Waiting.....

Well, here we are with a new title and a new look!  This should get us all ready for our new life (we hope) in Canada.  Now, I'm Canadian and even though all the kids have been born in Austria and are fully Austrian, they also carry Canadian citizenship.  We can move to Canada in a heartbeat if we wanted to.  BUT.  We wouldn't ever do that without my husband, an Austrian.  And so we are waiting for his permanent residency visa.  We applied in March and finally, about 3 weeks ago, our online status says 'Decision Made'.  But what decision is that?  Well, it has to be positive really.  So we are waiting to be informed in writing of the decision.  And we have to have this decision in hand before we book a flight.

Our boxes are packed.  Things have been claimed and given away.  We have boxes in storeage at my in-laws.  We've moved into a much smaller flat in anticipation of moving.  We are very eager to get to Canada to be able to look at land before the snow flies.  And November is coming!  This lesson in patience is sometimes hard.  But we know that God has this all in his hands and we rely on that.  Still, you know.  Waiting!  The two older kids came home last week eager to know if we could fly before mid-term exams began! :-)  No, not likely. 

We have all sorts of plans for our life in Canada but there's no point outlining them until we get going there.  Generally, my husband, who is a Youth Worker but was also trained as an Agricultural Teacher, will homeschool the kids and plan our garden (etc!). LARGE garden.   I will be looking for a job.  And I have some ideas about that but am waiting (again) for a response about a course first. 

We have been in Austria for 14 years now.  All the children were born here.  It will be a wrench to leave family and friends, but we also have family and friends waiting for us in Canada.  I think that the biggest challenge for me will be culture.  I'm not a real European but after so many years here I'm not totally culturally Canadian either.  But that's where family culture comes in.  We are all a blend and we just need to compliment each other.  Oh, and we'll have to build a big guest room....or two...or a bunk house.  Then everyone can come to visit!

So, this is just a quick note to let you know how things are changing.  Sorry, no photos this time!   I'll be posting another update soon.  Let's hope that I'll have some news! :-)

Gefängnis und Elekt. Zentralkraftwerk- Feld 31 Zelle 3 und Feld 4 That is: Going to Jail and the Hydroelectric Station

Endlich. Die Schule hat angefangen und unsere DKT-Reise ist noch immer nicht vorbei. Doch am Montag den 25 September konnten wir unsere Reise abschließen. Wir fuhren als erstes ins Gefängnis. Ein paar alte Zellen die man besichtigen kann. Eine Frage an alle Schüler. Würdet ihr lieber eine Woche lang in einer alten Gefängiszelle verbringen wo man einen Nachttopf einen kleinen Ofen ein Bett ein paar alte Bücher und Besteck und eine Schüssel hat, oder würdet ihr eine Woche lang in der Schule mit guten Klos warmen Klassen gemütliche Sitze (vielleicht sogar ein Sofa) und gutes warmes Essen hat? Dafür hat man acht Stunden pro Tag Unterricht. Gebt mir mal eine Rückmeldung. Also, zuerst besuchten wir das Gefängnis. Da gibt es vier Zellen und nur die Zellen 4 und 3 kann man besichtigen.

Finally, the last portion of our tour.  Even though school has started and our holiday seems to have happened a long time ago, we still had to finish the game! The only things missing from our playing board were a visit to a jail and also to and electric power station.  First we decided to go to a jail.  Fortunately this didn't actually involve getting arrested!  A friend told us that the old jail in Windischgarsten, just 20 minutes from here, was in the same building as the library, back where they store things now, and that we could visit it during the week.  Going back through where normally the staff might go, we found ourselves passing from the brightly painted foyer of the library and into the dark, poorly-lit, unheated hallway where the old cells were.  Of the 4 cells there, only one was set up as it would have been years ago. There was a bed and a desk, a shelf for some educational books and a Bible, a bucket toilet (with a lid! ;-)), and a little woodstove for heat.  Along the wooden doorframe we could see where inmates had scratced little lines in to count the days of incarceration.  It was really interesting, seeing how it would have been set up.  And, as usual, taking photos was fun!

Die letzte Sache auf unserer Reise war letztendlich der Staudamm in Klaus. Feld 4.

