Thursday

(he and I got the same idea)

This morning we realized we had an entire empty day ahead of us. So we tried to agree on something fun for our last full day in Austria.

Aunt Gerry let me drive again. We first went to the city of Gmunden, where a famous Austrian plate pattern originated. The dishwear is still produced there and now sold worldwide. Then we took a cable car up to the top of the mountain, Grünberg. The top was sooo much cooler than below, and we walked on some trails for a while. There was a sign up in the mountain that said, in german, "look at the view: they're the footsteps of the alps." You can see what I mean from the view from the cable ride. In the water you see only sailboats because motor boats are not permitted, in an effort to keep the lake less polluted. Across the lake, and what comes out into the water a bit, is a large white spot.

The first picture is the actual white spot up close. It is a famous church in Gmunden that is the filming site for an Austrian soap opera. We had lunch in its courtyard and then drove on past Bad Ischl, the town we visited a few days ago, and made our way towards its neighboring city, Sankt Wolfgang. Here we went on a "summer luge!" (I couldn't hold onto my camera while riding it: I wish I had some pictures.) It was SO much fun. The third ride down, Randy got carried away (he tried to go down it without using his brakes) and scraped his arm up after being thrown off.

After that, and some more ice cream (but of course), we came back home and finished off most of the leftovers, again eating outside. Then the boys and I played some minigolf (Randy scored two holes in one, even with allllllll his ailments he's kept us fully informed of)

New Providence tomorrow and Virginia next week. Give me a call if you want to hang out! :)