off of the top bunk. Except, I'm not sure most dads stop to take pics rather than re-directing....
The next morning, we headed out to Hallstatt! It is the quintessential little village. Completely adorable and nestled in between the mountains and the lake with waterfalls on either side
Hallstatt is a tiny little town- you essentially have to park in an external parking lot and walk into the city (although we squeezed our cars in the night before!) Even the parking lot was beautiful!
Hallstatt is one of Europe's oldest towns, dating back centuries before Christ. For thousands of years, people have been mining it's mountain for salt.
We stopped in the itty-bitty town square (definitely the smallest one we've seen) and had some breakfast. I had a ziploc bag with some oranges and plums in it; and while I was off talking to Isaac and Daphne, we turned around to see that Tori had helped herself to a plum! She ate over half of it, taking huge bites and burying her tiny face into it!
The town square is beautiful, with ivy covering much of the buildings. That's what we thought about this building at first, but if you look closely, it is actually a pear tree that grows right up the side of the building!
Here's our crew in the Town Square:
The town has two churches; the Protestant Church seen here:
And the Catholic Church, which is where the children are standing in this picture:
The Catholic Church is pretty fascinating. The Church is over 500 years old and a chapel in the back dates back to the Twelfth Century. But even more interesting than that is the cemetery, seen here:
Apparently, so many people want to be buried here, that they periodically have to exhume the bodies so that they can bury new people. Each headstone bears the names of several people. And once the bodies are exhumed, they are kept just behind the cemetery in the ossuary:
The skulls are dried and bleached in the sunlight, then painted with various designs, which symbolize things such as glory, vistory and love.
Each skull is inscribed with the person's name, birth and death dates.
Pretty interesting, huh? The pictures seem creepier to me than the actual ossuary did. The cemetery is so peaceful, and the little old lady who works at the ossuary is so smiley- it didn't seem as freaky or scary at the time. Looking back on it, I get a little creeped out!After touring the Ossuary, we wanted to spend some time on this beautiful lake!!
So, after much debate and consideration, we rented a little boat!
So, after much debate and consideration, we rented a little boat! And here is our Captain and the Skipper, too!
Isaac was so stoked to take a turn driving:
And Ginger and Mary Ann, and Gilligan, too! (Don't ask me who's who!)
The kids really loved doing this- we explored the lake and took it easy.
It was so peaceful and beautiful! Just what I wanted from this final weekend...
Isaac was so stoked to take a turn driving:
And Ginger and Mary Ann, and Gilligan, too! (Don't ask me who's who!)
The kids really loved doing this- we explored the lake and took it easy.
It was so peaceful and beautiful! Just what I wanted from this final weekend...We fed the ducks and the swans along the way- we even had a whole gaggle of them following our boat for a while!
Tori wanted to stop and feed the ducks some more, so we took a little break for some duck feeding:
And posed for some pictures!
And of course we had to have a little ice cream on the way out!
We drove a little ways out of Hallstatt to investigate some Ice Caves- Pics soon to come!
Tori wanted to stop and feed the ducks some more, so we took a little break for some duck feeding:
And posed for some pictures!
And of course we had to have a little ice cream on the way out!
We drove a little ways out of Hallstatt to investigate some Ice Caves- Pics soon to come! 
1 comment:
AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME. It looks like you guys really had a good time. It brings back great memories. We need to do an October BBQ or something and swap pictures and stories.
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