Finally, our very last thing to visit- a Hydro-Electric Dam.  Where might we find that?  We tried to visit the really big one in Kaprun- especially since Dominik's grandfather helped to build the dam there.  But...it was a question of time.  We hadn't realised that in Kaprun you had to park well below the dam and then either pay a bunch to take a bus up to see it, or spend a good while hiking.  Unfortunately we were on our way to the Großglocknerstraße and couldn't take the time.  This was alright for me as I'd been given some new hiking shoes and they were, as I walked about, falling apart.  I was leaving bits of sole everywhere!  So, back to this visit.  We live in Klaus an der Pyhrnbahn here in Austria, and we are blessed to have a large dam and power station right here in Klaus.  From our flat we look out onto the lake created by the dam and when we get a lot of rain we can watch the water being shot off into the river from below the dam.  This was an easy one to get, in the end, and a nice way to end our tour.

So, unsere DKT-Reise ist nun beendet. Was ist das nächste? Eine Risiko-Reise? Eine DKT-Wien-Reise? Warscheinlich nicht. ;-) Unser nächster Blog wird frühestens in ein paar Wochen sein. Bis dahin.

So, our DKT Tour is finished.  What's next for us?  A Risk Tour?  That would be something.  Or how about a DKT-Vienna tour?  Not yet.  Our next adventure is something much bigger.  We're moving to Canada!  This will be a huge adventure for us and we'll start blogging on that, and maybe vlogging as well, shortly.  Thanks for joining us!  And if you want some updates, why don't you 'Follow' us?  We'll keep posting!

Salzburg

Nicht zu spät am nächsten Morgen fuhren wir nach Salzburg via Attersee. Dort besuchten wir einen Pflegebruder vom Dominik. Der besitzt ein Teegeschäft namens Tee am See. Dort kann man hunderte von bio Teesorten kaufen. Nach einen kurzen Besuch fuhren wir nach Salzburg via, äh, äh, Nach einen kurzen Besuch fuhren wir nach Salzburg. Nachdem wir einen Parkplatz gefunden hatten gingen wir Richtung Mirabellplatz. Im Mirabellgarten waren ziemlich viele Touristen. Es ist auch bei dem Tor vor der Burg (na ja, ein paar kilometer weit entfernt) der Lieblingsort für Fotos.

The next morning, after a fortifying breakfast, we made our way to Salzburg- via Attersee.  There we visited 'Tee am See', an organic tea shop with hundreds of option of loose tea to buy.  The shop is owned by one of Dominik's foster brothers- one that he hadn't seen in a very long time.   We had a nice visit, were given some Earl Grey (thank you- we've always loved it!), and made our way to Salzburg in time for lunch.
The first thing we found after parking is what many tourists find- Mirabell Palace and gardens.  It was here that a portion of 'The Sound of Music' was filmed and it is a favourite spot for photos. Here is a photo of the kids in the garden at Mirabell Palace.

Unser nächster Stopp war auf dem Universitätsplatz. In einer Seitengasse zwischen dem Universitätsplatz und der Getreidegasse aßen wir um ca. 2:00 Mittagessen. Originale Salzburger Bosna vom echten Balkan Grill. ;-) ;-) ;-)

It was lunch time and we had decided that we would get a Bosna.  This is a special sausage on a bun with onions, curry powder, ketchup and mayo.  Usually.  We didn't want to walk back but keep going so instead of going to the closest sausage stand, we kept heading downtown.  I (Cathy) was sure that there were sausage stands all over Salzburg.  That was my memory.  Too bad it wasn't right.  We looked as we searched for the other DKT highlights.  Finally, at about 2pm we found the 'Original Salzburg Bosna' in a little alley off of.......   The bosna there were slightly different from what we are used to but at that point we were just happy to eat!  During this time we also managed to find our fields.

Auch wenn die Getreidegasse aus komischen Gründen nicht auf dem  DKT-Brett ist besuchten wir sie trotzdem. Für die die nicht in Musik aufgepasst haben (  ;-)  ) erklär ich es jetzt. Dort wurde Mozart geboren. Getreidegassen 9 im dritten Stock. Das Bild holten wir als nächstes.

