February 13th, Dachau, Germany & Salzburg, Austria

Grammie and Grandpa flew in on Thursday, and the next morning we left for a Salzburg vacation. We stopped in Dachau, Germany to see the concentration camp. The town of Dachau is adorable, the camp was a sad reminder of the horrors of war. We then drove on later in the afternoon to Berchestgaden, Austria (about 15 minutes away from Salzburg). We drove through an awful snowstorm and barely made it to our house way up in the mountains. We were nearly stuck the next day in the house, but we made it out to explore the area. This three day trip was fantastic and beautiful!

Entering Dachau, "work will set you free"

This image is of the baths and the table was one of the places where they beat the prisoners.


Snowed in on the morning of day two, but the house was spectacular!!

Nolan made the best of it out in the snow!


Billy tried to make it an extreme sport event, but the snow was too deep.


Our first stop, the Salt Mines in Berchestgaden. An amazing trip and tremendous fun for the kids. It included slides, rides and we even crossed the border of Austria and Germany under ground.


This photo was taken during a ride on a boat in the underground lake used in medieval times to extract the salt from the mountain.


Video of us riding the slide the miners used to travel further underground.

We dined at St. Peter's Cellar, the oldest restaurant in Europe. Mozart and Charlemagne dined here too, but not on the same night.

The next morning we went into Salzburg. This was a very enthusiastic picture of Billy at the house where Mozart was born.


On to Hohensalzburg, the impressive fortress towering over the city of Salzburg. We rode a funicular to the top and toured the fortress. The city of Salzburg was beautiful from the top.


A view of the Salzburg Dom church from the top of the fortress.


Nolan at the highest point on the fortress.


Marionette's were a big part of theatre in Salzburg for centuries. Inside the fortress they have a mini-museum of Marionettes. Bill and Nolan learn how to manipulate this particularly creepy one.

This is Salzburg Dom. The church was beautiful.


Inside the Dom. The church was completely destroyed in WWII, and rebuilt as close to the original soon after the war.

The kids enjoy their Kaiserschmarrn, which is a rich pancake cut up into bite size pieces (literally translated, the kings scraps).

Traditional Salzburg dessert, a monstrosity. Katie was overwhelmed by it.

Our last day. We went further up into the mountains to go tobogganing. This ride was 3.5 km......quite a long ride, we went several times. It was awesome!!!


On the top of the mountain.


A video of Billy and Nolan racing down the slope.

January 24th, Bitche and Tongeren

Bill, Erin, Nolan, and Katie took off over this weekend for Belgium to go antique shopping. Billy was on his ski trip to Italy with the Sitzmarkers, so it was just the four of us. We started by driving into France and visiting the town of Bitche. Funny name aside, the town is host to an awesome fortress that was part of the Maginot line. This huge citadel was literally carved out of a sandstone outcropping in 1740 and was never captured in any war after that.

After that, we drove up to Spangdahlem AFB to spend the night. This is a great "lily pad" for trips up around Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, etc. The next morning, we completed the trip to Tongeren to shop at one of Europe's largest flea markets. The entire downtown is filled with vendors selling just about everything antiquey you can think of. We were looking for a cabinet we can put our TV on, but came away empty handed. Luck of the draw I suppose... I guess we'll have to go back! ;)

I had to have my picture taken by this sign, it's just funny.

Here's a poster showing the citadel

Walking around the little town

Nolan and Katie walking up to the citadel

Don't fall in!

Nolan and Katie relax in a hole in the wall

Walking around the outside.. what a view!

How cute is that!

Say 'No' to crack, Katie!

Did I mention that this place is BIG?

Antiques at the flea market in Tongeren

More antiques

The kids were little angels the whole trip

January '09, Fellhorn

Bill and Billy have been taking day trips to Oberstdorf to go snowboarding at Fellhorn. It's in the Bavarian Alps, but from the summit you can ride down into either Austria or Germany. It's a great mountain, 3 funparks, and close enough to do in one day.

Billy board sliding a rail

Bill gets a frontside turn off the wall

Billy stylin'

The view of Riezlern on the Austria side

Bill going off the ramp

Billy getting some air

November 15th, Lichtenstein

Less than an hour from Stuttgart, in the town of Honau, is the fabled Lichtenstein castle. Originally built in the 12th century, this castle was destroyed a couple times, and was later rebuilt as part castle, part hunting lodge. The grounds tell the story of medieval defenses, and inside are many centuries-old weapons, suits of armor, paintings, and some real oddities such as an original death mask of Napolean Bonaparte and the largest champagne glass in the world. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed inside the castle.

The kids start the walk up to the grounds

A better view of the outer castle

Bill and the kids crossing the moat into the courtyard

Bill and the kids check out the view from the cliff's edge

Erin says she wants one of these too!

Nolan demonstrates how the castle is defended by archers and special windows

November 11th, Sensapolis

November 11th is Veteran's Day, an American holiday not celebrated in Germany, which makes it a great day to go places that are normally crowded. Sensapolis is no exception to this. I'm not sure exactly how to describe the place... it's 50% playground, 50% activity center, 50% children's museum, and 50% confidence course. Oh, and the gourmet restaurant is pretty nice too.

Katie and Nolan experiment with magnets

Protecting the ship from asteroids and space pirates

Billy races down one of the near-vertical slides

Katie and Nolan get showered with foam balls

Billy on the high ropes course

Bill and Billy scaling the rock wall

Katie and Nolan try dancing in the big shoes

October 31st - November 2nd, Sölden

First trip of the season for the Sitzmarker ski club, of which Billy is a member and Bill is a chaperone. The club drove to Sölden in the Austrian Alps. This early in the season, the only places with snow are the glaciers, and our destination was Tiefenbach glacier at an altitude of 3000m. It was snowing and windy on the first day, then sunny and warm on the next two days. Conditions were great with all the new snow!

View up the glacier from the bottom

Bill does a little advertising for Uncle Kevin

Billy at the top of the world