Travel day from Zurich to Boston (Tuesday, August 11, 2015)

We were able to sleep in and take our time getting ready for our flight to Boston.  Then, we walked a few blocks to the Enge train station and took a train to the Zurich airport.  Our kids have really been troopers with all of the walking we have been doing, especially with luggage.  The swim backpacks seemed like a good idea to pack the kids' stuff in, but in reality they weren't the best option.  They are so flexible that we were able to really stuff them full and still fit them in bins as carry-on luggage.  However, they don't have a good internal frame, so they had little back support for carrying them long distances.  We will have to look into another option before our next family overseas trip (hopefully in 2 years). We have found that backpacks are essential when traveling overseas.  They are just so much easier to negotiate in trains and planes, rather than pulling lots of rolling bags. It was also nice for each kid (other than Jack) to carry their own clothing and personal items.  Jack just isn't quite there, yet.  At least we didn't have to bring a stroller or diapers on this trip, which was fabulous!
After checking in and going through passport control, which required lots of walking and what felt like a hundred different escalators, we settled into the Swiss Air panoramic lounge for a few hours.  They didn't have a meal available, so we made lunch out of their offerings of pretzels, peanuts, gummy bears and bread/butter.  We can be flexible when we need to be.

Here is a picture of our plane.

We boarded the plane and were ready to head back to the States.  As you can see, Dan caught me in the act of enjoying the complementary glass of champagne before the 8 hour flight.  

We were served a meal on the flight.  Dan's first course looked amazing, so he took a picture. 

Swiss Air flight attendants were very nice and attentive.  It is a great airline to fly, and I recommend it.  The 8 hours passed fairly quickly, thanks to in-flight movies, TV shows and games.  We all (except for Dan) managed to take a nap on the plane in order to better re-adjust to East Coast time.  When we landed in Boston, we breezed through Customs, thanks to Global Entry (definitely worth the time and minimal expense of spending an hour in the Charlotte airport for the application process, if you plan on traveling internationally).

After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we headed out to dinner at one of our favorite Boston-based restaurants, Legal Sea Foods.  Dan and I shared cioppino, so they brought us two bibs.  Jack decided he needed to wear the second bib to try a little seafood with us.  We are so glad to have a fellow seafood lover in the family.  The other kids aren't crazy about it.  Lyndon discovered that she liked clam chowder now, though.  Baby steps...

I absolutely love this picture!  Like father, like son...

We all loved our overseas travel, but it makes you very thankful for the comforts of home upon your return.  We were especially grateful for ice, free refills and air conditioning in restaurants!

I've Got My Ticket for the Long Way 'Round, the One with the Prettiest of Views (Monday, August 10, 2015)

Sidney and Lyndon suggested the title of this post, because the train ride reminded them of a line from one of their favorite songs, the "Cups" song. It was bittersweet to leave Salzburg, but we were excited about boarding a train for a 5-hour train ride to Zurich through the Alps.   Jack and Hadley were fooling around with pretzel sticks.  I promise that they haven't picked up a smoking habit in Europe.

The scenery was so amazing that the 5 hours flew by.  The pictures don't do it justice, but I wanted to post a few anyway.  Lyndon took loads of scenery pictures with her camera, but I don't have a way to download them until we return home.  

We ordered lunch on the train, and my Diet Coke displayed my Dad's name.  Yay!

Dan's Diet Coke translated into "Coolest Dad," which he definitely deserves.  He has had the patience of a saint on this trip.  

Somewhere along the train ride, we passed through Liechtenstein.  It is an extremely small country (only 62 square miles) and the 2nd richest country in the world. We were excited about being able to add it to our list of countries.   

After arriving in Zurich, Switzerland, we took a cab to our hotel, as it was too far to walk with all of our luggage.  We got settled in the hotel rooms and then set out to explore a bit and have some dinner.  Lake Zurich was just a few blocks from the hotel. 

The kids also made friends with some swans that live on the lake.  One became very friendly with Jack. We didn't have any bread to offer, so we had to warn Jack to not let the swan too close to his fingers or he might get nipped.

As we crossed into the Old Town, we found a fountain for the kids to cool off a bit.  The Zurich Opera House is the building in the top center of the picture.  

We wandered around the Old Town, looking for dinner options.  We discovered some lovely views along the canal.

We also discovered that prices are astronomical in Zurich.  To put it in perspective, New York food prices in restaurants are about double that of Lexington.  London/Vienna/Salzburg food prices are a little higher than New York prices.  Zurich's food prices were at least double that of London/Vienna/Salzburg.  Yikes!  

After dinner, we walked through the high-end shopping district to get back to our hotel. It is always fun to see the window displays in big cities.  This window display was particularly creepy.

