Sound and Silence

Zell am See Vacation!!

Finally a vacation! We went for 3 nights to Zell am See, about 1 1/2 hour by train south from Salzburg. It was nice to get out of the hot city and into the green cool mountains. We had a nice room overlooking the lake with the mountains behind. The first day we hiked the Schmitten Hohe. We took the cable tram up the mountain and hiked downhill. Along the way Sabine spotted blueberry bushes and showed Ani and Pascal how to pick the berries. The two of them picked and ate like little bears. If you look closely in some of the photos you can see that Ani and Pascal's lips turned blue from all the berries they ate. Funny thing....about 45minutes down the blueberry trail Sabine finds a sign showing the difference between blueberries you can eat, and their close cousin blueberries that will give you a stomach ache. We were picking the right ones!!

The following days we took less adventurous hikes because our (my) calves were sooo sore from our 4 hour downhill hike the first day. We visited a huge waterfall an hours busride from Zell am See, and the day after that a narrow canyon, or Schlucht, or Shoot, with raging water below. All in all it was nice to leave the city for awhile and enjoy the cool mountain airs.

Pictures from top to bottom: 1. from Schmitten Hohe with the Glacier in the distance 2. Ani with a handfull of blueberries 3. Ani scratching a drawing into a rock 4. View from top of Schmitten Hohe looking toward the Tauern region 5. Pascal playing in the sparkly glacier sand 6. Pascal, Sabine and Ani half way through the first days hike 7. Ani in the boulders 8. Pascal in the boulders 9. Sabine swinging Pascal down the hill 10. A view of the Tauern mountains 11. Coffee and Water, MMMmmmm 12. Ani and Pascal the little blueberry pickin bear cubs 13. Ani with pre-blue lips 14. The top of Schmitten Hohe looking at the glacier 15. Looking down from Schmitten Hohe at Zell am See 16. The view from our balcony

Schonbrunn and Parkour

Video of our carriage ride through Schonbrunn Schloss Park. It was very relaxing, watching the trees go by, listening to the horses hooves pressing the gravel, and church bells ringing in the background. Anika felt good. We waved the royal wave to the passersby.

Pascal suddenly showed us some Parkour moves during a nighttime walk through the innen stadt, then later on a sculpture/planter by the Glorietta at the top of Schonbrunn. Looks promising. Perfecto!!