Paul's Trip and Lonnie's Birthday (Day 4) Salzburg, Bad Ischl, Gmunden,

May 25! Lonnie's Birthday! And what a great day! We started the morning with a yummy breakfast at the hotel before leaving for a very special birthday adventure in Salzburg, Austria--and what a wonderful, fun city that is! Loved, loved, loved Salzburg!

Everyone who knows Lonnie, knows how much she loves her birthday. Here she is! Happy 66!

With her birthday buddies!

It's always fun to be with Paul because he tells us cool tidbits of information, such as, "The Wizard of Oz is the ultimate chick flick because it's about two women fighting to the death over a pair of red shoes." Love that boy!

The sun was shining, and we were off to explore the fabulous city of Salzburg!

Salzburg Cathedral

Amazingly ornate ceilings

This man really rocked on the guitar!

Wouldn't you know? Lonnie found a heart wall on her birthday!

A race car on the street.

Lonnie was pretty excited to find the Lanz Store, because Mr. Lanz had moved from Salzburg to Hermosa Beach, California where she had lived during High School. In the 1930's, Josef Lanz closed up shop in Austria and emigrated to the U.S., where he firsr set up his business in New York. In 1948 he closed the company in New York and in 1959 opened The Cotton Shop and a small Lanz Store in Hermosa Beach. 

We enjoyed a few peaceful moments at Mirabell Gardens.

We left Salzburg and drove through the beautiful Austrian countryside and stopped in a little town called Wolfgansee. . .

With an authentic Austrian thrift store!

Bob took a few minutes down by the river to do a little birding while Paul and I scoured the town for a fabric shop to buy buttons for the quilt that I had been working on in the back seat. I have been collecting doilies from Europe and sewing them onto quilt squares.I had a brainstorm as we were driving along that day about how to embroider between the doilies using buttons. We found just what I needed.

What a birthday! Bob planned the whole day out to be special for me, even taking me to some peaceful little lake towns to enjoy nature. We sat by a lake and drank in the sunshine to the sound of lapping waves at Wolfgansee.

Then we drove to one of the most beautiful little towns we have ever seen--Bad Ischl.

As evening approached, Bob pulled the car into a fabulous restaurant/hotel called Laschenskyhof in Gmunden, where he treated me to a delicious pork steak in a pepper cream sauce served with veggies and potatoes. We shared a sumptuous, moist chocolate cake with ice cream and whipped cream. Yum!

Could a day get more perfect than this? I loved my birthday! Thanks Bob and Paul.

Paul's Trip (Day 3) Bavaria, Neuschwanstein Schlos, Castelrotto, Italy

We wound through the winding roads of Bavaria, Germany and went through Liechtenstein, a very small country between Austria and Switzerland. Its area is just over 160 square kilometres (62 square miles), and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Liechtenstein is the smallest, yet the richest (by measure of GDP per capita), German-speaking country in the world and the only country to lie entirely within the Alps. 

Then we went on to Reutte, where we settled into the Gastehaus am Graben. 

We heard bells tinkling over the grassy hill and discovered a flock of sheep grazing. 

That evening we went to dinner at the Geniesset Restaurant.

We had delicious cream of spargel soup served in these large tureens.

Our waitress prepared  Bob's pasta salad in this large wooden bowl.

Paul's snitzel topped with a wrapped lemon wedge.

We went to sleep with full tummies and awoke excited to be up and ready to explore such a beautiful part of the world. After an enjoyable breakfast at the Gastehaus of boiled eggs, bread, cereal, fruit, and hot chocolate, we headed for Neuschwanstein Schloss. The first castle we saw was the picturesque Hohenschwangau Castle.

We didn't visit this castle but walked on a lovely path up to Neuschwanstein Schloss. Paul found a friend, a cute little salamander, along the way.

The views down into the valley were exquisite.

Paul was kind enough to stop for us to rest a bit along the way up. Quite the hike!

At last, the castle!

"Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

No photos were allowed inside the castle, but here are a couple of the Grand Hall off the Internet.

We did get to take some photos of the beautiful, spacious kitchen with all of it's shiny copper pots.

A poster through the seasons of Neuschwanstein.

Back on the road again, everywhere we looked was a postcard snapshot. Along the way, Paul noticed a road sign that read, "Give your Guardian Angel a chance."

We stopped at the Geiger Outlet store, east of Innsbruck, where Bob bought me a beautiful boiled wool Austrian jacket for my birthday. I had been wanting one, and I just love this jacket with its antler buttons.

We traveled through the mountains to Castelrotto, Italy, a municipality in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-AltoAdige/Sudtirol, located about 20 km northeast of the city of Bolzanol with a population of about 6,500.