For some reason there isn't anything about Mozart on the DKT board, but we still decided to visit his birthplace.  At Getreidegasse 9 you find Mozart's birthplace.  The dark yellow house is easy to find and is well-visited by tourists.

Leider gibt es heute in Salzburg keine Westbahnstraße. Aber es soll mal eine Westbahnstraße gegeben haben. Heute steht stattdessen die Rainerstraße.

There isn't a Westbahnstraße any more in Salzburg.  They changed it to Rainerstraße in 1932.  So, we took our photos here instead.

In Salzburg gibt es heute keine Westbahnstraße. Aber weil wir Feld 18, die elektrische Eisenbahn, Wien-Innsbruck machen mussten fuhren wir nachher mit der Westbahn. Wir fuhren von Salzburg nach Attnang-Puchheim. Wieder nur ein Teil der Strecke.

But, even though we didn't find a Westbahnstraße we did take a trip on the Westbahn train!  Field 18 is a journey between Innsbruck and Vienna with an electric train.  We travelled a portion of this between Salzburg and Attnung-Puchheim.

Also, das war Salzburg. Unsere letzte Stadt. War das schon unsere DKT-Reise? Noch nicht. Es fehlen ja noch zwei Felder. Könnt ihr erraten welche?

So, that was Salzburg!  Our last city.  Is that the end of our tour?  Not yet!  There are two fields still to go.  Can anyone guess which?                                                                             

Die Seilbahn und Bregenz

Am Mittwoch fuhren wir erst mal mit einer Seilbahn den Kreuzjoch hoch. Eine Gondelfahrt die nicht in Hinterstoder war. Bei der Bergstation gingen wir zu einem Gipfelkreuz.

On the Wednesday we decided to take advantage of a free local ticket and we rode the gondola (the Alpine kind- not the Venetian kind! ;-)) to the top of the Kreuzjoch.  It was a two-part gondola where we just ignored the open doors the middle station and continued on (the doors closed again) to the top.  The mountain peak is at 2 558m and we walked from the gondola end-station up to the cross on the top of the nearest peak.  The view was amazing!  The Kreuzjoch is the highest peak in the Kitzbühl Alps in Tirol.  This was lovely and relaxing start to what would become a very long day.

Weil die Seilbahn das Feld 14 ist wollten wir ein Foto mit der Gondel Nummer 14 machen. Fast Vergeblich warteten wir zwanzig Minuten bis die Nummer 14 Endlich kam.

Because the gondola (Seilbahn) on the DKT playing board is Field number 14, we decided to wait for car number 14 to take the trip back down the mountain.  This did involve some patience, but it paid off in the end!  Finally, in the parking lot at the bottom, we were about to drive away when we noticed a gorgeous car from Belgium with a DKT licence plate!  We had to take a photo. :-)

Unten angekommen ging unsere Reise nach Bregenz weiter. Eine alte schöne Stadt mit Häusern des 15. Jahrhunderts. Unser erster Stopp war Amtsplatz 2.

After a drive of about 2.5 hours we continued our tour in the quaint city of Bregenz.  It lies at the far eastern end of Lake Constance (Bodensee), in the far western Austrian province of Vorarlberg. Our first stop was Amtsplatz 2.  The old part of the city, where our locations were, was beautiful and the buildings mostly looked as though they dated from the 15th and 16th centuries.  The cobbled narrow streets and little passages made our search even more enjoyable.

 Danach gingen wir zur Rathausstraße 40.

Our next stop was on Rathausstraße 40.  It was almost down at the waterfront, not far from the main square.

Unser nächster Stopp war das Bild. Ein Foto vom Bodensee mit einer Brücke und Bregenz im Hintergrund. Leider wurde das Bild von einem Hügel gemacht wo wir nicht hoch fahren konnten. Die meisten werden wissen was das besondere am Bodensee ist. Man kann von überall auf dem See Österreich, Deutschland, und die Schweiz sehen.

We then, as in the other cities, tried to take a picture copying the sketch of the city on the playing board.  This wasn't easy.  The sketch shows a picture of Bregenz in the distance, with the lake in the foreground and a bridge towards the city.  We drove along the lakeshore, hoping for a good view but found none.  Maybe if we had had a drone.....  But it was nice at the lake, especially with a view of Austria, Germany and Switzerland all in one!

Mit dem Bild fertig machten wir eine letzten Stopp bevor wir wegfuhren. Die Arlbergsstraße.

Now for our last stop.  Arlbergstraße.  Again, it was a situation of a street number which didn't exist.  But we did our best and headed out.  Because we hadn't found a cheap place to stay that night and friends had other company visiting and couldn't have us to visit, we headed back to Regau- Dominik's parents.  We arrived there just before midnight.  From there the next day we would visit our last city- Salzburg!

Nun, da wir Bregenz fertig besuchten fuhren wir zu unseren Großeltern. Am nächsten Tag geht es nach Salzburg. Unsere letzte Stadt.

Großglockner & Innsbruck

Am Montag morgen fuhren wir nette vier Stunden zur Hochalpenstraße. Zwischen den hohen Bergen in Salzburg und Kärnten führt eine Straße die auch die Glocknerstraße genannt wir. Auf dem Weg nach oben beginnt der Schnee der immer dichter wird. Weil die Glocknerstraße auf dem DKT Brett die Nummer 24 hat stoppten wir nach 24 Kilometern um vor dem Kilometerschild ein Foto zu machen. 

And finally the rain stopped.  Monday morning we headed out and after four hours found ourselves on the Hochalpinestraße (High Alpine Road)  to the Großglockner! Between the high mountains of Salzburg Province and Carinthia, there is a road where the air cools and the snow begins, taking you to the area around Austria's highest mountain- the Großglockner.  At 3 798m it is the highest peak in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass.  The first person to climb it did so on July 28, 1800!  We didn't try this time.  Well, you know....we had a tight schedule! 

While the Großglocknerstraße (another name for the Hochalpinestraße) is number 24 on the playing board, we stopped at a stone km marker on the side of the road, number 24.  This was fun to do as there was snow, a long slope down into the valley, and cars and even cyclist coming slowly by us. 

Als wir das nächste mal anhielten machten wir vor einer alten blauen Schneeräummachschine ein Foto. 

Along the side of the road there are a few stops offering toilets, coffee and nature information, but there are also giant snow-removal machines.  We decided that we needed a photo with one of these! :-)

Von dort fuhren wir ganz nach oben. Nicht auf den Großglockner. Der war von oben geschätzt ca.10 Kilometer weit entfernt. Sondern auf die Edelweißspitze. Dort aßen wir unser Mittagessen. Dort aßen wir auch eine Nachspeise weil der Josiah am vierten Geburtstag hatte. Jetzt ist er vier. Eigentlich wollten wir von dort oben aus weiterwandern. Doch der Weg war eingeschneit. Von dort aus fuhren wir auf dem Weg runter. wo wir ein vorletztes mal ausstiegen. Eine Schneeballschlacht am 4 September.

We kept driving until we seemed to have reached the summit of the road.   That seemed like a good place to stop and have lunch.  There was a look-out point with picnic tables.  And snow.  Hmm.  And the parking lot was packed! With cars from Germany and Holland and Austria. And loads of motorbikes, It was crazy.  But we finally squeezed our car in and relaxed for a while.  In winter jackets, hats, mitts etc.  And as it was Josiah's 4th birthday (Sept 4th), we broke out a chocolate muffin complete with candle and sang him 'Happy Birthday'.  At least we'll remember it and can show him the pictures!  We wanted to go for a little hike from here, as there are hikes all around the place, but with the snow we couldn't. But on the upside, a little ways further down the road we stopped for a snowball fight.  On September 4th!  Cool!

Auf dem Weg runter um nur wieder Hoch zufahren rochen wir etwas komisches. Als wir kurz parkten fanden wir heraus das unsere Bremsen ganz heiß waren. Sie waren so heiß, dass wir als erst dachten das Auto könnte Feuer fangen. Zum Glück ist nichts passiert. Wir warteten kurz bevor wir weiterfuhren. Auf der Franz-Josef Höhe angekommen parkten wir erst mal, dass die Bremsen richtig kühlen konnten. 

