Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Bryan and Lindsey came!!!

We had a wonderful time with our oldest son Bryan and our youngest daughter Lindsey as they left their cute families and came to visit us and travel around some of our mission, in southern Germany and Austria. There is no way that I could post all of our fabulous trip, but here are some pics that will give you a flavor of what we did. Just to mention that we saw castles, fortresses, palaces, mountains, lakes, churches, cities, momuments, museums, statues, an armory, chocolate factory, and oh, so much more in the 9 days they were with us. And the food.... yumm!!! They flew into Munich, Germany where we picked them up, and we did a complete circle, returning to Munich when they flew home. They arrived back home on August 20th.

Hohenschwangau Castle

 Neuschwanstein Castle

 Linderhof Castle

Then off to Oberamergau, the home of the every 10 year Passion Play of  Jesus Christ's life that they do, as they promised Him they would, if He would save them from the plague about 350 years ago. He did, and they have kept their promise. This is a frescoe of the story of Hansel and Gretel, as they paint such stories on many homes there. 

Now in Garmish, home of the highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspizte, we finally found a nice restarant for dinner. Do they look hungry? They served us great food, very quickly, as we kindly requested!

 Innsbruck- from our Hotel window!

Inside one of the many churches we visited throughout the trip.

 Having fun on the mountain top after riding the Funicular ( tram) up. Those are rocks that you see, not snow.

 Loved this view of the Alps.

Innsbruck from the mountain top!

 We all took a turn being a turtle at the alpine zoo.

 Quite a resemblance. Don't know who the left one is though.

On to Salzburg, and it's most notable landmark on the old-town hill- the fortress castle!

Up on top enjoying lunch and the view!

Here's the  live action view!

 Close by- Mondsee (Moon Lake) village- the church where the Sound of Music marriage was filmed!

Inside the church.

The Sound of Music gazebo at the Hellbrunn castle gardens!

Missionary mom and daughter with Mozart, who was born and lived alot in Saizburg.

 Missionary dad and son. Perfect dessert after a perfect dinner. Tomorrow on to one of Pres, Monson's favorite places in the world!

 A ride across the King's lake (Königsee) and a hike up the mountain in Berchtesgaden.

 Tempted to dive into the beautiful blue-green water! 

A little live action crusing back!

 Hallstatt
Nice cozy family group shot, thanks to Bryan's long arm.

 Beautiful little city built on the lake. Linds especially loved Hallstatt. The following short video will show you why!

 Church in Graz, back home, dressed in Styrish clothes. Bryan and Linds were asked to speak in Sacrament meeting. They did a wonderful job. Thanks guys.


Sunday, August 24th, was also our 41st Wedding Anniversary and we put our bright yellow lock on the Love Lock Bridge in Graz to lock our love!! Bryan and Linds got to witness it!!!

 Vienna

Our romantic anniversary picnic dinner in Vienna!

 Linds posing in the Vienna Boys Choir practice room. The boys were all gone with their families for vacation but we had a great tour from our friend Amrei who works there. We did take this pic of them on the wall!

A look of the city from the window of a lovely restaurant on the top floor of a huge building.

Most famous landmark- St. Stephan's Dom (Cathedral)


We found a new friend, Mr. Elephant in front of a museum.


Vienna City Hall (with big screen to show movies at night!)

 Back in Graz eating the fabulous "Döner".

On top of a unique church built into a mountain, called Mount Calvary's Church (well named!)
Here's the church front- notice the figures of Jesus, Pilate, etc. on the balcony, and the 3 crosses from the previous picture, in the background, above the left of the church and to the right of the tree.

 Having a chocolate high at Zotter's Chocolate Factory. Notice Rick in the background stationed at the Coconut (Kokos) chocolate flowing liquid fountain.
Do I really have to leave my fav?

 Chocolate heaven for sure!
 Picture perfect walking around the grounds of the factory.
Riegersburg Castle in the background of Zotter- never conquered- see why?
 Sneaking a little kiss at the castle!

 The double spiral staircase in Graz.


 The porcelain snowman looking at his future,was a hit with Bry and Linds.

 The Armory. Loved the horse!!

The Graz Armory has enough armor and weapons in its four large floors, for over 5,000 men, said to be the largest collection of its kind in the world. A large variety and amount of weapons! 

 Our Graz Clock tower on top of Schlossberg.

 Back in Munich and there were tons of people everywhere at the city center. This is the City Hall with the Glockenspiel, which has 43 bells and 32 characters that act out historical events.

This is what it sounds like!

                                 
This is the highlight of the 10 minute program!

Now for the grand finale- get ready to kick up your heels!

 We even took time to play games at the hotel which we love to do.

Farewell  till we meet again!  It was marvelous, and we love you so much Bryan and Lindsey (as well as our entire family)!! To you all we say: 



5 comments:

The Tew Clan said...

Love all the pictures! What a great time you all had. Love it!

The Tews said...

Oh my goodness - what a great trip! Looks like you squeezed as much as you could into your time and I'm sure there was still more you wanted to do! How funny that Linds and Bryan got asked to talk in church, they are good sports. Wishing I had some of that coconut chocolate right now. (I am on the post baby diet) Mabel thought that picture of Uncle Bryan in the turtle was pretty funny! So glad you locked up your love on your anniversary - what a fun memory! Is that really the sound of music gazebo? How cool! That picture of the Neuschwanstein Castle with the fog all around it is neat. I bet Rick loves the meticulous garden care at the Linderhof Castle - beauitful! I am just looking through all the pictures again pretending I am there.

Lindsey said...

Your post is awesome! We had an awesome time, indeed. Thanks so much. So, Myah's favorite picture on here...the one where we're eating on top of that fortress and dad's holding the soft pretzel! She asked if each of us had one and then kept asking to go back to that picture as we looked at other ones! She also LOVED that her shirt I got her matched the bell-tower picture. Fun, fun!

Al said...

Your pictures make me want to come back and do it all over again! I miss you guys. Love, Alex Driggs

Unknown said...

Loved it, loved it, LOVED IT!!!! SO FUN! SO glad Linds and Bry could come and you could all frolic together. Looks like a great time was had by all. "Tew Eternity"-- nice one ;)