Besides, I'm currently jobless so I have more time than anyone else in my family right now.
We did really well again on Wednesday about getting up early. We woke up at 6:30 and made a pact to not waste time getting cute for the day, so we could leave the house faster. We had a quick breakfast of eggs, toast, cereal, and yogurt, and we managed to leave the house at 8:30!
The reason we wanted to get out early was that it was a beautiful sunny day, so we wanted to catch the sunrise over the lake and beat the other tourists to the souvenir shops. We successfully did both.
First we found a remote path up the cliff between houses. It took us to a church yard with a patio where we could watch the sunrise. Then the path climbed even higher to a waterfall a little above the middle of town. It was all so beautiful, and we got tons of beautiful photos.
We saw a lot of cats in their little yards and on their roofs, so Ashley was taking photos of them. She wants to make a coffee table back called "Grumpy Cats of Hallstatt," because all the cats have the same pudgy, grumpy faces and we saw a LOT of them. I think she could totally find a market for such a book.
After seeing the town from the top, we went down to the barely-open stores and proceeded to shop for souvenirs. We all picked up a bunch of trinkets, and got hot chocolate to stave off the chill. Ashley continued to take photos, and we made our way to the other side of town where we could see the chapel lit by the sun, with the rest of the lake behind it still cast in shadow. And best of all were the wild swans, acting as excellent props on the lake.
Sadly, we had to leave at 11:00. That was another reason why we were so eager to get an early start to our day. We packed quickly and got out soon after the cleaning lady arrived, and went out to the backyard to say goodbye to the best little spot we've ever stayed at. Hallstatt was by far our favorite place. So far. ;)
The majority of our afternoon was spent driving back to Germany. Our GPS took us the back way through the mountains. We saw beautiful rivers and sharp, icy Alps. It was really pretty. We made a pit stop in Oberammergau--a cute little town in the mountains that was completely spared from the Black Plague. The people there were so faithful and so grateful to God that every 10 years they put on a pageant celebrating the life of Jesus Christ. It's the longest-running pageant in history.
We didn't expect Oberammergau to be crowded, because the pageant doesn't happen again for another six years, but there were TONS of tourists. Still we enjoyed going to the cute shops. They had lots of hand cared trinkets that were all amazing and adorable but freakish expensive. Mom and Dad found a spatzle maker for Amanda and Chase (because this is where Mom and Dad found theirs 24 years ago), but other than that we didn't buy anything.
Our destination tonight was Fusen. Traffic was bad, and our GPS (who we learned is called Kate) got us lost a few times, but it gave us girls time to reminisce about our childhood and thank Mom and Dad for being such great parents. It was a fun bonding time.
Driving around also gave us time to admire the amazing blue water. The rivers here are turquoise! They're like the water at Havasupai, only it's pretty because the actual water is blue with minerals, where in Havasupai it was the river bottom that was covered in minerals.
Anyways, we eventually made it to Fusen and to our hotel which was so nice. It's got a very modern look--let's of white and gray accented with dark colors. It had great artwork, and it was all "family style." There was a master bedroom and then there was the girls room which was huge and had four twin beds in a neat row. It also had a super nice bathroom (Dad and I were glad we didn't have to couch under the faucet, unlike in Hallstatt), a kitchenette, and a family room. We really like it so far. The first thing we did after getting settled was use the free Wifi to check our emails and such.
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