Plitvice Lakes National Park

We left Zadar and headed inland about 2 hours to the Plitvice Lakes National Park.  The park is well known for its terraced lakes, clear water and numerous waterfalls and was Croatia’s first national park as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

We arrived mid-afternoon in June so we had plenty of daylight left to make our way through the park.  The boardwalk paths make their way over beautiful blue green water that is so clear you can see hundreds of fish.  Since we arrived later in the day we were able to miss most of the crowds and did not feel rushed along.

This first photo is the view as you begin the decent down to the lakes and the main trail.

This last photo is another view from up above as we made our way back to the park exit.  We enjoyed our time here and I was super excited to shoot some waterfalls.  It was a long walk through and our girls were real troopers and made it the whole way without any issues. 

We stayed nearby the park in small but very nice room at the Apartments Plitvicer Seen.  It was modern and the owner was nice.  We ate breakfast out by the pool before we headed north to Austria.  Since I am such a dork I was excited to get a stamp in my passport before we left Croatia and back into Slovenia!  Since the countries who have joined the EU have open borders the border crossing stations sit vacant so we never have to show our passports as we travel between those countries. 

We drove straight through Slovenia and into Austria to we could visit the Lipzzaner Stud Farm in Piber.  This is the where the famous stallions from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna are born.  I may have been more excited to visit here than the girls!  We arrived about 90 minutes before they closed for the day and were able to wander around.  We walked through a small museum and watched the horses being brought in from the fields for the night. 

This mare was very friendly and I spent a lot of time rubbing her nose and she became a willing subject for my photos. 

The next day we drove to Graz so JG could visit the Landeszeughaus.  He needed some manly time after hanging out with the Gibson girls for the entire vacation and really enjoyed his time walking through 4 floors of this Styrian Armoury.  The entire place was nothing but old weapons and suits of armor.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos while we were in there.   If you are interested in seeing some photos though just click on the hyperlink above and it will take you directly to the website for more information.

This finally wraps up our trip through Slovenia, Croatia and a quick stop in Austria.  It was really a vacation of a lifetime for me.  I loved every single place we visited and the drive along the Adriatic Sea was breathtaking.  I was happy to be home again but sad to have our amazing vacation come to an end.

Melk Abbey

This will be the third time I have attempted to post this so lets see how it goes. On our way out of Vienna way back in mid-April we stopped to tour the Melk Abbey. This amazingly beautiful abbey sits in a hill overlooking the small town of Melk and the Danube river.

Some abbeys are so grandiose that they remind me of a palace and not at all how I would picture an abbey to look like before we moved to Europe. This abbey has a long history and was established as a fortified Benedictine abbey in the 11th century. The small admission price covers enterance to a small museum covering the history of the abbey, the marble hall, library and church. We made our way through it all in about 90 minutes.

The marble hall was beautiful.  The frescoed ceiling was amazing.  We spent a little bit of time in here waiting for a small group of students to leave so I could get a photo of the entire room without a bunch of people in it. 

After leaving the Marble Hall you walk out onto the balcony and have a view of the town and the exterior of the building.  I love looking up and seeing the contrast between the gold details and the blue sky.

The library was fantasic and had another frescoed ceiling.

The churches are so beautiful that it helps to sit down quietly to absorb it all and see everything before trying to take photos.  There are so many details that the camera does not do this place any justice!

The Melk Abbey was a beautiful place to visit.  It was recently restored and looks amazing, inside and out.  For once we were able to visit a famous place and not have a single bit of scaffolding or other restorations taking place.  While I of course understand and appreciate restoration projects the scaffolding does not look very pretty in photos!

Thanks for taking a virtual tour of the Melk Abbey with me! 

Vienna Day 2

On our second day in Vienna we went to the Schönbrunn Palace (you can read that post here) and then took the U-bahn to the Museum Quarter.  We had lunch at a local bakery and then grabbed Starbucks before we headed out.  There are several passages in the Museum Quarter and each one was painted differently.  I like how the red pops off the white and the painting is pretty interesting to look at in this particular archway.

After leaving the Museum Quarter we came right upon the Hofburg Palace.  This building is huge and spectacular.  The Hofburg Imperial Apartments, the Hofburg Treasury Tour and the Spanish Riding School, home to the famous Lipizzaner Stallions are all housed within the palace.  Since it was mid-afternoon we missed the chance to see the horses practice but we strolled around the exterior of the building and enjoyed the sun.

JG wanted to ride a ginormous ferris wheel that is in Vienna so we made our way to the amusement park where it was located.  The park had free admission and you only had to pay for the attractions you wanted to ride.  How fantastic is that?  The girls rode ponies for the first time ever and surprisingly both girls loved it.  Lolo is timid and afraid of many things but she was all smiles while riding the pony.  Aubrey was excited from the start. 

Any Amazing Race fans out there?  Did you watch this past season?  If so, then ferris wheel in the photo should look familiar to you.  We were in Vienna before the episode was aired and since we are dorks we thought it was pretty cool to visit a place and then see it on T.V.  This is not the ferris wheel JG rode.  He rode in a bigger, regular car type one and took some aerial photos. 

