How many people get to show Europe to their grandparents? Not many, I would guess. However, I got the opportunity to do this recently! My grandparents, Forrest and Carolyn Wilson, came and spent two weeks with us, and we got to see 3 countries and 7 European cities! Needless to say, I’m wiped now they have left, but it was a great time! Obviously, we showed them Vienna sights we had seen before, but Jeremy and I also got to experience some new things as well. I’d like to recap some of these events…
The first new thing for me (sans Jeremy) was the very traditional, very touristy Austrian Dinner Show. This was held in the cellar of the Rathaus, or the city hall. I had imagined a Pigeon Forge/Branson-esque type show with less 'stars and stripes' and more lederhosen. I was actually not far off. The singers were top notch and everyone always enjoys a good waltz in between your dinner table!
The only other Viennese happening I’d like to share would be an interesting parking incident. Since my grandparents are slightly older than we are, we tried to make the trip as easy on them as possible by driving to as many sights as we could. So, when we went to St. Stephan’s Cathedral, we searched for the nearest garage online. According to our sources, there was actually a garage underneath the church. We had never noticed this before, but we figured it was worth checking out. We found it without a hitch, but when we pulled in the entrance, we hit a dead end. Where are all the spaces?! In front of us were merely a wall and a garage door. Then I saw a man motioning for us to get out. Okaaaaay….what was going on? Apparently this garage is like a giant car vending machine where you pull your car on this platform and it mechanically takes it up and stores it. Not scary at all, right? It took us another good 10 minutes to figure out the guy wanted us to remove our antenna, but we waved bye-bye to our car and took our ticket. Now, getting back the car was a different story. Watch this video to further explain!
Another day when Jeremy had to work, my grandparents and I took a Danube River Valley boat ride/tour. We rode in a bus about 50 miles outside of Vienna to a town called Spitz. There we boarded a boat for a 1 hour 40 minute ride up-stream to Melk. The views were breathtaking! It was a long ride, but well worth it. Once we were in Melk we got to tour the Benedictine Abbey that sat right on the water. Here is a video that highlights the beautiful scenery around the Danube and Abbey.
A couple days later we went to Budapest, Hungary. My grandfather said the one thing he wanted to do was take a train somewhere. So, that we did! It was about a 3 hour ride, and once in the city we took a blitz tour of Budapest. For more, watch this!
The next day, we took a road trip. First, we went to Salzburg to stay the night at the cute little Bloberger Hof. We did a little sight-seeing through the idyllic city, then, we drove right smack dab through the middle of the Alps to Venice, Italy. I tell you, I’ve done a LOT of driving, but this was some incredible scenery! Snowcapped mountains and waterfalls rose up on both sides of the car for an amazing 4-hour trip. I loved it, and don’t let Jeremy tell you that I slept through most of it because that would be a bold-faced lie! Here is some footage of those days, and you don’t want to miss me putting Julie Andrews to shame: Salzburg Day 1 and Salzburg Day 2/Driving in the Alps
The last two days of their trip were spent in Italy. The first day in Italy, we went to the romantic (and rainy) city of Venice. This was where my grandmother requested to go. She said, and I quote, “I want to go to the city with the long skinny boats.” I think this was where she meant! Unfortunately, the rain kept us from really exploring, but we were able to see a good majority of it while riding down the Grand Canal on a water shuttle. There is actually a funny story about me wrestling with a French lady on the boat, but I would probably end up sounding tacky and racist if I told it, so I think I’ll pass. When we got off, we walked around a little of the Piazza San Marco until our feet got squishy, then we headed back to the hotel. For video of Venice, click here.
The next day, since rain was still a threat, we decided to go inland a little to the city of Verona. Now, for those of you who don’t know, this is the city where Romeo and Juliet took place. It’s complete with the Casa di Guiletta where you can see Juliet’s balcony. This is also the part when my grandparents said, “now, this is where she let her hair down for him to climb up, right?” Ok, so apparently my grandparents aren’t completely caught up on the works of Shakespeare, but they enjoyed it nonetheless. Another sight we got to “rome” through was an actual Roman arena. This massive colosseum is the third largest in the world, and it was built circa AD 30. I mean this was the real deal people. It was completed around the crucifixion of Christ! I was also thankful to be a Christian standing on the floor of the arena in THIS century as opposed to THAT one…otherwise, my blog might have been a bit more dismal. To see more of Verona, watch this video!
Well, as you might have guessed due to the nature of this blog, my husband got a new toy. We got the chance to try out our brand new HD video camera. I hope you enjoyed it, and you can also see pictures here: Part One and Part Two
