More from Carinthia

On Wednesday, the 6th of August we departed on the second part of our vacation. From Mannheim we (Karin, Jason, Marlene, Amelia, and Helga) took a train to Carinthia, the south-eastern most state of Austria. The train went all the way through from Mannheim to Klagenfurt. We got off towards the very end in Poertschach, where we had rented an appartment in a beautiful lake side villa. "Villa Edelweiss" was built in 1910 by the architect Franz Baumgarnter, who has built many prestigious pieces around the Woerthersee. We had a large 3 bedroom apparmtent with a nice livingroom and kitchen, and a breathtaking view of the lake. The beach was right across the road, which made for perfect afternoon swimming.

An eight hour train trip with a 3-year-old is an experience. Marlene kept herself fairly busy between the DS and the nano, but Amelia was constantly climbing and jumping around. It was a georgius day and we had the most breathtaking views of the Alps. That evening in Poertschach we had our first encunter with Austrian Cuisine and, I think it made a quite memorable impression on Jason and the girls.

On Thursday we picked up our rental car on our way into Klagenfurt. We had a nice Peugeaut 308, that comportably sat 5 people. On this hot summer day we walked all around downtown and took in the sights. At the "Alter Platz" we went in to the Wappensaal to find the Metnitz family crest. The Lindwurm on the Neuer Platz left the girls unimpressed, while they loved the big letters that were put up there as a form of art. We had a Selchwurst at the market in memory of my father and loved the ice cream at Arcobaleno. It is Italian gelato and there is no flavor they do not have, actually Marlene pointed out the lack of mint chocolate chip, but that aside there is really everything. I had a scoop of chestnut ice cream. After our first Klagen furt exploration we drove to Viktring to visit my cousin Edda and her family. They have a brand new condo overlooking the Woerthersee with a fabiolous view. We were treated to Coffee and Sachertorte after our grandmothers recipe. It was great to visit and catch up after so many years. We ended the day with a long awaited swim in the lake.

We woke up the next morning to a very dramatic thunderstorm. I remember from my childhood that some big storms get trapped between the Karawanken and Tauern mountain ranges and it would rain for days. Luckyly the thunderstorm was over soon and it just misted the rest of the morning. We dedided on a sightseeing day and headed north to visit the castle Hochosterwitz. Hochosterwitz has everything you want from a castle; it sits on a hill overlooking everthing, it has 14 gates through which you have to pass to get to the actual castle including drawbridges, large wooden doors and metal grates that can be lowered. It took about half an hour to walk up there and even Amelia did a good job trotting along. Like with most places in Europe on the top you are rewarded with food and drink at a little restaurant. Any hike is so much better with beer and wine waiting at the end. We visited the little museum that displayed armor and the history of the Khevenhueller family who is still to date owning this castle.

After Hochosterwitz we drove further north to the town of Friesach, which is surrounded by 4 castles (yes, they have a lot of castles in Austria). Friesach has a beautiful old town center which happened to be quite busy, because it was Friday August 8th (2008) and we got to see several Weddingparties. Friesach is as well a center for the production of the traditional Trachten clothing and we were treated to quite a display of festival day Trachten.

On Saturday monring we went to Klagenfurt again to visit the Landesmuseum. We learnt about natural history as well as regional history and local folklife. Just north of Klagenfurt are several important Roman sites. The originals of beautiful wall paintings from Noreia (Magdalensberg) are displayed here. We had lunch at the Lamplwirt in Ebental. When I was a child we spent summers at my grandmothers in Ebental and often ate at this restaurant. After lunch we visited her house and the mill. It is very depressing to see, how everyhting has changed. The house is just an empty shell ready to colapse and the mill business has taken over much of the yard. Coincidentally we ran into the assistant manager of the mill and were treated to a tour of the facility. The mill has been in my family for about a hundred years, but it is much older. To compete with the big industrial mills they have found a nitch in small batche specialty flour.

After this visit to my and my families past we headed north again to visit the roman ruins at the Magdalenberg. It is a large site with ongoing excavations. Noreia was an important celto-roman settlement. It was the first roman settlement north of the Alps. They were known for their ironwork, which is called Noric Iron. The girls likes running around this beatifull hill site and we enjoued the views. The museum could used more in the sense of educational displays, but I gues this is just a phd thesis waiting to happen. Our day ended as usual with swimming an an evening stroll through Poertschach.

Sunday was Marlene's 7th birthday. After a pancake breakfast made with flour from the family mill and unwrapping presents, we went to "Minimundus", a miniture world. It has been a good 30 years since I have been there last and so I was amazed how it has grown. What started 50 years ago with models of some Austrian sites, is now a a large area with countless important buildings wolrdwide. The attention to detail is fantastic. My favorite was St. Peter's cathedral in Rome. Afterwards we went to downtown Klagenfurt again for ice cream. Marlene had chosen a ice cream sundes instead of a cake and it was fabiulous. I mrally miss that kind of stuff in the US. Most icecream places offer a bana split and some scoops with fudge, but the creative designs and variety of sundees is pretty much no where found.

As part of the boat traffic on the Woethersee, there is a ferry line that stops on various places along the lake and makes the trip from Klagenfurt to Velden several times a day. I remember such a trip from my childhood as rather"boring" (it takes 2 hours each way), because it is all sunshine and beautiful views. So when the girls showed interest we decided on apartial trip. Jason, Marlene and Amelia boarded in Poertschach and my mom and I picked them up in Klagenfurt less than an hour later. Judging by their faces it had been more than enough time on the boat. Jason enjoyed it very much and took a ot of pictures. The landing pier of the ship is located at the Metnitzstrand. The Metnizstrand was named after my great-grandfather Gustaf von Metnitz who was mayor of Klagenfurt and had the mosqito infested swamp at the south end of the lake dried out and a nice promenade built. There is a memorial plage for him and so we took a picture of the decendens like so many in our family have done.

