Geo: 50.0878, 14.4205Oh, this is the way to travel! AUD$450 and after a nice breakfast at the hotel, our shuttle bus driver arrived at the hotel. Marek helped load our bags into his 9 person van, and drove us out of the beautiful, sunny Salzburg. We found more and more snow on the ground as we approached the Austrian-Czech border, nearly 2 hours north. Another 30 mins north, and Marek left us to explore Cesky Krumlov for 3 hours. Oh, what a beautiful town, on this amazing blue day. The snow on the roofs was amazing to see, as this medieval town situated in a river-bend glowed with its red roofs and brightly coloured houses. We wandered past the terrace with its views over the town, into the cathedral of St Vitus, and into the main ... read more

Geo: 47.8, 13.0333Happy birthday to our beautiful girl - sweet sixteen!! She is smart, beautiful and our peacemaker - always caring and loving. What a special place to celebrate this special birthday. Grandad had given the kids a day of tours in Salzburg for Christmas - first to the Salt mines at Berchtesgaden (just over the border into Germany) and then the Sound of Music tour in the afternoon. What a wonderful day!!We joined the bus trip at Mirabellplatz, and Walter our guide entertained us with stories and anecdotes about Salzburg and the surrounding countryside until we stopped at Bad Reichenhall, the turnoff to Eagles Nest. Hitler loved this area and had a house/palace here, and for his 50th birthday, the Nazi party built him the Eagles Nest - a stunning mountain-top retreat. Unfortunately, Hitler was ... read more

Geo: 47.8, 13.0333The kids have been hoping, wishing and praying to experience falling snow- we didn't get a white Christmas in 2013 or 2016....but today in Salzburg, guess what happened!!!!Recapping - we arrived at 8pm last night and hauled our selves and our bags to our cute hotel in the pedestrian zone, under the Capuchin hill at Hotel Trumer Stube. Rooms were not as tiny as we feared, and at least had normal sized beds (the doubles in Munich were not double sized! Fine if you're in love, less fine if you're sharing with your brother!). A nice breakfast and then out into what at first seemed like light rain...but then we noticed that the snow stuck to our jackets (and nose and eyelashes, as the song goes!)We walked through Mirabell Gardens - frankly, not their ... read more

Geo: 48.1391, 11.5802For some reason, neither Steven or I had high expectations of Munich, seeing it as a place to find Grandad Stan and spend a few hours. Boy, were we wrong - we will come back and spend more time, though not in Octoberfest, when the population swells from 1.6 million to 6.4 million!We enjoyed breakfast overlooking the 200 year old Viktualienmarkt (food market) then wandered to Marienplatz (the central square since 1150s!) where we had booked a free walking tour. This was wonderful - our guide, Scott, was a young journalist from Perth with an interest in history (and a wife in Munich). We saw the glockenspiel on the Neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus (town hall) chime and reenact stories from the 16th century. We also learned the history of the beautiful golden Maria & baby ... read more

Geo: 48.1391, 11.5802It's always sad, leaving Ronco- and this time was no different, and I cried and cried as we hugged each zii goodbye. Martina came down to help us check out of the apartment,and we kissed her and Zia Natalina there, then headed up to kiss Zia Teresa & Zio Romano, and Zio Marcello & Zia Gabriella. With tears in our eyes, we left our beautiful Ronco. A lovely drive, up and up and then through San Bernardino to Swiss Internal. The snow increased, and the temperature dropped - down to -5 in one place. It was a very uneventful drive to Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, which was sleepy-town on this public holiday. Liechtenstein is a principality - a separate country from its Swiss and Austrian neighbours - but only has a population of ... read more