June 11: Austria

We had hoped to get a good hike up to a waterfall this day, but with poor maps we ended up just having a long walk along this lake in Maurach, Austria.  It was still really hot!! So a dip in the lake was quite welcome.  Then onward to Germany with a quick coffee break in Innsbruck.  Innsbruck was actually quite crowded and had an unattractive sprawl.  Still you can't be too disappointed in a city ringed with mountains.  In Germany, we found a hotel right on the square in a little city called Kempten.   BTW, the Germans (and the Austrians) do drive fast.  But they drive well, so I thoroughly enjoyed the autobahn driving!

 Passed this along the way.

 Those two little dots are Max and Maggie.  This lake was actually an extraordinary turquoise blue!  

 We took a quick coffee break in Innsbruck, Austria.  Beautiful setting, cute Old Town, but the town seems to have a bit of ugly sprawl.

Dinner on the square.  Always nice.  The Radler helps, too.

June 10: Salzburg

Because we were packed for a Denmark climate, we had very few clothes for a heat wave.  I will probably be ready to throw my two or three hot weather items in the trash when we get home.  Laundry is scarce on the road.  Twice we stayed in Meininger Hotels, which are a cross between a hostel and a hotel.  They are one of the few places that has rooms that can accommodate a family.  Many places only have two person rooms.  They have one laundry machine and a guest kitchen as well.  With the number of backpackers who stay at these places, it's hard to use those facilities, but I managed to wash our few clothes that we had been wearing repeatedly.  Salzburg was wonderful...I'm so glad we decided to go there!  It is what I expected of Vienna, beautiful and quaint with a huge dose of history.  Plus....mountains.  

The fountain from the Sound of Music in Mirabelle Gardens!!

Fa....a long, long way to go!

On the Salzach River, with the Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background.

Afternoon break on the Salzach.  Necessary in 90 degrees.

The hills are alive!  I wanted to sing, too!  View from the fortress.

June 9

Some places take their holidays very seriously.  In Denmark, EVERYTHING is closed on national holidays, including grocery stores (many restaurants are open, though), so you better have some food!   Well, apparently Austria is the same and we had planned to pick up some groceries for this day.  Gas station groceries it was for our hike!  We did a little more exploration of beautiful Gmunden, then headed up to hike.  Of course, we all thought it would be cooler in the mountains, but Austria was still having a heat wave.  It was not cool.  The hike was beautiful, though, and we found a very cold lake where we all took a dip.  We had reserved a hotel in Salzburg, so we headed there in the evening.

Schloss Ort in Gmunden....actually in the Traunsee Lake in Gmunden!  A 1000 year old castle. 

 Ice cold lake on our hike.  Felt great in 90 degree temps!  There was also a cafe/pub...we didn't stop for a beer, but the Austrians know what they're doing.

Trees!

June 8 and forward

Playing catch up.  Been too tired or had too crappy wifi to post!  It's been a great week.  We started by picking a spot on the map: Gmunden, Austria.  Beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.  You can't get much more stunning than this place.  Just add a couple of kids.

This was our view from the hotel....a splurge for my birthday.  Would you believe there were fireworks that night?  Perfect.

June 6 - 8: Vienna

Well, wifi here stinks, so I don't think I'll even try a picture.  Vienna impressions: meh.  Maybe we shouldn't have traveled from a small city to a big city; or maybe it was too many cities in a row.  Whatever the reason, I'm not in love with Vienna.  Maybe because it's been 90 degrees here and our hotel/hostel room is stifling hot.  Maybe it's because it's a huge city and crowded like a huge city.  Maybe because it has a huge city's dirt.  Maybe because I get tired of tourist hucksters asking me if I want to buy tickets to a Mozart concert.  

The buildings are certainly impressive.  Pompous, really.  You can tell this was the seat of a very wealthy empire.

The bright spot: the reason we came here - to visit the Hundertwasser museum and house.  The kids studies him with their wonderful Danish art teacher, and they really wanted to come see his stuff.  Check him out!

Visiting his museum was a good way to get us excited about the next leg of our trip: renting a car and getting the heck out of the city into the mountains, heading through Austria and Germany.  Nature! (and cooler temps, I hope!)!

Not sure what kind of wifi I'll find, so posting may be spotty.