Salzburg/Garmisch Trip: Hallein Salt Mines

About a year ago, one of our friends from Misawa sent out a message suggesting we should have a Misawa Friends Reunion here in Europe, since many of us got stationed in this part of the world after Japan. It was not an easy task—to organize an overseas reunion—but after many conversations later, six families, including us, made plans to meet in Germany for a few days at the beginning of June. This reunion received a proper name Epic Misawa Reunion Europe, or EMRE for short.

Since Germany is not a daytrip for us, we have decided to add another trip on top of our reunion. So we flew to Munich (with Easy Jet), hired a car and drove to Salzburg (a little over 1 hr and 40 min away). Our plan was to stay in Salzburg area for three nights and then drive to Garmisch (Bavaria) to meet our friends and stay three more nights.

This time, we got lucky with our manual-transmission car and our ride was super smooth, unlike Sardinia.  So glad Robert knows how to drive a stick shift, or we’d be paying double for a rented car anywhere in Europe.

Awesome roads in Germany and Austria. And driving with a GPS and clear road signs is a BREEZE even in a foreign country, as long as you figure out what Ausfarht means (a highway exit).

We checked in at our super cute, perfectly sized apartment that was 20 min drive from Salzburg, drove around our little village and Bad Reichenhall, and after a couple of failed attempts (apparently we arrived on a Bavarian holiday, so some restaurants were closed) we found a traditional German place with spatzel and everything. The food was great, but quite heavy on meet and gravy. I also found German food to be much saltier than British food, or maybe it’s just me.

The next morning, our adventures began. We bought a Salzburg card that included a ton of museums/sightseeing places for one price for our family and lasted 72 hours. Well, what it didn’t tell us on the website before I purchased it was that the only two places to pick it up was the Tourist Office at the Salzburg Train Station or Mozart Plaza in the center. We were not going to any of those place just yet, as we were going to visit places (included on that car) that are located out of town. So after tracking down a Tourist Office in our village, Robert attempted to figure out how we could get our cards, but he came back empty-handed to the car. So I went in, driven to get what I needed…and I told the story in my broken German/English of how inconvenient it would be to go pick up the cards in those two locations. I am not sure what I did differently than Robert, but somehow the ladies at the office were merciful enough to call those other Tourist Offices and issue me those Salzburg cards right there on the spot! Amazing!!! We were very grateful.

Although this little problem, set our plans back a bit, we still managed to get to Hallein Salt Mine (30 min away) by around 11 am.  You buy tickets for a tour at a certain time, and unfortunately, we had to wait for about 50 min for the next available one. So we wondered around (in the rain) through the Celtic Village exhibit, that was actually closed and not really impressive.

Then, before our tour started, everyone got to dress in this traditional miners’ uniform, which was exciting and cheesy at the same time.

More pictures in these funny outfits. I believe Katya was exchanging her trousers at this moment as they turned out to be too big and were falling off her.

We were told it was going to be around 10-13 C inside the mine, so we dressed warmly.

On the way to the inside of the mine, we had an opportunity to step outside and see the gorgeous view of the valley. It was cloudy but green and beautiful.

Hallein Salt Mine is the oldest open salt mine in the world! Salt is what made Salzburg and this area super rich back in the 17th-18th century. It was salt that made it possible for the archbishops of that time to invest the money made from salt trade into building beautiful churches, castles and fortification in Salzburg.

A pretty fast miniature train takes you inside the mine. It went so fast that I actually had to put my hood on as my ears were hurting from the wind-haha.

Our tour guide led the group through long corridors to different interesting places. One of them was the underground crossing of the border, how cool is that? Germany to Austria.

We also got to taste concentrated salty water that was dripping from this statue like from a fountain.

A boat ride on an underground lake? Why not? Music and flowing music added to the whole experience of “ooooohhhh”.

But the highlight of the trip for kids were these slides. You don’t use any equipment to slide down these railings, just your bottom. Robert was trying to get a picture of me and Mark coming down, but we were too fast, he said. So that blurry figure—that’s me.

Overall impression—Thumbs Up! It was not the cheapest attraction, but very well organized and informative.

Sorry, Robert I only had one picture of you at the salt mine. I know you were there, behind the camera.

We were done with Hallein around 2 pm, after which we headed to explore the area closer to Salzburg.

Bye for now!

Lyana.

Ms. Popular!

Today’s post is about our little Katya. Well, she is not little any more (although she seems to be quite a shrimp compared to some of her classmates) but we like to think of her, and will forever, as our little girl. Katya has advanced quite a bit in her piano and singing in the last year. She absolutely loves to sing! Loves it! And she absolutely does not like to practice piano! It’s a pain to get her to focus and get a good 30-40 min practice session out of her. Sigh.

Poor child (and I mean it in a bit of a sarcastic way), she is in for a long-long ride. Since the deal is that she cannot quit piano till she is fourteen, I tell her she could either be miserable for the next 3.5 years or just change the attitude and realize that she has the talent and just needs to add that 99% of work to it. Yeah, her parents know way to well about how much it matters to take a musical instrument lesson and not just to learn how to play it. So no quitting allowed…even when the road seems hard.

One of the things that really help Katya to refresh her memory on “why” she can enjoy piano is when she is praised by other people (not her teacher or me) for her accomplishments. It’s even cooler if someone asks her to play the piano for a big event. For example, a month ago, our friend who teaches violin on base, asked Katya to accompany a group of violinists at their final recital and to play some prelude music for several minutes before the concert. What a great experience it was for her!

