4th / 5th Grade Summer Fair...

Ashlynn anxiously awaited the day when she’d be the big kid running a booth at the school’s Summer Fair. She wasn’t initially thrilled when she heard that the theme would be Fairy Tales, but she Masha, Sara and Zoe managed to put together a cute obstacle course called the Walk in the Creepy Woods. I helped prepare lunch for the kids, then worked the strawberries & cream booth. It was fun checking on Ashlynn and seeing her direct and time the younger students through the course. It was quite hot, so Ashlynn saw an opportunity to raise some extra money by charging for a cooling blast from her water spray bottle. Overall, the event raised over €3,000 for a kindergarten in Romania--not bad considering most of the booths only charged €0.10 each.

Our Smiling Girl...

Veronica had to do a quick dry off, put on her running shoes, grab her helmet and race number and walk her bike to the start of the 14K cycle route. As we hung out at the transition area, we didn’t actually see her on that portion of the race. But we did get to see her several times during the 2.5K run as she had to do three loops (which led to major confusion for several of the runners). She was all smiles as she came into the finish line in 58:31. She came in 5th out of the 12-14 year old girls. It was very exciting that her buddy David came in 3rd in the 12-14 year old boys, Max came in 2nd in the 15-16 year old boys and the school team came in 1st. She said she’d gladly do another triathlon, but unfortunately this is the only mini-sprint in Holland. We went out afterwards with a big group for pizza to celebrate.

Our Pink Girl...

When Jimmy was in Cary, he stopped at the tri-store and picked up quick-tie laces and a swimming cap. What luck that she was the only pink cap in a sea of blue. While it had threatened rain earlier in the day, the weather was perfect for a race. The water temp had even heated up, so a wetsuit wasn’t necessary. The swim was 250 meters (half of a sprint triathlon) and she did breast stroke with her head out most of the way.

Our Tri-Girl...

When I got the notice that the school was starting a Triathlon Training Club for the upcoming children’s triathlon in Holland, I suggested to Veronica that she sign up. She wasn’t really interested, but after some gentle persuasion, she agreed to try it. She was the only girl amongst 12 boys and she really liked it (and not just because she was surrounded by boys). It was too cold to actually train in the lake, so they concentrated on the bike, run and transitions for the six weeks. Veronica was very excited and a bit nervous when we arrived to check in for the race on June 11th, she got her number and entered the heat.

Suiting Up for the Lake..

After our return from our fun Austrian adventure, we got together with Sally and the boys to take the kids swimming at the Vlietland, a lake in Voorschoten, in preparation for the upcoming triathlon for Veronica and David. Sally was sweet enough to drive us to Rotterdam to hit a sale on wetsuits. Jimmy came along for a training swim; Ashlynn and Andrew came along to play in the water. At first it seemed kind of silly to buy wetsuits, but then we realized they’d come handy in our cold pool as well.

I Take Thee...

On our drive back to the airport, we stopped by the lake town of Mondsee to see our final Sound of Music site. This lovely church is where the fictional Georg and Maria married; the real ones are reported to have married in Nonnberg Nunnery. It looked different to us because the metal gates at the back separating the nuns were just there temporarily for filming. A nice ending for a great trip. Too bad that we waited until Betsy was about to move to Houston to discover that we make good travelling companions.

Hellbrunn Castle...

On our final day, we stopped at Hellbrunn Castle to see the Sound of Music pavilion, which was at a different castle for filming, but had been relocated since. Our timing was perfect as we got to watch a procession of vintage race cars. Since we had some time to kill, we took an audio tour of the castle, built in 1615 as a Summer Palace for Archbishop Markus Sittikus.
Afterwards, we took a guided tour of the gardens. We had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised and amazed by the trick fountains, all built without electricity. Apparently the Archbishop liked to invite his guests to sit around this table. He always sat at the head of the table, the only spot that stayed dry when he pushed the button to start the fountains. The guide had fun trying to get us wet at the different hidden fountains throughout the immense garden. Definitely a castle worth visiting.

Fun Rides in the Salt Mines...

There were two slides within the mine. They were wooden with grooves for our legs. The second one had a clock at the bottom to track how fast you went. Ashlynn’s pants didn’t have the rubber panel and she flew down at a whopping 32 MPH versus Veronica’s, Betsy’s and my 19 MPH. To exit the mine, we went on a small train which was also pretty fun. Afterwards, we walked in the rain down to the lakefront and had a delicious Austrian meal.

Off to the Salt Mines...

One of the other big attractions in the Salzburg area are the nearby salt mines. We chose to drive to the charming lakeside city of Hallstatt to visit a mine. We started by taking a funicular, then an elevator before hiking up the final bit up the mountain to the mouth of the mine. We changed into our miner’s clothes—pants with a rubbery panel on the bottom. It was interesting walking around inside the mine, however, we were disappointed not to actually see any salt being extracted and the guide did a poor job explaining things in English.

