18-20 December 2014
Gooooooood bye Salzburg!
Hellllllllllooooooo Sankt Johann (im Pongau)!!!!
A couple of views from the road (I think this is Burg Hohenwerfen):
Entering Sankt Johann…..it's so….so….so… GREEN!!!
All checked into the Alpenland Sport Hotel (Mark has stayed here many, many times on business trips and we've been here a few other times on combined business/family trips). It's been 10 years since my first stay at this hotel. Not much has changed over the years!
View out our window. Ahhhh….mountains and fresh air.
So…I'm wearing my Arctic-approval survival winter jacket. What was I thinking?? Ten steps out from the hotel and I was being cooked alive! I should have left the darn thing in the hotel…it really wasn't cold (at all).
The white polka dots along the hill really crack me up. (obviously they're tufts of man-made snow shot out of snow machine but it's too warm here for the snow to stick around…which is why they weren't making any snow while we were there.):
We're heading in the direction of Hahnbaumalm while our legs hold out. Annika and I did this hike many moons ago. She claims she doesn't remember. Perhaps it could be the fact that I she was snuggly sitting in the baby backpack. (that was a loooooooong time ago!!!!)
Some penguin sliding on the existing snow fields/ice patches:
Annika grabbing a walking stick…or staff.
I'm never sure what these are called:
I think it's a memorial for someone…but I could be mistaken!
Ooooh! A burbling creek!
Up a creek!
Searching for rocks…
And generally just exploring. And why not??? We're not here to march the girls to death. They should be able to go explore if they have the desire to do so!
And right about now is when I'm extra thankful we spent the big bucks on the waterproof winter boots in Paris:
Time to keep marching up the hill:
A stop…I think Annika is trying to carve her stick with a rock but it's not working very well:
And over another tiny bridge (onwards and upwards):
Ava's out on a limb:
Pause for a moment and take a look at the valley below:
Or, if you're our girls you'll be busy digging big rocks out of the mud:
That's Mark off in the distance:
We didn't quite make it to Hahnbaumalm- which is okay- since it wasn't open anyway. It's time to turn around and head back down the big hill. We've got a reservation at one of Mark's favorite restaurants, Oberforsthof…
Yay! It's dinner time for us! I think we are the only ones here which makes it eerily quiet. Especially when you come from China where EVERYONE seems to be YELLING all the TIME!
Our waiter lit the fire in the fireplace closest to us. I'm loving the ambience here. However, this place has changed significantly since we were last here (for the better….it's no longer the hoppin' night club it once was.)
We asked our goofy waiter to take our photo…this is what we get. HAHAHAHA!!!!
Okay, here's the "real" photo of us…
I took a series of photos of Annika making funny facial expressions. I think she was sketching faces in her notebook. Is it just me or does she look like her older cousin Lily in this photo???
Mark's dinner…I've no clue what it is. I had the bauernschmaus and it was too vast to even remotely consider finishing. These meals could feed a small army!
Our schnapps….turns out this wasn't our favorite as it was sweetened with honey. Sounds like that should be a good thing but this was a weird kind of sweet (which schnapps shouldn't be):
Time to head to bed. Whoops. Looks like Ava's already checked out….
Good morning! After breakfast and then….ummmm….a baked treat at a konditorei (am I really wondering how I gained weight over the holidays???? NO!):
My yummy bit of goodness…. Layer upon layer…bite by bite:
After stuffing ourselves silly we wanted to do some hiking/walking/physical activities and maybe find a snow patch to play in. All the places we've been to in the past were either closed or had no snow. Hmmm…. We decided to get into the car and drive towards a small, cute town called Wagrain. Here are some views from the drive (notice the cloud coverage):
Passing through Wagrain:
We kept going past Wagrain (at the big fork in the road we spontaneously decided to go right and head down a smaller road). What is the color of the sky???
At the end of the road:
Here's our rental van. Mark really wanted to rent a BMW sedan but considering how crammed the girls were in one on our last visit to Europe (including the giant duffle bag that was on their laps for a long drive). Yeah. Not going to work for this trip (considering the fact that we have bigger kids now!). Soooo….here's the gigantic Mercedes van we rent:
We found this beautiful place….a tiny lake called Jagersee. Bonus! There's even a little bit of snow here!
Plus there's a snow man to dance with…or not:
Blue skies, mountains and a tiny lake…and the sun. Just gorgeous!
I want to walk the round trip walk around the lake…Anybody up for a walk? Hey…where did my family disappear to??
There they are! The girls are heading up the hill and playing in the snow…
And playing in the not-snow areas:
I think I'll park myself on this stump and enjoy the views:
Mark is whittling a stick. Because he can. Did you really need a reason???
And check out the beautiful forest behind us…
Ava and I went for a short walk into the deep, dark woods. We even found flowers blooming!
A Christmas or Lenten rose (I think it's Helleborus niger…definitely a hellebore). It's blooming!!!
Ava is a little flower girl:
The sun has been slowly setting. Now that it's finally vanished behind the mountains it's getting colder. I still want to do that walk around the lake but I don't want to do it in the dark. Can we please do it now?
I've managed to convince the rest of the family to join me….here's another view of the tiny lake:
And here's a river that is feeding the lake:
The girls are searching for interesting rocks. I tried (unsucessfully) skipping a few rocks into the river.
I think Ava might be telling me to stop taking photos and get a move…we've almost finished walking around the entire lake:
Check out these pretty looking guest houses:
The girls naturally gravitate towards cats:
Hmmmm…maybe we'll have to stay here on our next visit:
That was an excellent walk! Now it's time to head back to Sankt Johann. What in the world? Oh! Horses pulling a carriage:
It's pizza time! Tonight we get to eat our most favorite pizza in all the world…which happens to be located *right in our hotel*. Yay! Beer and pizza. Perfect dinner!
Malakoff torte…ever heard of it? It's my birthday cake! I'm going to enjoy this slice…..yummmmmmy…..
Time to jump into the pool. The water is a little cooler than what I'd like. Oh, and the hot tubs should be renamed "lukewarm tubs". Hmmm….
Today we have to leave and head towards Opa's place….but still, nice views out our hotel window:
Time to head out! Let's check out and drive to Opa's house in Veitsch!!!!