A Weekend in Salzburg

This past weekend, I traveled to Salzburg with the Herkners. It was a weekend full of family, TONS of kids, hiking, and lots of picture taking for me. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the beauty of the Austrian countryside. We stayed with Irmgard's younger brother, Christoph, who lives in a beautiful home in the hills of Austria. Christoph and his wife, Isabella, have four children, and they hosted us along with another family with FIVE kids! Twelve children between the ages of six and fifteen were in this house. I felt like I was at summer camp. :)

HELLBRUNN CASTLE

At a rest stop somewhere in Austria.

(I absolutely love that the Herkners have a VW Bus!)

When we arrived in Salzburg, our first stop was Hellbrunn Castle. This Castle was built and inhabited by Archbishop Markus Sittikus in the 17th Century. Hellbrunn was his summer home, and portrays Sittikus's sense of humor and love of life. The archbishop commissioned an Italian architect to install trick fountains throughout the palace. Sittikus would host parties with lots of food and wine, and once his guests were sufficiently full of both, he would surprise them and turn on the fountains, which are still working today! (See photo below)

The tour guide asked for volunteers to sit around the table, and you can see that Felix was thrilled to get soaked!

All twelve kids!

Cousins, Simon and Vinzi, enjoying their weekend together. They're both 6, and good buddies.

HIKING ON SUNDAY

We had a leisurely Sunday morning at Christoph's home, and then all of the (male) cousins piled into the VW bus, and we met up with both Harald's and Irmgard's parents for a hike.

Christoph's home.

The breathtaking view from the balcony.

This is Jonas, 8. He let me sleep in his room, and kept reminding me of it all weekend. :)

Simon getting ready to hike!

Walking along this little stream inspired me to sing a Schubert lied. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but there really were trout in there! How could I NOT sing "Die Forelle"???

"The hills are alive...

...with the sound of music!"

All of the cousins made it to the top!

Jonas & Opa on the hike back down.

I think I'll end this post here for now. I still have a lot of updating to do, but I have to get going on my German homework! In my next post, I'll include stories of my interesting German class.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!