Day 4 - Our evening in Venice, Italy

We arrived in beautiful Venice Italy on the evening of our 4th day. I will say, this has been a dream of mine most of my life. I have always wanted to go to Venice. But it was a stark contrast to where we just came from. The pristine villages of the gigantic Alps to the run down (dare I say "dirty), flat lands of this part of Italy and the watery city of Venice. At first, to be honest, I was a little disappointed. But once I spent some time in this historic and truly beautiful city, I saw its charm and fell in love with it!

The Grand Canal...

Our Gondolier helping me on for our romantic ride around the city during the twilight.

The buildings glow in the light of the setting sun.

He didn't speak much English, but he was very nice. He had a very Italian name too, Romano - I think?

The full moon was out and the city was so romantic!

We grabbed a dessert and sat in the central square to listen to some beautiful orchestra music outdoors. What an experience!

Nathan bought me a rose from a peddler and when I protested he said, "Don't you deserve a rose in Venice?" And the dessert I am holding was divine!

Venice at night...magical!

Grossglockner Road Slide Show

More pictures of going over the Alps in Austria.

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Day 4 - Leaving the aps...

After coming down from the Alps...

We came upon this pretty little church called the Church of Heiligenblut. Click here to read about it, it has a pretty interesting history.

We also came across a motorcycle vs. vehicle accident. The lady on the motorcycle seemed to be okay. She was talking and even sitting upright on the gurney, but they still life flighted her out. I took a picture of the helicopter taking off so we would remember this part of our trip. We had to wait for more than a half hour before the narrow road opened up again and we could be on our way.

Off to Venice!

Day 4 - Grossglockner Road

After leaving Krimml Falls we headed south towards Venice. We took Grossglockner Road which is a world famous road and a dream of avid motorcyclist. We saw hundreds of motorcycles and lots of bicycles. I was constantly amazed that these athletes could power up the mountains like they did! The road is only open from May 1st to the end of October. It closes because of the snow and the high cost of plowing such a long, high, winding road. The website says, " The most famous alpine road leads you into the heart of the Hohe Tauern National Park, to the highest mountain in Austria, the Grossglockner (3,798m) and its glacier, the Pasterze. You will have a driving and nature experience of a special kind on 48 kilometres of high alpine road with 36 bends, and an altitude ascent to 2,504 metres!" So we also went to the highest mountain in Austria and the eastern Alps, the largest and longest glacier in Austria (9th largest in the Alps overall) and the "longest and most splendid highway in Europe".

Here is a shot looking down on part of the curves we just drove up. You would be surprised at how fast some of those motorcycles would take these curves!

On top of the world! Okay, not quite, but it felt like it. See the clouds below us? The wind was cold, but the sun was hot. Nathan actually got a sunburn this day!

Nathan with his new hat and a gorgeous view!

See how tall the snow is piled up? Okay, so I am only 5'1", but still!

So pretty!

These cute little guys are called Murmeltieres, kind of like ground hogs. They actually lived near the glacier.

That is the Pasterze Glacier behind us...

largest glacier in Austria!

Day 4 - Sunrise in the Northern Alps, Austria

I woke up early in the morning to Skype the kids. It was 5:00AM our time and 8:00PM the night before back home. That is the Andrew and Ben's bedtime so I had to say goodnight/good morning. The kids and us had fun with the time change. I would say "good night" to them and they would say "good morning" to us. Then Perry would ask us how tomorrow was. It was funny.

Anyways, I got up and saw this amazing sunset. The pictures really do not do it justice at all. The colors were so rich. It was one of the most beautiful mornings I have ever experienced in my life!

Day 3 - Dachau and Krimmel Falls

When we left beautiful Rothenberg, we traveled first to Dachau. What a contrast! This was the first concentration camp in WWII. I had really mixed feeling about going or not. On one hand I felt I couldn't be this close without going. I wanted to "pay my respects" in a way to all those who lost their lives there. The same reason people go to Pearl Harbor or Carthage Jail, I suppose. On the other hand I didn't know if I could be in a place where so much evil occurred, so much pain and suffering. We decided to go and take it one step at a time. And that is just what we did. We walked slowly, and I cried... a lot. I am glad I went though, in a way. And I pray this never happens again!

(Note to reader: from here on out the pictures are not in order and some of them uploaded in a smaller size. But instead of trying to fix them, we are just going to work with it.)

After leaving that dreadful place, we continued on our way to Krimml Falls in the northern Alps of Austria. This is the highest waterfall in Europe! We really enjoyed all the amazing views. The Alps are so beautiful! So magnificent! Here is a nice picture along our drive, isn't it pretty?

