Awesome Austria Day 97,98,99&DAY !OO

We end our trip in Grand style in Gorgeous Austria. Although we don't see a huge variety of country, and would have loved to have made it to Vienna and some other stops, but in all honesty where we ended up is a favorite of travel guru Rick Steves, you felt as if you could have just unpacked and stayed for a week or more and there would be no need to explore the country further - just enjoy the peace and tranquilty of this hillside village (Hallstatt) surrounded by mountains, and a beautiful lake which was gorgeous. The drive to Hallstatt was stunning as well. We all said it was one of our top picks of Beauty, mixed with culture.

We also met up with Charlotte and Ernie who were visting Ernies homeland along with his relatives from Vancouver Island and the ones hosting in Austria were over the top extraordinary Austrain hospitality with Food and more food, and the Gorgeous settin their home was in . The kids said they LOVE Austria. So did we, even though it was short we felt so welcomed by Ernie and his family and was just a lovely way to end our trip in celebration in a beautiful country,

 

Till tommorrow ill say good night.  from Frankfurt as we await  our long  travel back to Canada tommor row, which will be Day 100. Addi says that he's going to do a blog, called 100 days at home,. Addi and Natalia are very excited to go home to their friends their bed and most of all their cats. 

It's been a dream come true, as Addi says to me when I well up with tears with all of the wonderment we have experienced, 'Mom - are you having another life time dream moment?"

It has been a great experience for all of us and we feel very blessed that we have had this opportunity in our lives, to carry these memoreis the rest of our lives. Thanks for travelling with us, and we look forward to seeing everyone very soon..  We feel blessed also to be returning to such a great country, great friends & family and to Beautiful Vancouver Island, and another quote from Addi is that home is still his favorite place. Isnt that the truth!

Lots of love to all see you soon.............................

The last of Belgium and on to Dynamic Deustchland Day90-96

 




















































Well we finish the last few days in Lovely Brugge(first six pictures from bottom up are Brugge), with our Great friend Val from Ireland who flew over for a few days, and travelled into Germany with us 2   a nights. It was great to be with someone who used to live in the country for 12 years and educated and helped us out with German.

We drove down to the Rhine where we stayed  a night in a great place that Val had found, and it was fantastic, with all kinds of exotic birds roaming around in the garden area. There were also 2 workshops going on there so they were a little concerned we might find it odd, but we just laughed for  it seemed so normal to us with the different workshops we have taken and assisted at with Clearmind.

It was great fun and a very peacful place to stay. Of course one can't go to Germany without experiencing the traditional Beergardens, we had to stop for a cold one. We went to a lovely village on the way the next day dropping Val off in Frankfurt before we contiued on to Rothenburg   and then Fussen.also Borys,s father place of stay after the war in Garmisch - Partenkirchen.

Germany had many qualities of areas of Alberta, in the Prairies as well as  the Rockies, very diverse beautiful land scapes from Pastoral to Mountainess, and valleys with beautiful little German/Bavarian styled homes. Germany is so Picturesque.

We Had a very special Occasion to spend while In Germany. It was Addi' 10th Birthday!!! We had picnic and cake and gifts at the bottom of the hill looking up at Neuschwenstein Castle, one of Germanys most famous castles, built by King Ludwig II.  Although we did go into this particular castle the next day after leaving beautiful Fussen going to another part of Germany, we did go to his  over the top opulent palace (Lindhoff) that he created , and lived there for most of the time as a recluse in all his gold and silver, but not a happy guy.

Germany is a  Pretty amazing place, Addi says he like the German & flemish language the best and wants to learn it, Natalias, vote is learning French. 

The Romantische strasse(Romantic Road) ended in Fussen and we picked up on to the AlpenStrasse which starts at lake Constanse (Switzerland) and ends in Bertchesgaden (?!) this led us nicely towards Austria. See you there very soon, for the end of the trip..........