The boy and I headed to Europe on 16July2019. First stop: Vienna Austria.
The flight was long - we did have a direct flight from Chicago booked, but weather through that plan out the window. Our flights became- Cincinnati to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt Germany, Frankfurt to Vienna. Almost 20 hours of travel time. Aidan slept on the flight to Frankfurt, I did not.
Visa stamp for Europe (we would get another in Vienna).
flying into Vienna. We were picked up by Lukas and his mom. We headed to the hotel to check, change and then out for a little while- all tactics to keep us from sleeping.
Over the Danube River coming into Vienna.
Changed and walking around Vienna. It is a very walkable city with great transportation. We took the tram downtown- we were staying just outside the downtown area.
The boys: Aidan (13), Lukas (18), Jakob (15)
handsome young men.
The Hapsburg palace in the center. also called the Hofsburg palace
St. Stefan's Cathedral
Lukas' mom, Sylvia, next to the resistance symbol from WWII that her grandfather created. "O" for Oesterrich (the German name for Austria) and 5 for the fifth letter of the alphabet, the "e" when an umlaut is not used to spell Oesterrich.
inside Stefan's cathedral.
The Russian Orthodox church right next to our hotel. The Russian embassy was just beyond it, and then lukas' family apartment.
My breakfast most days, 2 little sammerl (brotchen) sandwiches, fruit and a liter of sparkling water. It was at least 30 degrees C every day (90 F).
Day 2 in Austria- and one tired young man. Heading out to Schonbrun palace. This was a summer palace of the Hapsburg family.
The subway map
Schonbrun Palace
from the back side.
Looking at the private garden
the private garden and palace.
me and the garden
Heading to the Glorietta looking back at the palace. we walked 11 miles this day through the palace, the gardens and the zoo.
walking the shaded Allees to the center of the public gardens.
at the Glorietta looking back at the palace, with Vienna in the distance.
That is the Glorietta up on the hill.
the gardens outside the zoo.
Panda!!!
hippos
penguin on guard.
looking at the city from the bridge in the zoo.
carrot planter over the supermarket on our way back to the hotel
a frankfurter in Vienna- you eat it with your fingers, dipping it into the mustard and then the horseradish.
That night we went to the beer garden to have pig's knuckle (ham hock) and beers.
The hotel was an actual riding school back in the 1800s, but the decorations all reminded me of the Marriott in Guatemala City. same company owned them both at one time.
The inner porch of the Hapsburg palace in Vienna. This is Day 3 and we are going to tour the palace and see the Lipizzaner horses.
Having a snack before we see the horses-apple strudel for Aidan
fruit torte for me.
the horses. these are world famous horses. we were not able to see them perform as they are on summer vacation, but we could tour their area and see the mommas and babies.
The mommas and babies were brought out to the park near the palace- the only green space where they can run around. All the horses start out drk and turn white/grey by age 4 on average.
see, this baby is already turning grey
Aidan found a street that matches his high school
on our way to Salzburg. This is what I saw everytime we had downtime on the trip- the boy with his face in the phone. He complains that I am always on my phone - NOT LIKE HIM!!!!
the other boys (including Marcus- Lukas' father).
At Palace Mirabella (the house used for the sound of music)
Unicorns
Hydrangeas
The Salz river
The way all signs have to hung in Salzburg.
The house where Mozart was born and lived until he moved to Vienna
Hermit huts on the mountain side in Salzburg.
The grave of Mozart's father, stepmother, and sister
coming home on the train
this was a trick water garden. it was 30+ degrees C and these chinese tourists were wearing rain ponchos so they would not get wet- it was too funny- why go to a trick water garden if you dont want to get wet. I got wet multiple times was dry within 30 minutes.
this is the Hurlinger area of Vienna- the vineyards just outside the city. During the summer/fall,the vineyards are allowed to see this year's wine and have little eating establishments. It was great.
We passed the UN buildings in Vienna.
Wiener schnitzel for my dinner.
The wine I like-- super dry white wine. Very Delicious
Aidan's dinner- fried chicken.
Happy boy!
Now we are on to Mathausen- a former Nazi concentration camp. we are standing at the wall of the concentration camp looking at the farm right outside the gate- this farm was there in WWII. from this - it is clear people knew what was going on and choose to do nothing. It struck me that in the US we are on this path if we don't speak out, condemn, protest the imprisonment of people coming to the US through the southern border. When we fail to act, it sends a signal to the people in power that they can do what they want.
the granite pit in the concentration camp. this camp worked people to death- gassing was only started in the final year of the war. when prisoners were sent here, their life expectancy was 4 months.
More farms near the granite pit- they could see what was happening to the prisoners. One person complained about the activities, but only asked that beating/killing of prisoners be moved so they could not see it occurring.
remains of the barracks
the gates the prisoners marched through
this one made me cry the most- boy scouts were killed here because they would not swear allegiance to the Nazis
the room of 81,000 identified victims- there were more, but the Nazis starting using numbers over, so the exact number of victims is not known
A new day- we walked to the military museum near our hotel.
on our way to meet Lukas after the museum, we ran into Vero on the tram. She is Lukas' friend. It was an unexpcted pleasure to see her and she helped us get to the right place to meet with Lukas.
