Those that follow the blog consistently, either through frequent visits or by subscribing to email updates (see link at top right of home page), know that about a month ago my parents came to visit us for about a week and a half. The last time they came was November of 2007, and it was extremely cold, rainy, and generally unpleasant. We chose that time last year because it coincided with my very first Vienna Philharmonic concert, and we wanted them to be there for that. However, other than the concert, we didn’t do much else because of the bad weather.
This time they came in September to ensure they would escape the extreme cold and rain. Of course, as soon as they arrived it turned cold and rainy. Luckily it wasn’t SO cold and rainy as to inhibit us from doing all the stuff we had planned, and we ended up having a great time with them.
When they arrived, we began by unpacking the two giant suitcases full of baby stuff they brought from Kristi’s ‘via webcam’ shower just a few days earlier. It turned out to be a great way to keep Mom and Dad awake, and for us it was like Christmas had come early! After we had everything unpacked, Kristi said, “It looks like a baby store just threw up all over our living room!”
We spent the first few days of the trip seeing the sights in Vienna, concentrating mainly on the old city’s many churches and the Hofburg Imperial Palace area. We stopped for some Starbucks hot chocolate before visiting St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the largest church in the city. We also stopped by the Swarovski crystal store (which is made in Austria), mainly so Mom could gawk at the sparkly jewelry and Dad could gawk at the giant crystal iguana. We checked out most every baby-clothing store in downtown Vienna, although we spent the majority of the time ooh-ing and aah-ing rather than actually purchasing anything.
On a Sunday afternoon, Mom and Dad heard me play in their very first (and hopefully not last) opera, Romeo & Juliet by Charles Gounod. They had great seats in a third-level box, and I think overall they enjoyed the experience. Some of the singing that night wasn’t the best, but the main characters sang well. The State Opera’s production of that opera is very interesting because they tell the story and create the scenery using lights, and Mom and Dad were able to get several cool photos.
One Saturday, when I had to work all day, my parents took a trip by themselves. They went on the same Danube river cruise that Kristi’s grandparents went on back in May. The trip begins in Spitz, Austria and ends up at the Benedictine Monastery in Melk. They had a nice day, although a very long day, and got to experience one of the most scenic stretches of the Danube River.
I was able to get a couple nights off from the opera, so we took a ROAD TRIP! We had told Mom and Dad so much about our time in Salzburg this past Summer, and they really wanted to see that part of the country. So… we loaded up once again and headed west. We stayed at our usual place, the Bloberger Hof, and my parents had a big room with a canopy bed and a balcony overlooking the mountains south of town. There was a Fall festival going on in the streets downtown, which was a pleasant surprise. There were arts & crafts booths, rides, games, music, dancing, and most importantly… FOOD!
We were walking down the street towards the festival when Kristi suddenly stopped in her tracks. With her Super-Smeller raised into the air she exclaimed, “I smell funnel cakes!” Of course, those of us who were NOT pregnant couldn’t smell it, but Kristi swore that there were funnel cakes within 2 kilometers of our current position. Then my Dad spotted someone walking by with a big, flat piece of fried dough covered in powdered sugar. We decided to walk in the direction from whence that person came, and behold we found a booth with a large, blonde-haired lady screaming and kneading dough in her hands. As I listened more intently, I figured out that she was not having an emotional breakdown, but was actually trying to get people to purchase the big, flat fried dough. Of course, we bought one for Kristi, and Mom also had a sort of lemon/cherry pastry thing that was very good (despite the fact it was not made of chocolate or fried dough).
While in western Austria we also visited St. Gilgen (not to be confused with St. Gilligan), which is a small town on the edge of the Wolfgang Sea, which is actually a very large lake. St. Gilgen is just one of dozens of picturesque towns on the edges of lakes in that area of the country, which is known as the Salzkammergut. We had lunch in a restaurant that overlooked the town called the Mühlradl (the mill wheel), and then decided it might be fun to go somewhere that none of us had ever been before. So…we drove over the German border into a town called Berchtesgaden. Berchtesgaden became infamous near the end of World War II because it was one of the last Nazi strongholds and the location of Hitler’s mountain retreat, nicknamed “The Eagle’s Nest”. Today, it’s nothing more than a nice little Bavarian town, although sort of eerie if you know its history.
We hated to see Mom and Dad leave, although we know we’ll see them in just a couple months when they come for Eli’s arrival. For those who are interested, I made up a little highlight video of the trip. Click here to view it.
Click here to see more pictures from the trip.
