The last morning of our trip, we woke up and drove through Austria to Italy. We were able to see countryside, the Alps, castles, churches, and small communities everywhere. I didn't realize when we planned our trip just how much I would enjoy this segment.
Our destination was a castle that they had seen several times driving by, and had not ever visited. After a hike up, we found out it was actually a working monestary!
Hudson was our pal the entire trip. We adored him, and he was quite a little hiker!
Rick Steves told us that we would see these symbols all over Germany, but this was the first time we did. This is a chalk marking about Epiphany (Jan 6), the holiday that celebrates the entry of the Magi to see the Baby Jesus. The initials C, M, and B stand for the three wise men, and also for the phrase "May God bless this house." The crosses show that the house has been blessed in the year 2007. Epiphany includes donating to charities, and those who contribute are shown thanks with these markings.
No day out with boys would be complete without throwing rocks--even in Italy.
Here are more castle ruins and churches typical of the tiny towns we drove by.
The drive left us feeling like we easily could have spent our entire trip in just this area. Whew, it was pretty! The next morning, we headed over to some Christmas shops, and then to the Munich airport to await 22 more hours of travel.
It was a good trip.
6 comments:
All right globetrotters - the play by play was fab and now the most pressing thing i want to know is - how'd you befriend Rick Steves along the way?
We befriended him lonnnnggg before our trip, thanks to Chrysta's suggestion. The funny thing is that every American tourist was carrying one of those babies around. I tried to keep him all tucked away unless I was on a tour or one of his walks, because it made us stand out like a sour thumb.
Rick Steves rocks. I watch him on PBS all the time. I just love how you said "Rick Steves told us we would..." It was cute.
Your trip looks like it was pretty amazing. It all looks pretty facsinating.
this was absolutely amazing!!! Karen.. you will have to come over before you leave... the girls would really love to say good bye!
By the way, I wanted you to know that I have gone through all of your Europe posts, but I thought I would wait until the end to say "Wow what a trip!"
I loved looking at all of your pictures!
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