Her being “in demand” did not end there. The following week, our Alconbury Elementary School was holding its annual Talent Show. Katya was involved in several things—she played the anthem for the audience to sing before the show, accompanied the violinists again, and performed her own number, this time the singing one.

She also had to play prelude music.

Playing a keyboard is not the same thing as playing the piano…and she realized that very soon.

Here is her accompanying the violinists, well, walking up to the keyboard at the moment.

And finally, her favorite part—the singing part. She knew the song very well, sang it at least a thousand times, thus she could relax and just put her heart into it all.

The name of the song is “Popular” from the musical “Wicked”, which she had seen already twice.

I know I have posted this on facebook a while ago, but this one here is for our personal record. I love watching it and just enjoying Katya’s beautiful voice and overwhelming cuteness.

So, Katrusia, don’t give up! Remember the saying on the wall above our computer “Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort” by Theodore Roosevelt.

Lyana.

Newly-baked Major Watson

“Major Watson”…I guess it does have a good ring to it. Although we still all prefer “Captain Watson” around here. A big shout out to Robert this month for completing his first six years as active duty Air Force. Wow! Cannot believe it’s been that long since he graduated dental school. At the same time I cannot believe that we have done so much in the last six years!

The promotion ceremony was pretty low key, held at the clinic’s conference room on May 16, 2014.

I took kids out of school.

Robert and Lt.Colonel Kobes.

Pinning on major.

And of course, kids got to help.

By the way, thanks to my friend, Vanessa Shockley, I got some great pictures from the ceremony. Like this one.

And one of my favorites right here.

Congratulations, Major Watson! We are very proud of you!

And then the big surprise!!!

My friend Mallory made this brilliant cake! It didn’t only look good, but tasted heavenly as well!

Amazing detail!

Well, I wanted to make a big deal out of Robert’s promotion, because, who am I kidding, we really don’t know if he’ll ever get promoted again in the AF-haha. We decided to serve a lunch with a dental flare. So everything we made had a funny “dental name”

For example, here was our Rinsing Station.

And these were our Cavity Cookies.

S

A few other fun names included Get-A-Mint Garlic Bites and Job Security Dessert.

All in all, this turned out to be a a fun lunch that Robert loved!

On the following night, Robert and I went out to celebrate at the Chinese place in nearby village of Godmanchester.

We invited a few of our friends to come along with us. And it turned out to be a fantastic night!

The weather was perfect for an after-dinner walk by the river. And we even managed to snap a group picture. So grateful we had such a good company to help us celebrate!

Cheers,

Lyana.

Singing In The Rain!

Well, actually, I cannot remember if it was rainy or sunny on the day described below, but let’s assume it was rainy.

The last half of the school year, Katya was able to participate in choir at our base school. Every Wednesday after school, for almost an hour and a half, kids of the 4th and 5th grade came to their music/art teacher Ms. Bennett to learn new songs and sing their hearts out (the next three pictures were taken by my friend-photographer Vanessa Shockely).

Show choir combines both singing and action/dance, so one must be really coordinated to do both well at the same time and in front of strangers.

Ms. Bennett drilled kids for hours. They memorized not only all the words perfectly but knew exactly when to come out, whose turn was when, how to smile ALL THE TIME and what to do with their hands, feet, etc.

So when the performance time came, there was not a detail that the kids missed or messed up. The whole concert lasted about thirty minutes with one song after another, and they actually sounded so great!

Katya was very lucky to get one of the solo parts in the concert. She sang a verse from “I Am Singing In The Rain”. She did a wonderful job!

And please see for yourself in this weird “because our battery was dying” video. Katya’s part begins around 01:30:

Yeah, sorry for such bad picture quality.

The sad part is the next school year, when Katya starts middle school, I don’t know if there will be any choir offered at all. Maybe Robert should become a part-time choir director.

Good night.

Lyana.

Mark, The Troll

We all think that Mark is a cutie, but it’s natural-he is our son. The funny part is that all his teachers at school also think he is the cutest thing ever-- so obedient and happy and hard working. He disarms them with his smile and he knows it!

And he is growing up fast. 

He really enjoys going to school, where he has many friends, although we go through periods of time of “No one likes me, no one wants to be my friend”. 

At our British school, each class puts on an assembly once a year. And a couple of weeks ago it was Mark’s class’ turn. I actually brought a camera this time (I totally forgot to bring one for Alex’s).

In assembly, kids show what they have been working on, anything interesting they have learned or tell about places they visited.

Here is Mark, amongst his twenty eight classmates.

Last month, his class went on a farm visit as a fieldtrip, so kids told about that trip and showed their pictures of the animals.

Apparently, Mark’s class was listening to many short stories lately, so they put on a little play about a troll and the goats. Guess who got to be the troll? Mark! I didn’t realize how big of a part it was (a non-speaking part, mind you), but it was a big deal-haha.

Do you see Mark in a mask with a long nose?

It was very fun and short and cute, just perfect for “mums”.

Well done, Mark!

I wanted to snap a picture with Mark’s main teachers—Mrs. Wallace…

…and with Mrs. Cole.

Oh, please, Mark, just keep smiling! You make my day when you do .

Mark and Alex still have six weeks of school left (it’s the middle of June…argh…), so we’ll see how much they grumble every morning knowing that Katya gets to stay home.

Have a great day!

Lyana.