Monday was one of the highlights for me. Jay and I got to go on a hike alone without the girls. It was a perfetc day for hiking, since it was not humid, the sun was shining, but in the mountains it was not overly hot. The hike I had picked out was up from Johansen Ruhe in Baerental to the Klagenfurter Huette. As a child we did this every year. After dropping my mother and the girls off at the reptile zoo in Klagenfurt we drove to the Baerental and found the base parking lot overflowing. The beginning of the hike was not as nice, since they are building a road up the mountain. We were able to use parts of the old trail and most of it was as I remembered, just the tees have grown. Once we cleared the construction, we were on a small trail in the high Alps. The trees got thinner and we got close to the tree line. Cows were grasing the loushious summer grass and after about 2 hours we had reached the Klagenfurter Huette at a hight of 5500 ft. I learnt later from my cousin, that actually my grandmother cristened the hut in 1906 at the time when her father was mayor of the city of Klagenfurt. We had a late lunch and enjoyed the view. I would have loved to continue up to the Wertatscha in Slowenia, but we were running out of time. The hike down was fast and we loved to take a dip in the lake after returning to Poertschach.

Tuesday was our last day in Carinthia. While Jason had to work on a report my mother, the girls and me were going again to Klagenfurt anbd later paid another visit to my cousin Edda, were we spent a wonderful afternoon. After getting ready for traveling the next day we ended the evening with playing minigolf in Poertschach.

More Germany Photos

Europe - Phase 1 - Germany

After a long time we finally made it over to Europe again. There is just a difference between having to buy one or two tickets versus four. To sum it all up, it was great; better than I expected. A lot of planing went into the vacation, we had a busy trip, but we got a lot to see, and everyone had fun.

We arrived in Frankfurt on July 29th to very hot and humid weather. Living in the Pacific Northwest we are just not used to that. The humidity really took a toll on me. Our first real day I introduced the girls to Italian gelato and public swimming pools in Germany and they loved it. This open air pool has opened in Oggersheim when I was about 6 years old and I have spent many summers there. The only thing that has changed is, that the trees are 30 years older, they added a new swirly slide and a little kids play area. In the evening we had the first of many thunderstorms during this trip, which kept the girls up long into the night and made the transition with the jet-lag much easier.

The following day we drove to Bad Windsheim in Franconia to visit my friends Karin and Christian and their daughter Charlotte. It is the 5th year since Christian has been writing and producing an open air theater play at the "Freilandmuseum Bad Windsheim". The museum is an open air museum that has brought together old houses from all over Franconia. They show examples, how people lived and worked. The fields between buildings are farmed in a more traditional way and they have animals, that are closer to old breads than what we have today. The oldest house is from 1357 and came to the museum in the 1980s. Dendrochronology has identified the year the trees for the beams were cut, and tax records are complete and date back to the 14th century. At the end the house was the village pub and slated for tare down, but an inscription from the 18th century made them wait. Everyone was surprised to find the house much older. In the museum the inside is split up into how it was at the time of construction and in the 1950s. The picture shows the split. I could go on and on, I just love open air museums.

After a long hot day in the museum and a quick cool down at the local pool, my mom and I saw the play while Christian watched the girls. The play was called "Bombenstimmung" and dealt with terrorism in Germany in the 1970th. While giving plenty of food for thought, it definitely had comedic aspects in portraying the changes in rural live during this time period.

In Bad Windsheim we stayed the night at a B&B called the "Patoriushaus". Franz Daniel Pastorius, who came with William Penn to the new world and founded among many other things Germantown in Pennsylvania, grew up in Bad Windsheim and lived many years in this house. Marlene and Amelia loved staying in this old house, that was so different from other hotels they know.

The next day we went with Karin and Charlotte to the "Playmobil Funpark". This was the absolute high point for the girls during the trip. It is an amusement park built around playmobil toys. They don't have rides, it is more a collection of playgrounds with various themes, like pirates, castle, wild west, jungle, farm etc. The kids are challenged by climbing rope ladders and paddling rafts in the water, playing in the water and mud. There is plenty of actual playmobil to play with, too. This year they opened a large indoor area with cafeteria, stage and more play areas, which came very handy since we had more thunderstorms and needed a place inside. We were all very tired after a long day of playing, but our Friday afternoon 3 hour car ride home to Oggersheim was luckily more pleasant that we had expected.

We had a quiet weekend meeting with various sets of friends and family. Marlene had the chance of nearly beating uncle Helmut in playing the wii. It was fun seeing so many of you again, but sad as well, because it seems always too short and leaving me wishing for more. On Sunday afternoon the girls and I drove to Frankfurt. Jason's flight was arriving in the evening and so we spent the afternoon at the Senkenbergmuseum, a huge natural history museum. We saw plenty of dinosaur bones, crystals and all kinds of stuffed animals and birds. Since Marlene has been learning a lot about birds in school, we have started to go "birding", and so it was very interesting to see so many birds up close. In my innocence I thought that an afternoon in the museum might be a "cool" escape from the heat, but the absence of any kind of ventilation and air conditioning made the visit a challenge in endurance. The airport brought finally relieve and the girls were very happy to see their daddy again.

Monday and Tuesday were filled with more friends and revisiting our old stomping grounds, before getting ready for the next phase of the trip: Austria.