Salzburg

We drove to Salzburg on Friday morning to itroduce Sophia to the town where she is going to do her study abroad program when she is in college. The weather got better & better as we drove down the autobahn, and was gorgeous by the time we hit the Alps and the valleys in between them. The drive itself was spectacular, especially as the highway skirts by Chimsee and all of the sailboats were out on the water. It really reminded us of the Northwest, and we all smiled thinking of the lake!

We walked thru Mirabell gardens on the way over to the old town where we could rent bikes to head out to Hellbrun Palace, and the Sound of Music Gazebo, however we got a little distracted re-creating parts of the movie (running thru the arch-way, tapping on the heads of the little statues, etc) and then we found a play park next to the gardens. It's a new park (new in the last 15 years) and had amazing play areas, including swings, musical note tiles to jump on, slides, and the biggest climbing structure I have ever seen in a childrens area. It must have been 50 ft high, with a tube slide down. In order to climb up to the top, the kids have to negotiate ladders and platforms, in an increasingly narrow space until your only option is to slide, or climb down. Sophia asked us for help going up, and we told her she could go up, that Daddy would be there to make sure she didn't fall - but she couldn't be carried, she had to do it on her own. So she did. Much to both of our surprise, she really did it. And then she & Troy rode down the slide together.

She got ice cream after that...