You can see a small part of Krimml falls behind the goat statue.

Nathan bought himself a cool woolen hat from the Alps! It is going to be his new camping hat.

These cows all had cow bells on them. Nathan was fascinated by them. They were very noisy and they still smelled like cows. (I can't stand cows, yuck!)

This one was funny though, he was resting his head on the fence post, almost as if to say, "This bell sure is heavy."

More of Krimml Falls.

A view of Krimml Falls from our hotel balcony.

Nathan at the trail head.

That is Krimml falls in the far distance behind us.

Slide Show - Before we leave Rothenberg...

The next morning Nathan woke up extra early to take some pictures of this beautiful city before all the other tourist woke up. Here are more pictures of Rothenberg, in the morning.

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Rothenberg in the morning...

Here are some beautiful pictures of the sweet little village of Rothenberg in the morning, before all the other tourist come out, before the shops open. Quiet, peaceful, all to ourselves.

Rothenberg Slide Show

Photos of our day in Rothenberg!

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Day 2 - Rothenberg, Germany

We stayed with our good friends, Kevin and Marnie and their three cute kids near Frankfurt. Kevin and Nathan went to OHSU dental school together and have been friends since Idaho State! It was so wonderful to see them. We planned to meet up again later on in the trip, but our initial visit was a short one. (Kevin and Marnie, Thanks again for letting us stay! Marnie, the breakfast you made was amazing! I have to make that sometime soon!)

Then we were on our way to Rothenberg. On our way we saw many of these bright yellow fields, it truly was a beautiful countryside to drive through! Even if we were on the autobahn and driving fast!

Once we arrived in Rothenberg (and found parking, which wasn't easy) we walked into the mid-evil walled city. This city started in 950AD! It was my favorite town we visited. Very historic, very pretty! There was some sort of festival going on so they had lots of people playing the part of days gone by so it really felt like you stepped back in time. Like you can see in this picture. This town survived the 30 years war and both world wars. The WWII did damage a good portion of it, but they devised a clever way to rebuild. They petitioned people all over the world to help and if they helped their names, or organization, would be put on a brick and set into the newly constructed wall. But even the newer portion was built to blend in with the old, so you really cannot tell.

We did some shopping here. I bought this beautiful nativity from this lady in a tiny shop. She was sitting at her desk painting the pieces. She said her husband makes them and she paints. I like to buy from people who did the work with their own hands. She was very sweet. If anyone knows what this is called, please let me know! It is the kind that you light the candles and the heat makes the propellers rotate on top. They are really cool and I have always wanted one, but I have no idea what they are called!

We also bought food. Oh the food was so good! These delicacies are specific to Rothenberg and they are called "Schneeballen" or snowballs! Yummmm! We bought a tin can of seven to bring home to the kids and grandma and grandpa to try. They assured us that they would stay fresh, and they were.

We founds a meat shop and Nathan bought a bratwurst. He was a happy man! It was really tasty.

They are funny there, they serve their really long bratwurst on round hard rolls. Still good though!

Just walking in one of the streets. Nathan said that if he has to get people in the shot, I better be one of them.

We stayed at a place called "Hotel Spitzweg" and it was built in 1536! It was very beautiful. The breakfast was delicious too! This is the entry hall...

This is our room, looking off the foot of the bed...

Such a picturesque village!

Here we are on the outskirts of the village with the main part behind me. So pretty!

We walked around the wall. It is a walled city with a really rich history. Here Nathan is on the stairs leading up to the wall.

We took our friends' (Kevin and Marnie's) advice and went on the Night Watchman's Tour. It was very educational and very entertaining. The tour guide/actor has been doing the tour for over 20 years and it was like a traveling, educational comedy act of sorts. For example he showed us a restaurant, and while I cannot remember the name in German, it meant "The Hell" and was I think the third oldest building in Rothenberg. He said that it had great food and was open later than any other place. So if you meet someone at night and they tell you to "go to hell" they aren't being mean, it is simply a good recommendation. (But of course he is saying all this with his wonderful accent and funny way.) Anyway, of course Nathan and I had to eat there. The food was good. We sat at a table with a couple and their son and had a nice visit with them. And now we can say we have truly been to hell and back (and the food was good! Ha Ha!) That brings up another interesting part of Europe. You do not ask for a "table for two" you simple get sat where ever there is room. We sat with complete strangers at almost every restaurant we went to. Interesting...efficient! Here I am with the Night Watchman...

After the tour, and after our dinner in ...you know...we walked around the streets at night and enjoyed the quietness of the village after dark. Nathan took some neat pictures too. Here is one...