We did some souviner shopping with Lukas and then went to a wurst stand. This is a cheese wurst.
Oldest church in Vienna- it dates back to the year 1100.
The building where Lukas has boy scouts.
last night in Vienna- at Lukas' house. Home made Mac-n-cheese
Sacher torte for dessert
Cooking with the boys.
Last breakfast in Vienna before heading to Edinburgh, Scotland for the last week of vacation.
just a happy boy
On the train north from London to Edinburgh. We flew from Vienna to London and then took a train north. My way to see the English countryside. We traveled on 24Jul2019, the following day it was so hot in London that the train broken down- we would have been stuck in London when it was 40 C (100+ F).
English countryside.
random train station in England
The poor dinner we had on the train. After all the fresh food in Vienna and the abundance of fruits and vegetables, it was a shock to our system to have plain white bread and chips
part of our hotel- New Lanark, Scotland. there are 3 parts to the hotel- the hotel, the self cater water house and the hostel. We were orginally booked into the water house- seen here, but things got switched around by me and we ended up in the hostel. BIG mistake on my part. we should have stayed in the hostel the first night and then moved over to the water house. The hostel was nice, but they put us in a room with no window that could be opened (covered in Plexiglas). the room was so hot!!! they did move us to a different room the next night, but I was over it at that point. I sucked it up and put on a happy face for Aidan, but we wont stay in this hostel again.
The Clyde river by our hostel
The whole site used to a be a woolen mill- going back to the 1800s. This is the one of the water wheels that used to power the mill. This whole site is a world heritage site because it was here that workers were first treated as humn beings- given living wage, schooling provided for kids so they did not have to start working in the mill at age 5 or 6, housing provided, stores for the workers that did not rip them off. HUMMM- more lessons for today's society.
Thistle- the national symbol of Scotland.
The lower waterfall on the Clyde.
Daddy swan and his babies at the Loch.
Lunch as we see the area- or drinks before lunch.
Aidan, Miryam, and Iain
One of the oldest door in town- going back to the 1600s.
bellflower
proper fish and chips in the pub at Biggar
Aidan trying the fish and liking it.
Street scape in Lanark
the pool at the hotel- with really odd lighting.
walking along the clyde
Day 2 in Scotland- we headed to Loch Lomond. It was typical Scottish weather- around 20 C (70 F).
Sea plane taking off from the loch
Heading up into the highlands- going from Loch Lomond to Loch Fyne. The little road in the middle is the old Roman road- the romans made it this far north, stopped for the winter- all their olive oil froze that winter and they turned back and never went further north again.
The bus stop there- with the saying that the area is known for - becuase it was a place to stop after coming up the mountain and be thankful you had made it up the mountain.
The duke of Argyll's castle at Loch fyne
from the back
the bridge where the picture 2 pictures above was taken- that is Loch fyne beyond the bridge
Loch Fyne. I thought lochs were just lakes- landlocked lakes, but lochs can be open to the sea too- just like Loch fyne.
The bridge by the castle.
one tired boy on the trip back from the loch.
Aidan and I toured the woolen mill- it still is running, though all mechanized now. It is known for producing the Harry Potter tartan- but you can't buy any of it here.
The roof garden at the hotel. it was raining, so we stayed at the hotel instead of driving out and about in the area.
The row house in the middle of the picture is the hostel we stayed in. the build on the left of the picture is the hotel. the water house is behind the hotel.
the school house in New Lanark as it was in 1884
We walked up to the Falls of Clyde- this is the water below the falls. we could not see the falls from here, but we could hear them
at the viewing point for the falls- or at least the first viewing point. The falls are low at this time of the year due to no heavy rain and the dam further up the river. I still think it is beautiful
badgers- the national animal of this area.
on the walk back to the hotel.
the scottish soda- it was pretty good. contains iron
dinner at Iain and miryam's house
Trying 50 year old whisky. It was ok- but not something I would buy for myself- I will stick with Viennese dry white wine.
Monday, 29Jul, we drove to Ayr to see the beach.
A house where Mary, queen of Scots,, stayed in the 1500s
looking toward Northern Ireland. Iain kept saying we could see it- one of the far dark items behind the ship, but the map shows that should be the Arrn island and Ireland is beyond it.
the remains of the dunure castle- used in the TV show Outlander
Glasgow on Tuesday, 30Jul with Caroline, me, Aidan and Caroline's son Callum.
sightseeing in Glasgow- we took one of those tour buses and had a great time.
Duke of Wellington's statue- he is not liked in Glasgow, so they keep putting traffic cones on his head.
Nutella pizza for dessert at the itialian place we ate at for lunch. YUMMMMMMM
we found the TARDIS (Dr Who- TV show).
on our last night, we meet up with Cecilia. another work colleague going back to 2007.
Such a fun trip. Next trip back to Scotland we are going further north- to see other places I wanted to see, but we did not get to.
Love and hugs,
Deb
