Salzburg Austria - Day 1

We decided over Labor Day weekend we were going to head to Salzburg.  Or maybe that was my decision because this is one place that I wanted to go because they filmed Sound of Music here and I have always wanted to go there and we were running out of time.

We arrived in a little before dinner time, cooked dinner, and found out that we were in walking distance to downtown.  So we decided after dinner to walk downtown and see what there is to see.  I LOVE seeing the boys walking and talking, enjoying each others' company.

This is the Hohensalzburg Fortress.  It is immense and you can see from almost every in own.

My boys are so good to me an pose when I would love to have a picture!!!

This is a WWII memorial for Austrians who died.

This is the Karolinenbrucke (Caroline Bridge) in Salzburg that is over the River Salzach.  It is one of the three most important bridges for the car traffic in Salzburg.  It is a relatively new bridge, but a ferry service has existed here since 1722.

It is such a beautiful view from the bridge!!

The boys walking and enjoying the view of Salzburg.

A different side of the fortress.  You can see how big it is.

I have to say, I fell in love with the views in this city already on the first day!

Michael always off the beaten track!!  I love his sense of adventure!

This is "The Fence of Capital Offence."  It was to commemorate the successful resistance to the nuclear state 1985-1989,  A civil protest movement, which crossed national frontiers and party lines.

This was on the side of the building.  I think it is another sun dial clock.

Next we headed into Mozartplatz Square and heard some wonderful music!  It is in the heart of the old town.

This is the central piece of interest, a Mozart memorial by Ludwig Schwanthaler.  It was opened in 1842 and the two sons of Mozart were present at the opening of the memorial.   They actually moved a baroque fountain with a statue of St Michael, which cost a lot to the city of Salzburg.

This is the New Residenz and Glockenspiel.  It is the former palace, now houses the central post office.  This tower holds the famous glockenspiel.  This bell tower has a carillon of 35 17th century bells.

This is the Salzburg Cathedral.  It is one of the first Baroque buildings north of the Alps.  It was consecrated in 1628 during the thirty years war.

I love the clocks on the old buildings!

This is the Cloak Conscience, Pitea Commendatore, Empty Coat Made Anna Chromy . We would have missed this had the boys not been playing Pokeman Go at the time.  She actually has 60 sculptures in public places across Europe, including Prague, Stuttgart, Luxemburg, Pisa and many more.  She is perhaps best known for a monumental fifty-ton work in blinding white Carrara marble titled ‘The Cloak of Conscience’, so big that admirers can walk inside it and use the space for contemplation. The marble comes from the same quarry that produced the five-ton block from which Michaelangelo produced his famous statue of David.   This is just a small copy of the bigger one.

This is the Deo Trino statue.  Another religious statue about the Christian trinity.

This is the house that Mozart was born in.  It is amazing to think of all the songs I played on the piano by him and now I am standing outside where he was born.  Too cool!!!

And what do we need to end the evening?!?  Of course, ice cream!!!  It was a great walk and I am so glad that we went out and enjoyed the city in the evening!!!

First Day of School

I can't believe how fast the summer went.  It was way too fast for the boys and myself.  We would have loved a few more weeks of vacation.  But unfortunately that wasn't going to happen.  So on August 29th it was back to school.

I also can't believe that AJ is in 5th grade already!!!  Time sure has flown by and now wearing contacts.  Such a handsome young man!!!

Michael as well in 3rd grade!!!!  Looking so handsome as well and grown up!!!

Brothers till the end!!!  As I think it should be!

David and his boys - man do they look alike and getting almost as big as their dad!

But they are even closer to being as tall as me!!  AJ thinks he is going to be taller than me by the end of 5th grade.  I told him he needed to give me a little longer than that.  LOL

This year the boys didn't want me to walk them into the gym.  That is them heading in without me.  They are growing up way too fast!!!

I asked if I could take pictures of them, but they said no.  So I said I would use my zoom and take them from far away.

Michael just hanging out with his new classmates.

AJ getting settled into to his class as well.

Michael found some of his best friends and was soooo excited!!  It looked like this was a start of a good year!!!!!

Homburg Ropes Course

So at the end of the summer, I thought it would be fun to head to a ropes course with the boys before we start school up again.  So on August 23rd, the boys and I headed up there.

The boys all geared up ready to do some climbing!!!

My boys and I ready for some fun!!!!

AJ working on his balancing skills across the small planks.

Michael following AJ and doing a great job!!!

There was a beautiful view of the lake there.  There was a zip line that went over the lake, but unfortunately Michael was a little too short to go on that one.

AJ in the shadows.

This was the part I really didn't like - it really hurt my knees.  But the boys didn't seem to have any problems at all.

AJ all smiles and loving being up in the trees!!  As you can see everybody's summer was about to come to an end, so there were a lot of people there and it sometimes took a bit of time to get through the course because we were waiting for people ahead of us.

AJ going down one of the zip lines.  I think this is the boys favorite parts.

The three of us chillin' in the trees, waiting for our turn to go through the next obstacle.

This is right up Michael's alley!!  He LOVES to climb and be a monkey!!!

See what I mean - all smiles.  I still don't know how he is smiling crawling around in those things.

AJ playing around while we waited our turn.  He put a lot of trust in his harness.

AJ just chillin'.  Like I said, there were a lot of people there and we did a bit of waiting, but it was still fun!

Michael pulling himself along to get to the other side.  It was such a beautiful and fun day!!!  We had a lot of fun and it was back to work for me the next morning.