We spent a beautiful, relaxing week in the Salzkammergut area of Austria this summer. Our little rental house was in the town of Strobl am Wolfgangersee, if anyone wants to Google it. It was about 40 minutes southeast of Salzburg, and absolutely gorgeous. Everything you want in a family vacation; sleeping in, time to laze around and read, a few short strolls, some sightseeing, lots of eating out, shopping, playing games together and just having fun together. Thank you so much, Chris for organizing it all. You did a fantastic job, even if you hated the house. 🙂
We drove up on Saturday and stopped quickly at a small Spar/gas station place in Salzburg to pick up some groceries for the morning, before driving out to the rental house. The next day, Sunday, we decided to go to church in the Mondsee ward, as lots of people Chris knew from his time as a missionary in Salzburg now attend that ward. It was a bit of a drive, but it was a lovely building and everyone was very welcoming. Chris did see quite a few familiar faces, and was very happy to be able to catch up with them all.
The kids were most excited to tell us that they had Jause during Primary. I had seen several little signs in front of restaurants advertising “Jausen” but thought it was some sort of organized game, like Jass here in Switzerland. 🙂 Turns out, it is their word for “Znueni” or mid-morning snack. So in Primary they handed out apple slices and bread to all the kids for Jause, and it was the highlight of Sophie’s day.
It was also Sarah’s birthday, so after church, Chris asked her where she wanted to go for her birthday meal. She smiled and said in a hopeful voice, “Stiftskeller?” and we said YES! So off to Salzburg we drove.
At first they tried to seat us inside, which is very fancy and lovely. But Sarah took about three steps in and turned right around, because of the dead animal heads on the walls. We had never been to that part of the restaurant, it has many different wings, and didn’t know to warn her. Chris explained to the hostess that Sarah was afraid, and could we please sit somewhere else, perhaps outside in the covered garden where we sat a few years ago? It was her birthday after all, and there was no sense in putting her through that emotional anxiety.
The kids were very well behaved and kept reminding each other in hushed whispers to use their “fancy manners”. 🙂 It worked, because no one spilled anything, broke anything, or got shushed by anyone.
Most of us ordered the Schnitzel, mmhhmmm, but Nicholas likes to be adventuresome with food, so he had some sort of soup. Shoot, I cant’ remember which kind, but he really liked it. 
We were originally going to order a Salzburgernockerl for dessert and share it, but we were all very full, and Sarah really wanted a banana split as her birthday dessert, so we skipped it. Another time…
Then we went out to get reacquainted with one of our favorite cities in the world. It didn’t disappoint. There was this way cool street performer.
I gave Sarah some money to put in his little tip jar, and he came to life, and handed her a little postcard from a hidden stash underneath the top cover of the piano. I still can’t figure out how he was staying up there. There were no strings or supports besides that pile of books anywhere!
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know so I can stop wondering and get back to more important things.:)
Then we stumbled across this strange hole right in the middle of the Marketplace, that I swear, in four previous trips to Salzburg, I have never, EVER seen.
We were all stumped and mesmerized at the same time. There was seriously a lot of water rushing down that hole, and the sign said it has been there for over 100 years. What?!? I think they built it last week, honestly.
Of course we had to go over to the famous horse fountain.
And then strolled down Getreidegasse in search of an ice cream parlor for Sarah’s banana split. 
We didn’t find one, but did come across a gelato shop with about 50 different flavors, one scoop-one Euro. Oh, how I love cheap EU prices! So we got the kids double scoops and promised Sarah we would buy the fixings to make banana splits the next day. She was fine with that, it meant she got ice cream two days in a row!
Of course, just before we reached the car, we found a great ice cream parlor specifically advertising banana splits. Doh! There was also this hilarious statute, sitting in the middle of an unusually-named plaza.
The kids still laugh about it over a month later. For some reason it just really tickled their funny bones.
By now we were all starting to get a bit tired of walking, so before anyone got too frustrated we called it quits and went back home. Noah stopped to take a little break on this fun bus stop bench.
It was a great first day of our trip, and a memorable birthday for Sarah all in one. However, after two days in a row filled with lots of driving, the kids did ask if the next day could be a “no going in the car” day. We told them yes, it most definitely could. It was a family vacation after all, not a whirlwind European tour.