Austria Day 3, 4, and 5: Offer it up!

This is such a great picture!  I am half tempted to use it as my blog cover photo.  Since it is not only our family.  I'll restrain myself.  Would've made a great Christmas card though!  Thanks to the stranger that volunteered to take a picture of us all!

Day three was going to be all day in Salzburg.  We had to catch a 8am train to Salzburg and so we had to get up pretty early to get everyone fed and dressed in super warm outer layers.  I got up at 6am which is not really what you want to do on vacation, but Bobby was getting up early anyway because his bottom two molars were jut about ready to pop through.  They actually broke through that night and he, for the second time, got new teeth in Austria.  His very first tooth came through in Austria last February.

We made it to the train on time, but I walked out without my purse which had my phone and camera in it.  :(  The night before I brought my purse, but forgot the diaper backpack.  I have too many balls in the air and am forgetting stuff left and right.  Brian had run back to get the diaper bag the night before before the train came, but this time there really was no need.  Plenty of people could take pictures for me and I didn't really need anything else in it.  So I can take no credit for the pictures taken in Salzburg.

Mozart's birthplace

Outside Mozart's birthplace

This was not our first time in Salzburg.  In fact, it was our third time, at least.  We went when I was pregnant with Isaac with my parents for a short time.  Then we went last year to stop at two pilgrimage churches.  One of these we decided was definitely worth going back to and taking our friends to see the Christ Child of Loreto.  The Christ Child was not going to be out until 3pm, so we first went shopping and exploring.  We saw Mozart's birth place, got some coffee, took many bathroom breaks, and went to lunch at Gablerbrau which was a restaurant I had picked from Trip Advisor.  I had some delicious creamy tomato soup, and shared some fries with Bobby.  He's been quite the picky eater since the beginning of the first set of molars started pushing on his gums.  He ate PB&J and french fries almost every meal.  I'm sure he's deficient in all sorts of vitamins.  The veggie/fruit pouches are all that's saving him at this point.

"Love Lock" bridge is a bridge that people put a lock onto (a real key lock or combination lock) with their initials on it as a sign of their undying love.

We were looking at a dessert creation  molded like the Stille Nacht church about an hour away from Salzburg.  We didn't go see the actual church, but when we got home.  Bob was asking me to read a Christmas book and one of the pages I don't recall reading before talked about the Silent Night church in Austria where the song Silent Night wouldn't have ever been written if not for the organ breaking on Christmas Eve.  Funny how you never take note of something and then suddenly you see it twice in the same week and it makes an impression.

At three o'clock, the nun greeted us with entirely too quiet and too fast German for any of us to catch, but we know she gave us all a blessing with the Christ Child of Loreto.  I may have accidentally told her not to say a Mass for our children because I stink so much in German still.  Brian tried to fix it, and, hopefully, he did.

The rest of the day went quickly with a stop in the cathedral.

The cathedral

It was a long day, folks.

On Day four, we awoke again quite early to walk up a massive hill in the snow to get to Jesus for Mass.  It truly felt like we were making a real pilgrimage up that hill.  It took us about forty minutes to get there from our rental.  It was steep and I was sorer from this trip in my legs than on any other.  Despite the freezing temps, we were all sweating by the time we reached the top.  It is a real tribute to our five year olds that they made it because there was no one to carry them since three of the adults were wearing babies or toddlers and none of us could have carried a 45 lb child up a hill of that magnitude anyway.  I was so proud of them even if there was some complaining.  We were telling the kids to offer their sufferings up and to imagine Jesus carrying his cross up a similar hill after being beaten all night.

We made it!!!!

 

After Mass we took some photos outside the church to remember our journey.

The church was pretty and very small.  The priest spoke slowly so I got a little more of what he was saying than I usually do.  I am guessing German was his second language.  Bobby was pretty good other than dropping the hymnal a few times.  I'm hoping he's on the back side of his discontented phase at Mass.  The local people were friendly and super sweet to us.  The lady behind me helped me with my coat and Drew with his as well.  Another lady came up to us and was asking where we were from and who was hosting us here.  She also asked if my friend was my sister.  I told her we were friends.

After Mass we took some photos outside the church to remember our journey.

What a view from the top it was!

We walked down the hill which was so much easier back to the house to go sledding again.  Bobby was much better this time.  His godmama had to watch him a minute while I disciplined Drew inside the house.  When I came back he was happily sitting in the sled.  So we walked down to the chapel at the end of our farm road, pulling him behind us.  We stopped in to visit Jesus and then walked back.  There was a cat and two horses on this farm that Bobby loved.  He's a huge animal lover right now with no fear at all in that area.

The walk back

Our kitchen window had such a breathtaking view.

Unfortunately, the snow became to powdery to make a snowman that day.  They sure did try though with whatever blocks of icy snow they could find, but it just wouldn't stick.

After taking a face plant in the snow.  Angry, but not screaming, so I'm happy.

Genevieve and her buddy were building a snow fort.

And really happy to be inside and holding the favorite book of the week, My Truck is Stuck.

At the end of the day, we actually were crazy enough to walk back up the hill to the restaurant around the corner from the church.  The big kids thought it was easier, except for Isaac who got an attack of gas pains on the way up and had to be encouraged by dad the last stretch.

We had the restaurant all to ourselves, and the fourteen of us filled nearly an entire room anyway.   I shared a schnitzel with Hannah that had bacon and a mushroom cream sauce on it that was amazing.  The potatoes were so buttery they may have been the best potatoes I've ever had, no exaggeration.

And that was the end of our trip.  The next day was only a travel day.  We made it out of the icy, snowy roads and back onto the main street with a gift from God when the train came by right after we had passed the tracks.  It would have been very difficult to get started again and make it over the tracks and up the incline to the main road if we'd had to stop there.  The ride home was more trafficky, but we still made fairly good time and were home in time for me to throw something together for dinner and some baths and showers before bed.