The mannequin faces were fashioned after famous movie stars, such as in Madame Tussauds wax museum, with one major difference.  The wax on the faces was not smoothed out.  They left it very lumpy, as if it had been  created by an elementary school student.  Really strange.  

As you can tell, Zurich is not really a sightseeing destination.  It is considered by many to be a pass-through city, as it is a major travel hub.  It was an odd city to us.  The German spoken there didn't sound similar to the German we heard in Austria.  Also, people around us seemed to lapse into English in the middle of conversations, when they had only been speaking German a few moments before.  The prices made it too expensive to want to visit for very long.  I am glad we stayed there overnight so that we could experience it, and it was a very pretty city.  I don't believe it will be on my list to return for a longer visit, however.  As my Dad says, " I don't believe I left anything there."  Next stop is Boston!

A Morning Trip in to Germany (Sunday, August 9, 2015)

We had one of the coolest, most surreal experiences this morning on a half-day trip into Germany.  Dan arranged for our family to take a tour to Berchtesgaden, Germany and the site of Hitler's "Eagle's Nest."  Dan and I are really interested in WWII history, so this was a must-see for us, as we were only 20 minutes away in Salzburg.  It is another one of those experiences that I never dreamed would actually happen.  

One of the first things that I discovered was that I have been mispronouncing Berchtesgaden all of these years.  It is pronounced /berkh-tehs-gah-dehn/.  I have always pronounced the "ch" like in "church."  

Another misconception was that I thought it was Hitler's private retreat that he visited often.  In reality, Hitler and several of his higher-ups bought houses right outside of the neighboring village of Berchtesgaden and created their own compound.  When I say "bought", they really commandeered houses owned by other families and twisted their arms to "sell" them the houses at really low prices.  Then, they renovated the houses, added a hotel, Kindergarten, dining hall and other community buildings, and they added a huge fence around it so they could control access into and out of the compound.  This compound was in the community named Obersalzburg.  Hitler's farmhouse was named Berghof.  He spent a lot of time in this community, plotting his strategies before and throughout WWII.  His public image for propaganda was created in this compound, as well, as they would take staged pictures of him relaxing, frolicking and appearing grandfatherly to children in an alpine setting.  The actual Eagle's Nest is perched precariously on the top of a mountain and was given to Hitler as a 50th birthday present by his followers.  The only problem is that Hitler was very afraid of heights.  He only visited the property a handful of times,  when entertaining visiting dignitaries, such as Benito Mussolini.  His girlfriend, Eva Braun, liked to visit it a lot, however, so she frequently retreated there for the views and for sunbathing.  And, what views there are!  

The only way to get to the Eagle's Nest is by specially designed buses from Obersalzburg.  No personal vehicles are allowed on the extremely curvy road.  We boarded our bus in Obersalzburg and arrived at this sight near the top of the mountain.  The Eagle's Nest (actually named Kehlsteinhaus) is perched at the top of the picture.  

You walk through a tunnel burrowed into the side of the mountain to reach the large elevator deep inside the mountain, which is the only way up to the top.  

Here is the elevator.  It remains original to the property, so we stood in the same elevator used by Hitler and his officers.  

When we reached the top, we decided to take in the views before we went inside the Eagle's Nest.  There is a cross at the top of the mountain, so we paused for a picture.  

Now, for the views.  They were breathtaking to say the least.  I will just post the pictures, and let them do the talking.  

The Eagle's Nest is in the background of this one.  

Panoramic view of scenery...

Panoramic view including the Eagle's Nest.  

We only had a few minutes left in the tour, so we pulled ourselves away from the views and into the Eagle's Nest itself.  Here is the only original furnishing left in the property, the marble fireplace that was a present to Hitler from Mussolini.  WWII bombing raids leveled the compound at Obersalzberg, but they didn't discover the Eagle's Nest until later, so it remained completely intact.  The property still stands the same as it stood during Hitler's time, but they have changed the furniture.  We have a local connection to the Eagle's Nest, because the troops that actually discovered it following the War were in E Company of the 506th Infantry Regiment, headed up by Lexington's own Colonel Robert Sink (uncle of local legend, Joe Sink).  

Here was the view from inside the Eagle's Nest.  

We wanted to have time to visit a museum at Obersalzburg, so we begrudgingly headed back down the elevator.  Our tour guide took a family picture.

Speaking of our tour guide, Dan promises that he didn't hand-pick Lisa.  She was quite easy on the eyes and not at all what we expected.  She was extremely knowledgeable and very nice.  We lucked out with her!

We rode back down to Obersalzburg on the special buses and visited the Documentation Center and Bunker complex. The museum staff did not recommend very much of the museum for children younger than 12, due to the graphic nature of some of the Holocaust pictures.  The kids and I focused on the small portion they recommended while Dan toured the rest of the the museum.  Then, we regrouped to visit the bunkers.  As I said above, Hitler's entire Obsersalzburg compound was leveled by Allied Forces.  Hitler and his army had prepared for air raids by creating an entire bunker system underneath the compound, much as Churchill did in London.  Here was the entrance to the bunkers.  

