Guten Tag, and welcome to Germany/Austria, where the weather is hot and the pretzels are plentiful.
Coffee and cake with Mike’s family in Germany
We left England on Sunday after a lovely (albeit quick) visit with the Cole family while we waited at Bristol airport, and then we arrived in Frankfurt to spend a few days with my (Mike’s) extended family.
It’s been unexpectedly hot here on the continent, with temperatures in the low to mid 30s. Still, that’s better than rain, and I expect that things will cool down a bit when we head to the Alps of Switzerland.
On our way from Frankfurt
In Frankfurt we visited with my Oma, who is 101 and still doing well. We went to some swimming pools and stocked up on Haribo gummies — nothing too strenuous. Then on Wednesday we were on our way from Frankfurt to Salzburg via Munich.
Salzburg is really nice. A manageable city with lots of open squares and a focus on music. On the mountain that overlooks the city is a fortress that has famously never been breached, unless you count the numerous tourists that attack it daily. We also enjoyed our first #RickSteves guided audio tour, which was fine although I felt a bit self-conscious with my headphones on while we walked through a couple of churches.
Our first Rick Steves audio tour in Salzburg
The gazebo used in the filming of the Sound of Music
Mirabel Gardens in Salzburg with the fortress in the distance
Today (Aug 14) is Heidi’s birthday, and we celebrated with a gummy cake from the nearby gummy bear store. In the evening we watched a marionette performance of the Sound of Music — what an amazing show and a wonderful way to end our three days here.
Tomorrow we take the train to Vienna for a quick one-day visit before catching the overnight train to Venice. Word has it that our accommodations in Venice has air conditioning… hooray!
Want to see more pictures? You can go to our flickr page!
Heidi’s gummy birthday cake
Here we are after watching the wonderful performance of the Sound of Music by the marionette puppeteers