Friday, July 30, 2021

Austria- Hallstatt

July 30 & 31st-
While in Austria, we trained over from Vienna to a little village on lake Hallstatt and stayed for a night. It was about 3.5 hours by train and a really pretty ride. From the train stop we took a 15 minute ferry to this magical village. The weather forecast right before the trip said 100% chance of thunderstorms the entire time. It was a bummer because we had already booked things and it's not cheap to stay here! So we hoped for the best and a little break in storm, but honestly we got the best of the best nice hot weather the entire time, not even a drizzle of rain! Tender mercy! 

We were really grateful we decided to stay a night here, rather then doing a day trip. The morning and evenings without the tourists really is something special.  The highlight of our time here was actually swimming in the lake. We decided with the rain forecasted & not checking a bag not to bring our  swimsuits. We just went to this lake side playground to let the boys run around. The lake was near empty and sun shining and Riley had to get in. It was so picturesque. The boys all wanted to feel the water. After Riley swam, he came back saying it was a TOP life experience and I HAD to get in. I was in leggings and white shirt, so not the best and they were my only clothes for day here so I refused but Riley persisted and we bought a nice geometric orange bikini (the selection was slim as you could imagine) and the next morning we all went back and spent the morning having a breakfast picnic and lake alone taking turns swimming. Reminding Riley of ‘Band of Brothers’ swimming in Austria. 




If you look closely enough you will see Riley in the middle of the Lake
















view from airbnb











Riley is not wearing a white shirt
















I spy Riley and Luke
Riley living out his Harry Potter dreams with his own train booth, the best part is when the trolly came by with food-- "we will take the lot!" 

Monday, July 12, 2021

Ghent, Belgium

 

While in Belgium, we took a day trip over to Ghent and walked around this beautiful city. It was bigger than Bruges, and very beautiful too. Probably the highlight of the day was the old medieval castle. Riley went inside and took a tour around it and me and the kids got bread and fed the ducks and played by the water. It was really scenic and just felt like you were inside a real life fairytale. 








Inside the castle: