Austria and Venice

Friday June 20th

We headed out of the tourist city of Fussen, Germany and across into Austria. We saw a sign saying there was lodging down a country road and headed off the freeway. The road went along the edge of the Vils river, back up into the country. Brian is cute, once he is headed for a room, he keeps going and going until he finds something and we did. He found a nice hotel that had a couple of rooms for us, even though they had a tour bus come in. We had dinner in the hotel.

Saturday the 21st we drove into Innsbruck where we ate lunch and saw the town set up for the “Euro 2008". We also saw the government house below, which is one side of the walled old city and the Clock tower.

Then we drove to Salzburg and found a room. When we got off the freeway we found a tourist information center. It was closed, but there were pictures of lodging places and a phone to call them. So Brian called one, got the address and we headed for Haus Elizabeth. It is a great place, and we had dinner at the campground restaurant next door. They had a birthday party for a family member, and it took us a long time to get dinner. When we got it, it was good.

Sunday morning Erwin Roth picked us up for church and the kids followed with the children. I rode with him and we talked. RS was interesting with a young lady translating. SS we had the same young lady translating and there were 4 men doing the story of Alma and Amulek as a readers theater. As we listened to the translator, I thought how if Alma stood before me I would need a translator to understand him. The scriptures are translated so we can read the words of the prophets.

Then we went to their house for dinner and a long visit on a hot afternoon. We went back to the room. Debbie and Brian got the children to bed and then went next door for ice cream and mousse.
J is a cute happy baby, even with sleeping in different rooms each night and spending many hours in the car.


Monday June 23 we got packed and went into Salzburg. We saw the old town and toured the castle. Brian bought a jews harp and a lamellophone or thumb piano type of instrument. We then rode the train up to the top of the cliff and toured the Hohenstein Castle. It was so beautiful we took a lot of pictures of Salzburg from the castle.






Inside the castle was a puppet museum. We saw a lot of puppets from a wide ranch of eras.



Then drove south towards Italy and got caught in a rainstorm going through the Alps. It was raining so hard that cars pulled off the freeway because they couldn’t see to drive. Even big trucks pulled off. We did also for a while, until it let up a bit. We pulled off to get a room at Warm Bad, which means Hot Springs. That was a weird place with Hospitals and Old Folks Homes and very expensive hotels. We looked around a bit and then got back on the freeway. We found a nice hotel attached to the rest area and gas station. Dinner that night was cafeteria style - where you choose what you want and then pay for each individual item you have.


Tuesday we drove to the airport near Venice or Venizia dropped of the rental car and took a bus into Venice. The bus went across a bridge and pulled into a large parking lot. There was a train station nearby, a parking garage and rental car returns. From then on, everyone was on foot. There are no roads. I hadn’t known Venice was a bunch of islands with corners filled in so they are square and bridges from one island to the next.

B, L and D walking along a small canal. There are a lot of boats of all kinds and descriptions, taxis, garbage boats, buses, gondolas, package transporters, etc. Every morning guys with wheelbarrows went past our room loaded with old wood or cement. One morning I got up from breakfast and followed them, I wondered what they did with the junk. They took it down to the canal and dumped it into a boat with a large garbage bin, it looked like a dump truck bed, in the middle. All the deliveries are made by boat and then hand truck, cart or wheelbarrow. It was very interesting. There were very few gardens, mostly sidewalks and buildings. We asked about a gondola ride, but it was 200 Euro and the day was very hot and the gondolas are not covered. So we took a 6 Euro each water bus ride instead.
D, J, B and L enjoying dinner along side a small canal.

Here I am in front of the famous Clock tower on the San Marco Piazza

D and I in front of the Basilica di San Marco in San Marco Square or Piazza.
Below is L running down a narrow road.



The streets are very narrow. Here are J, D B and L coming out of a road.




Lizzie loved the bridges. She is just learning to walk and the stairs we only 3 or 4 inches high and she could go up and down holding one hand, but two was better.

After a couple of days in Venice we went back to London . L sat on Bs lap, J sat with D on the plane.