Austria Trip!

My oldest brother, Bryan, and I went to Austria to visit my parents while they are on their mission! Bryan travels for work and got me a ticket with his miles (which was so incredibly nice and generous) so we were traveling buddies. We left on August 19th and got back the evening of August 29th. My dad planned an amazing trip with so many sights packed in. My parents picked us up in Munich, Germany and we traveled around many cities, making a circle back to Munich to fly home. My parents live in Graz, Austria so we stayed at their apartment for a few days and saw their beautiful city too. I'm not going to distinguish different days, so just go with it!

On the plane flying over! 

Then we got in the car and started our sight-seeing (and tried to sleep in the car a bit).



We saw three castles that first day (Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein, and Linderhof). We saw other castles and lots of Cathedrals but I won't mention them by name...mostly because I can't remember them all!

Notice Neuschwanstein castle in the distance.



Linderhof was my favorite. It was very different inside than the others and had awesome grounds outside!

This was the King's man-made man cave that he had built on the grounds of Linderhof!

Going up the mountain in Innsbruck.





At the very top!



At the Innsbruck Zoo...sadly these three pictures were the best part. It mostly had farm animals that we see all the time in America!

Mom got stuck getting out of the shell!

The Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. Interestingly, most Austrians haven't seen the movie and don't really care. They think it's funny that Americans are so obsessed with it. They're missing out!

Elder and Sis. Smith gave us the tour. Elder Smith and my dad served an LDS mission in Germany together when they were 19 and they are serving together again.

The church the wedding was filmed in.

Inside the church they have these four skeletons of Saints. They believe it brings holiness and good things!



Beautiful boat trip and hike.

This was my favorite town called Hallstatt. A small town built in the mountain with beautiful plants growing all over the houses and buildings.

It had this bone sanctuary next to the church. These skulls and bones are all people who were buried in their little cemetery. They'd dig them up when they needed room, clean them, paint them, and put them here to rest.

My parents had their 41st wedding anniversary while we were in Austira. They locked their love on this bridge in Graz. Aww!

We were able to go inside the Vienna Boys Choir building because a friend of my parents' works there and gave us a tour of Vienna. 

Lunch with Amrei (our tour guide) and her fiancé.

This was the best ice cream I've ever had! Thanks Vienna for those beautiful minutes of deliciousness!

Back in Graz!

 
We are eating a Turkish sandwich called a Doner. We were going to the chocolate factory so we needed to get some good food in us before!

 This picture pretty much explains it! There was so much chocolate to taste...it was crazy! I still haven't recovered. It was fun though.

The grounds outside the factory were awesome! Lots of things to do with and lots of animals and plants to see. 

Driving we'd see beautiful sights like this all the time.

Double staircase in a castle. The two staircases swirled around and met each other along the way (if that makes sense). I've never seen that before!

This was at a monastery. They have this snowman looking at a puddle-his future! Random for sure!

The Graz city building.

The armory. It was filled with TONS of weapons and armor. It blew my mind! Four floors just packed with it all!

Hiking up to the Graz Clock tower.

Schloss Eggenberg (Schloss means castle)

I loved the exit signs they had in Austria! They have this running man and sometimes there's what looks like fire behind him!

At my parent's apartment cleaning up to drive to Munich.

Me and Bryan's sleeping quarters, in the living room. It was actually very comfy!



This shows my family's kind of humor. They have these "gute fahrt!" signs all over the roads. It basically means "good travels" but we thought they were hilarious. 

 Driving into Munich I thought we were in a zombie movie where they were going to overtake our car. There were people everywhere and people on bikes everywhere. It was crazy trying to drive! Glad I wasn't driving. Good job Dad!

The Munich city building with the Glockenspiel. 

Aww...they have a store name after my hubby, Justin! I missed him.

Playing games on our make-shift table at the hotel.

Goodbye mom and dad! Thanks for the fun trip. Goodbye Austria and Germany!

Justin and the girls came and picked me up at the airport in SLC. I know this picture is blurry, but I loved seeing them waiting for me and how Myah had her hands over her mouth in excitement.

Reagan wasn't so sure of me.

I had an awesome time with Bryan. He's a great traveling buddy!

 Back with my family, at last. I missed them soooooo much! It was great to see my parents but also great to see my fam again!