Sixteen Going on Seventeen....

We were disappointed that the glass pavilion was locked so we couldn’t jump around the benches singing Sixteen Going on Seventeen. Apparently it used to be open to the public, but closed after someone fell off a bench and crashed through the glass. Here you also see the girls singing Do-Re-Mi.

Do-Re-Mi...

Luckily the rain stopped so we could run through Mirabell Gardens, considered to be one of the most Baroque gardens in Europe, singing Do-Re-Mi.

So Long, Farewell...

We took a tour of the Salzburg Festival Halls, which included two other beautiful stages not used in the movie. The Felsenreitschule, the infamous stage where the von Trapp Family Singers perform and the father sings Edelweiss (which isn’t an Austrian folk song after all, but was written for the movie) was actually built in the late 1600’s as a riding school for viewing of horses. It wasn’t until 1926 that it was first used as a stage for classical concerts as part of the Salzburg Festival. In 1969 a roof was installed that can be opened on a sunny summer day, which it was not.

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning...

...a very good place to start. Rather than take a guided tour, we decided to visit The Sound of Music sites on our own. Sorry, but these photos aren’t in order of the scenes in the movie. This fountain was from the scene where Maria was on her way to the van Trapp villa singing I Have Confidence in Me. The girls are re-enacting the scene when the children visit the Nonnberg Nunnery (considered to be the oldest convent in the world) in an effort to get Maria to return. The real Maria was in fact never a novice there.

Starting at the Top...

Before visiting the movie sites, we traveled to the top of the hill. We took an elevator up through

the art museum, then a nice walk along the top of the ridge to the Hohensalzburg Fort dating from 1011. Betsy and I laughed after we both were bored listening to the adult audio tour and decided to switch to the kid’s version which was much more interesting. The girls especially enjoyed checking out the Royal Loo and the Marionette Museum.

The Hills are Alive...

I must confess -- as corny as it sounds, our primary goal of going to Austria was to visit the lovely sights where The Sound of Music was filmed. After our afternoon in Vienna, we headed to the airport to pick up a car for the two-hour drive to the very picturesque city of Salzburg. We splurged on a large family room at a hotel with a pool, which allowed Veronica to do laps in preparation for her first triathlon the following month. The large DVD library also came in handy as it was rainy much of the three nights.

Potty Humor...

You know that it doesn’t take much to make me laugh, but we all giggled at these two signs. The top directed us to the loo at the Hundertwasser House, which we paid to use and wasn’t as artistic as the free loo at his cafe. Veronica wasn’t afraid to try the wiener water since she knew that Wiener means from Vienna.

Vienna is Famous For...

After the amusement park, we visited two of Vienna’s famous sites--the Hundertwasser House and the Spanish Riding School. Hundertwasser was an artist and an architect who was inspired by nature which resulted in bold colors and uneven lines. This building, containing 52 apartments and 250 trees and bushes, was finished in 1996. We didn’t go in his museum, but did eat at the museum cafe which also featured uneven floors and lots of mosaics. Although we missed seeing the famous Lipizzaner horses perform, we did manage to do a tour of the stables. Ashlynn was greatly disappointed that we weren’t allowed to pet these beautiful horses, but that didn’t stop one of them from giving her an illegal nuzzle.

Fun & Games in Vienna...

When Ashlynn heard that there was an amusement park in downtown Vienna, she was on her best behavior so that I’d be willing to take her. There’s no charge to enter the Prater, which was mostly a ghost town on an early Monday morning. The girls did manage to go on two rather dubious looking roller coasters, so they were happy.

We loved watching this marionette next to the cathedral who entertained us by playing Elvis songs. If you look closely, you can see that his eyes popped out as Veronica put coins in his case.

Off to Vienna...

When we found out that James would be away during the girls’ half term break, I asked a friend from book club if she’d like to join us in Austria. Betsy had been before, but was happy to go again to see some places she’d missed. We spent the night before in her lovely apartment in Amsterdam so we’d be near the airport for our early morning flight to Vienna. After a nap at the hotel (conveniently timed during a thunderstorm), we hit the town. Our first stop was the very impressive cathedral. I knew that I’d chosen a good travel partner when the first words out of Betsy’s mouth when she saw the ceiling was “Holy s*&%”; she’d failed to notice that she standing by a priest at the time. Here the girls are on the walk up to the clock tower. The city center of Vienna is quite beautiful with a lot of impressive buildings. We enjoyed watching a few minutes of a free symphonic concert before heading to the rose garden.