Here are a few pictures of the remains of the bunkers.  

The air raid shelter was still intact.  

Here was the emergency exit from the bunker system during the War.

Having also toured Churchill's War Room bunkers in London, it was so interesting to compare the two and see the difference in being on the losing vs. winning side of history.  Churchill's bunkers were perfectly preserved; Hitler's were gutted by the Allies.

We ate lunch at a cafe in Mirabell Gardens upon our return to Salzburg, and look who we found...our old dog Spats!  Well, not really, but he looked just like Spats with the exception that he wasn't biting anyone.  

Mirabell Gardens has a great playground area, so we took the kids to the playground to let off some steam.  

This playground was definitely "old school.  There is no way it would fly in the US.  I am sure that three-story high slide would be ruled a safety hazard. 

We enjoyed a final dinner in Salzburg at a traditional Austrian restaurant.  Schnitzel, anyone?!?  

We really enjoyed our time in Salzburg, and I highly recommend a trip there.  We hope to return some day and rent a car so that we can take advantage of all of the beautiful countryside surrounding Salzburg.

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Briggses...(Saturday, August 8, 2015)

We began the day of our 17th wedding anniversary at Mirabell Gardens.  They are featured in the "Do-Re-Mi" scene in The Sound of Music. They have great historical value on their own accord.  The gardens were created for the prince-archbishop of Austria in 1730, and the palace was the prince-archbishop's summer home.  Not too shabby...We had some fellow tourists take a family picture of us in such beautiful surroundings.  

Here is a view of the palace in the opposite direction.  Note the fortress high above on the mountain.  Please ignore the crane. It was impossible to crop out when taking pics.

Now, the kids had to humor me with several hundred Sound of Music pictures (not really, but it felt like it to them).  Skipping around the fountain...

And a posed picture mid-skip...

Running through the arbor...

Visiting the dwarf park...There was a set of twelve dwarves, modeled after real people that served the prince-archbishop around the year 1600, but characterized as dwarves.  I liked this guy.  I thought my Dad would probably like him because he has a walking stick.  

Greeting another dwarf...

Jack posed alone with this guy, because one of the Von Trapp sons poses with him in "Do-Re-Mi".  

And the finale...I made the kids pose with me on the steps the same way the kids and Maria do, as Julie Andrews hits the high note at the end of the song.  There was lots of eye-rolling going on at this point, but they hung in there for one last picture.  

After our photo shoot, we headed toward the funicular, so that we could ride up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress.  We passed through the Saturday morning farmer's market along the way and found some real edelweiss.  I know that the song "Edelweiss" was written specifically for Sound of Music and has no authentic Austrian meaning, but the song means a lot to me.  I often sang it to the children as a lullaby when they were babies.  It was really neat to find actual edelweiss for sale.  

Next stop was the funicular.  We had prime seats for the trip up the mountain.  

Here are the kids at the top with the fortress that was built around the year 1100 by the Catholic Church.  It was used to intimidate any would-be-attackers of the city, and it worked, as there was never a battle fought here.  It sits 400 feet above the Salzach River.  We ate lunch at a cafe right outside of the fortress with some incredible views.  We also had a great breeze, while no air was stirring down in the City below.  

We walked up to the highest point of the fortress and were rewarded with these amazing views.

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Here is a great picture of Dan with the kids.

We decided to walk back down out of the fortress.  The walk was quite steep at points.

Then, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and great breeze by prolonging our time above the City with a 30 minute hike across the Monchsberg ridge.  We saw some beautiful homes and more great views of Salzburg below.  

After we hiked back down to the City, we visited Mozart's birthplace.  It was crawling with tourists and very hot inside, but Sidney and Lyndon really enjoyed learning about Mozart and his family.  Even with all of their fame and success, Mozart's family continued to rent this small apartment for years.  

You weren't supposed to take pictures, but Dan broke the rules.  Here was a small piano owned by Mozart's family.   

This was their main living space.  The furniture did not belong to Mozart's family, but it was the family's landlord's furniture from the time period.  

We found the most interesting part of the museum to be the elaborate set designs of many of Mozart's operas in small scale display boxes.  It really helped the kids understand how detailed the sets for operas are, so the need for 100 stage hands and three backstage areas at the Vienna Opera House finally made sense to them.  

We concluded our fabulous day with an anniversary dinner at a local Indian restaurant.  Dan and I re-created our wedding toast with Coca Light (Europe's version of Diet Coke), and Sidney took a picture.  Dan is really outdoing himself with these amazing trips.  I am one lucky bride!