Nurnburg Zoo

For Juju's last day we decided to check out a zoo that we had been told about in our area.  We were "told" that the zoo was small and "young" child friendly, however, we discovered that it was a typical zoo (BIG).  So, we packed up (Juju, Parker, Rachel, Allison, and I) and went to the zoo.  We wondered around for about 2 hours looking at animals and trying to keep parker on the "right" side of the non-existent fences!  The zoo offered these great little wagons to pull the children around in, and this would have been perfect...however, Parker just wanted to walk, which slowed everything down....  Parker especially enjoyed the monkeys.....go figure!

 

Playmobil Fun Park

Today after naptime Juju, Parker and I packed up and headed to Playmobile Fun Park.  It is about an hour from our house, so not a  bad drive :).  In retrospect this park is more geared toward 3-10 year olds, nevertheless, Parker had a blast.  For those of you familier with Columbus, GA, the park was about the size of Lakebottom Park, but filled with MANY trees, tree houses, ponds, waterfalls, a water splash park, and a large toy store with every type of Playmobile that you can imagine!  At one point, Parker and I got ourselves up a tree (literally) and had to back track to get down.  It was lots of fun and we can't wait to go back in a year or two....

This little "boat" was anything BUT stable....

 Parker makes a friend...

Parker vote's Republican....

Bath time with baby Allison...

Salzburg, Austria

Aunt Juju arrived (sans bags) on Monday morning......so we had to do some shopping in Regensburg :).  For those who know us, this was right up our ally!  Tuesday morning we all (minus John) piled into the Odyssey and headed for Salzburg, Austria.  Aunt Juju's favorite movie is the Sound of Music, so we decided that we must visit where it was filmed.  Salzburg is about a 3 hour drive from where we live, so we arrived at our hotel about 1pm.  At 2 we headed to the the meeting spot for our "Sound of Music Tour".  Immediately both Juju and I began to have second thoughts.  For one, there were tons (many) Asian tourists with large cameras, and two the tour was 4 hours long on a large tour bus!  So, we promptly changed to a private tour the following morning for just our little group!  We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Salzburg and shopping.  After dinner and Parker's bedtime, we watched the Sound of Music.....  Wednesday morning we got up, had breakfast and then met Gunter (our guide) in the lobby of our hotel.  Gunter was great!  He took us on a 2 hour tour of the city, that was much more "Parker Friendly".  We had a great time in Salzburg!

Weltenburger Kloster

On Saturday we all piled into the Odyssey and drove about 30 minutes to the oldest monastery brewery and the second oldest brewery in the world.  The monastery was built in 1050 AD.  It was built on the Danube river surrounded by beautiful hills and a small village.  To get to the Kloster you have to park on one side of the Danube and catch a ferry across the river.  However, the ferry stops running at 5pm.....we didn't know this.  So at six when we decided it was time to head home....there was no boat.  For those of you who don't know, the Danube is a large, fast moving river....there was no way that any of us were going to swim across, especially after the amount of beer we had consumed!  So, we walked to the village and found a nice man to drive Justin about 20km down river to a bridge and then back up to the car.  The rest of us hung out with some locals and enjoyed another beer while we waited for Justin to bring the car around.  So, the lesson for the day is:  read all signs concerning ferry hours and don't get stranded without your car!