The kids were so excited, because, finally, FINALLY this hotel had a pool, it was in working order, and there was time for them to swim in it. We again let them eat breakfast in their swimming suits, and as soon as the last yummy drop of hot chocolate was consumed, they were out the door and in the water. Now, my kids have lived in Europe all their lives. We only ever go swimming in outdoor, unheated pools. So to them, the water was a bit chilly, but not too bad, once you got used to it. Even Noah got in and had some fun.
Poor Amelia, though, was used to Arizona outdoor pools, that even if not heated, felt like they were, because the hot desert sun shone on them all day, every day. She put one toe in the water, and decided that swimming was not on her agenda for the day. But she hung around the pool watching the other kids and decided to get in anyway. But after just a few minutes, she got back out and went up to the hotel room to take a hot shower and try and warm back up again!
My kids were having so much fun, they didn't want to get out at all. 30 minutes later, Amelia came back downstairs, still in her suit, but now thoroughly warmed up from her shower, and gave it one more shot. She jumped in this time, to get the shock over with all at once, and stayed in the water until my kids were ready to get out. They all had a great time, and were so happy to use their swim gear at long last.
Once everyone was dried off and dressed, we went outside and met Chris and Ursula again. We were going to what I thought was the "Boesliberg". When we got closer, I saw the sign and it said "Poestlingberg". I was surprised that it was written so much different from how it was pronounced. So I made Angie say it several more times in her Austrian dialect, just for fun. :) It always amazes me how the language can differ so greatly, even though both countries speak "German".
This little mountain, well it seemed little because we weren't walking up it, just driving in our cars, has a very old tradition in the town. There are all sorts of stories about it and the dwarves who live inside, and occasionally come out to help the townsfolk.
There is an old castle on top, complete with a moat, and inside the castle they have made an attraction for kids. First you ride on the dragon boat, which takes you past lots of the dwarves, and shows what they are working on. Some are helping hurt animals, some are harvesting mushrooms and nuts, some were digging for gemstones, and some were fighting off attacks from large insects. The whole ride was pretty low-tech, especially compared to Disneyland, but the kids absolutely loved it. They kept telling me to "film this, and film that" because they wanted to remember as much as possible of it once we got home.
When the ride is over, you walk down a few stairs and enter this miniature town square. There are re-creations of most of the major buildings in Linz, including our hotel! These were so fun to look at, and we had to keep telling the kids to look up, because they would have "people" looking out of some of the windows. So cute.
Down each alleyway between buildings, there would be two scenes set up from different fairy tales. So in between the bank and the grocery store, you walk down to find a scene from "Hansel and Gretel" on one side, and "Cinderella" on the other. They had quite a few of these different scenes. Some were from famous fairy tales, but others were new to the kids and I. Fortunately, we had Angie and Ursula there to fill in the blanks.
As we were exiting through the gift shop, where each child received their very own crystal mined by the "dwarves" from the cashier, we picked up a pamphlet about the "Grottenbahn", which is what the place was called. It was first built in 1906! was semi-destroyed in WWII and rebuilt just a few years later. Angie and Uncle Chris had come here as children with their mother, Angie had brought Chris here when he was 9, and now, he had come with his children. I love those kinds of traditions! We walked back down to the cars, and then said goodbye to Uncle Chris and Ursula. We were headed to Munich, with a couple shopping stops in between, and they were staying in Linz. But we hope to see them again someday.
On the way back through town towards the freeway, Uncle Chris led the way, with Angie following him, and us bringing up the rear. We told Angie on the walkie-talkie that we were pulling over to take a quick photo of the restaurant we ate at the night before, and we would catch up to them on the freeway. Unfortunately, they didn't hear the whole message, and thought we asked them to wait for us. Dun dun dun DUN! We didn't even start trying to catch them on the walkie-talkie's until we had driven for a good 10-15 minutes, knowing that they only had a 2 kilometer range. This means we had already driven past them waiting for us at the first rest stop, and would never be able to reach them. We tried calling them on Nick's cell phone we had given her, but couldn't get any answer. We finally received a call from Uncle Chris asking where we were. Somehow, Angie had been able to reach him, but not us. He acted as go between, and told her we were already on our way to the ceramic factory. So she got back in the car and drove to where we were waiting for her. We didn't have to wait long, probably 30 minutes, but I am sure to the kids and her it felt like much longer, because they weren't sure where we were, or how they would ever get a hold of us. Ende gut, alles gut!
At the Gmunder ceramic factory, Angie and I did a bit of shopping! and the kids played on the nearby playground. She bought some lovely pieces that she has had her eye on for several years, and I picked up some gorgeous plates, painted in their traditional swirly pattern, but with red paint, not the traditional green. I also got a couple of serving bowls, with plans to add on to my collection at a later date. They are beautiful and exactly what I have been looking for for years. Now I can use these with my regular white plates for Christmas, Valentine's day, Fourth of July, and 1st of August. It is kind of silly to be so excited about dishes, but I just can't help it. They are so pretty!
Next stop on the list was the Renard factory outlet for some authentic Austrian dirndls for the girls. We got some cute Trachten shirts for the boys as well. Noah was trying to convince us to get him some Lederhosen, but we were afraid he wouldn't want to wear them more than once. We told him if he still wanted them the next time we came to Salzburg, we would for sure buy him a pair. He would look awfully handsome in them. I was hoping to buy everyone matching colors, but unfortunately, they didn't have a huge selection in every size, being as it was the outlet store. Still, Sarah and Sophie now have matching orange dirndls, and Alexandra coordinates in red. Amelia also got a gorgeous one in dark green, bright pink and purple. Sounds kind of weird, I know, but it looks really nice together and goes great with her skin tone.
We drove in to Salzburg to eat at the Peter's Keller one more time. (Yes, it is really that good.) and then arrived in Munich just after bedtime. Since the next day all we were doing was driving home, we didn't stress about it too much, and let them stay up a bit longer once we got to the hotel. We knew they would be able to sleep in the next morning, as would we. 🙂