After this we headed back to our hotel so we could get ready for dinner.  JG talked to the desk clerk and she told us about a fabulous little wine bar right up the street called Bunt.  I had a delicious spicy chicken curry, JG had a steak and the girls had schnitzel.  I need to remember to bring my camera to dinner with us as I would totally share the photos.  Our waiter was very nice and the decor was a bit eclectic and fun.  It was a great way to wrap up our quick, last minute trip to Vienna. 

I hope maybe we can sneak back one more time before we move back to the USA but it is unlikely to happen.  I would love to tour some of the palace museums and maybe even watch the horses.  Our time is running short here and with JG preparing for another deployment =( we lose that much more time.  I am not much of a solo traveler since traveling with the girls alone can be difficult at times. 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I enjoy sharing our photos and experiences with you! 



Vienna Waits for You

Okay, maybe Vienna isn't waiting for you but JG sang this line to a Billy Joel song the entire time we were in Vienna.  We left the house at a decent time and according to the GPS Vienna is just 4.5 hours from our home....however, when you have kids and are limited to just one chain of gas stations in Germany in which you can use a ration card to get gas it tends to add some time to the drive.  A lot of time. 

We arrived at the Hotel Cortina around 4:30 p.m. and checked in.  We grabbed the camera and our jackets before we headed to the U-bahn, which is just a short walk from the hotel, so we could begin our adventures in the city.  We took the subway to Karlsplatz and grabbed a frappuccino from Starbucks before we walked down to St. Stephen's Cathedral.  This beautiful church has an amazing rooftop and gorgeous spires but as our luck would have it it also had an abundance of scaffolding.  At least many famous sites make an effort to disguise the scaffolding by covering it with a photo of what you're missing.

Located right next to the church is the store to one of my most favorite treats of all our travels, the Manner wafer cookies!  The lemon wafers are so delicious and I was excited to visit the store but it was crowded the first night so we went back the next day.  I ended up with a little stash of cookies!

On the same platz (square) we found a group of street performers so we stopped to watch their show.  These guys were pretty amazing...take a look below.  Yeah, that guy was spinning on his head!  

We found this interesting memorial named The Gates of Violence, just a block over from St Stephen's and on the Albertinaplatz, which is in rememberance of all victims of wars and violence.  It was a very interesting piece of art with images on all sides. 

The Albertinaplatz is just a small portion of the Hofburg Palace and this portion is now a museum.  I liked this statue of the gentleman on the horse mostly because I like the oxidation.  I really, really like the way a green dome looks against a blue (or in this case cloudy) sky.  The contrast is usually very stunning and I find myself wanting to take tons of photos. 

By this time it was pretty late so we stopped for dinner and then headed back to the hotel.  My first impression of Vienna was pretty amazing.  Honestly, if given a little more time there, it just might replace Prague as my favorite city!  I loved being there. 

The next day we continued our walking tour and I will share those photos tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

Back in early April we planned a list minute trip to Vienna, Austria.  While we were there we learned that there as an Easter Market at Schönbrunn Palace.  It is always fun to see how other countries celebrate holidays so we stopped at the palace to have a look around and it was just a few subway stops away from our hotel.

The palace was beautiful and we were able to wander around the grounds as we wanted.  There were a lot of joggers/runners here but the dirt paths were very wide and could easily accommodate everyone.  The Easter Market was in the front of the grounds and had ton of food booths that smelled so yummy.  JG was interviewed by a local reporter and the girls did not want to have their photo taken.


The back of the palace opened up onto some gardens, a fountain and rows of perfectly aligned trees.  The palace was a summer home of the Habsburgs and they certainly lived extravagantly.

If we would have had a bit more time we would have visited the Imperial Zoo, Europe's oldest, which is right on the palace grounds and possibly joined a tour of the interior of the palace as well.  One could spend a good chunk of their day here but we were only in Vienna for 2 days so we had to hurry on our way but we certainly enjoyed our time at Schönbrunn Palace and the amazing grounds. 

 

 



Yikes! Neglected Blog!

Geez, time is getting away from me!  It has been a busy month around here.  We had to do some scheduling for James to head back to the States from some training in the next couple of months, we went back to Aubrey's favorite mountain hotel...The Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany for four days and then took a day trip to the Nuremberg Zoo and a mini driving tour around Franconia.  This week has been spent tending to sick babies...Lolo first and now Aubrey.  Lots of tissues and hugs are being handed out along with homemade chicken noodle soup. 

Here are a few photos from this month...

Aubrey trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, just like "Charlie Brown"; Candles from the Andechs Monestary; A fountain head from Hall, Austria;  A glass of beer from a lunch in Innsbruck, Austria; Truffles (most delicious) from the Dallmayer store in Munich and Lolo waiting for Daddy outside of Dallmayer.

February is my 2 year blogiversary so I am thinking of a few ways to celebrate!  Thanks for taking the time to stop by.