austria

This is Maria’s convent from the movie “The Sound of Music.” It was founded around 714 by Saint Rupert of Salzburg, but made famous by the 1965 movie.

From a Salzburg tourist info site:
“A visit to the oldest salt mine in Europe is a special experience.
Here on the Durrnberg you can step through the same tunnels that the Celts used to mine salt over 2,500 years ago.
From the days of the Celts to the Salzburg Archbishops, salt brought riches and prosperity.
A visit to the salt mine on the Durrnberg is a journey back in time to when salt was still called “White Gold”.
Plunge into a mysterious underground world, thunder through tunnels far below the surface in the miners’ trolley, plummet into the heart of the mountain on speedy parallel slides.
Observe the world’s first salt gallery, the Celtic dioramas and the Celtic grave.
Glide across the subterranean salt lake on a mystical mist of sound, and hear the fascinating story of the “Man in Salt”.”
Allie had to stay at home with the baby, so Stefan joined us for an afternoon of learning about salt. The slides were awesome!!!!

Celtic grave- check out the skeleton!

When we were in the tunnel, we actually crossed the Austrian border into Germany. Thank goodness we didn’t need our passports!

We went to a beer hall in Salzburg. So fun. Of course it was raining so we had to sit inside, but we still had a good time. Many people were wearing lederhosen and dirndls which are traditional Austrian clothing. These folks take their beer seriously- check out the size of the steins!

The above image is what happens when Stefan takes a photo- I start staring into space and Jesse says “take the gosh darn picture, already!” ha

Jesse with a new friend dressed in lederhosen.

Maddux doing art at the beer hall.

A series of funny things happened right before this photo was taken, then I lost it. I couldn’t stop laughing! Allie is a silly lady.

Come hell or high water, I was going to have Allie blow out a candle for each year of her life so far. I went to three different stores and no one sold Birthday candles! Weird. Finally found some. Mission accomplished but they were some cheap, quick burning candles. He had to sing really fast!!!