Going downhill was almost more of an adventure than going up simply because of the stress on the brakes of the car.  They were new, but after a little while something smelled funny so we pulled off to check and yup- we had smoke.  Nothing more though, thankfully!  We waited there a while, enjoying the scenery, and then made our way slowly down, with a few other breaks in-between.  It wasn't far to a roundabout where we then headed up again to the Franz-Josef Höhe.  The high point where Kaiser Franz Josef visited the base of the Großglockner in 1856.  Here, while we wandered and looked at some semi-tame Marmot, the brakes could finally really cool down.

Dann konnten wir die Schlucht in den Gletschersee, (wo die Gletscher auf der Oberfläche sind. Wie mini Eisberge.)  sowie Murmeltiere und ein bronzenes Boot bewundern. Von dort aus konnte man den Großglockner bewundern. Ein paar Höhenmeter weiter stellte sich sogar ein Murmeltier auf einen Fels und "lächelte" sogar für die Kamera. Weiter oben ist ein Schild in den Stein eingraviert: ``Karl Hoffmann hat den Großglockner im Abstieg über die Nordostflanke im Jahre 1869 Bezwungen.´´

From the road level we had a grand view up to the Großglockner, as well as down into the steep valley where a glacier and glacial lake are.  Marmots can be seen along the way, especially along the path up to the statue of the Kaiser.  He almost posed and charged for the photos! (The marmot, not the kaiser!).

Das war das letzte was wir auf der Großglocknerstraße erlebten. Wir waren froh bei einer Bekanntin übernachten zu können.
And having seen the mountain that every child in Austria knows by name, we headed down into Carinthia to stay again with Patrizia (thank you!) for the night.

 Gleich am nächsten morgen fuhren wir nach Innsbruck. Statt erwartete drei Stunden Autofahrt, fuhren wir sechs!!! Endlich in Innsbruck angekommen besuchten wir als erstes die Maria-Theresia Straße. Leider gibt es kein Schild mit der Hausnummer. Das Bild war auch auf der Straße.

The next morning after breakfast we headed out straight away for Innsbruck.  We had two route choices- via the Brenner pass and Italy, or over the Felbertauern Tunnel or pass.  We chose the latter.  This was a mistake.  There were road works which we had't known about and the traffic was heavy.  It was scenic but we ended up driving six hours instead of three.  A delay like this is really hard to accommodate, but somehow we managed.

Our first stop in Innsbruck was the Maria-Theresia Straße.  There isn't the right house number there for the DKT tour so we just did a photo with the street sign.

Als nächstes kam der Boznerplatz. Weil es ein kleiner platz gibt es leider keine Nummer 37.

The Boznerplatz was next.  A little square with a nice fountain in the middle.  But because it was small, there was no number 37.  Ah well....

Das nächste was wir sahen war die Triumphspforte. Genau anliegend mit der Andreas Hofer Straße.

Next we saw the Trimphspforte. This roman-style triumphal arch was built by Empress Maria Theresa in 1765 to celebrate her son’s, The Duke of Tuscany (Later Emperor Leopold II), wedding. This lies right in the path of the Andreas Hofer Straße. "Andreas Hofer was a Tyrolean innkeeper and drover, who in 1809 became the leader of the Tyrolean Rebellion against the revolutionary Napoleonic invasion during the War of the Fifth Coalition. He was subsequently captured and executed." (Thank you Wikipedia!)

Eine Sache schauten wir uns an bevor wir wegfuhren. Das goldene Dachl. Beim Wegfahren sahen wir den Schispringerturm.

As a visit to Innsbruck isn't complete without a view of the Golden Roof (Goldene Dachl). "The Golden Roof was a symbol for the old centre of Europe and a reflection of inconsistencies in times of great change. Sumptuously decorated with 2,657 fire-gilded copper tiles, all still original, it forms the roof of an alcove balcony that the great Emperor Maximilian I had added to the existing “Neuhof” building around 1500." (Wiki).  Then, as we were heading south to our overnight accommodation, on a farm in a village, we saw the tower where they do ski jumping from.

Jetzt haben wir jede Stadt außer Salzburg und Bregenz. Also die Reise ist bald vorbei. Aber nicht jetzt. Noch nicht.

Now we've seen all the cities except Salzburg and Bregenz.  We're almost done!  But not yet!  :-)