...Not to be confused with Pop-Up Video

The trip with the family came to an end. It was really tough saying bye to the little ones because children change so fast. I knew the next time I see them, they will be so different. By far the hardest thing about living abroad is missing so much of them growing up. 


That said, I had some random video clips on my camera...mostly of my nephew and my niece...but I thought it would be nice to put it together as a sort of "wrap-up video" of our trip. I can't lie, every time I think "wrap-up video" in my head I think of the 90s sensation Pop-Up Video. I have heard from some friends back in the States that VH1 has brought it back. Good decisions. My video isn't nearly that awesome and has no bubbles that pop-up. 


It does, however, have music and wrap up the trip with my family. It also concludes these posts about the trip. 


Enjoy!

Holy really long tunnel, Batman!

The next day my family was here, we took a little excursion to my neck of the woods. 


Bregenz, Austria


In order to get there we had to drive through the Pfänder tunnel. Now, I had heard of this tunnel having lived here a while. In fact, I had been through it's sister tunnel the City tunnel just a week prior. What I didn't know, was just how loooooooooooooong of a tunnel it is! I mean, you guys, it was super long. I am not exaggerating for effect. I don't really get claustrophobic or freaked out easily, but after about 5 or 6 minutes  in that thing the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" has a new and very literal meaning.


So after that, we rushed to my good school first to see some teachers so they could ooh and aah over my adorable niece and nephew. I got to show my family the school I love working in so much, which was really nice.


Since, originally I thought I was going to have to work, we all thought it best to stay in Bregenz for a night. Regardless of the work thing though, it was nice and a bit more relaxing...maybe because I got to sleep in my own bed. 


Essentially, we spent the early part of the afternoon getting everyone settled in and situated where they were staying for the night. Wendy and Justin stayed with me in my apartment while Dad and Leslie stayed in a hotel. 


Then up the Pfänderbahn we went! There is this gondola type deal that takes you to the top of Bregenz's "mountain" which is, truthfully, not that big. However, once at the top you have beautiful views of the whole Bregenzer Wald (the part of the Alps in my area), some German Alps, and some Swiss Alps too! There are lots of hiking trails up there too, but we did not partake in any of that.


We played on the playground, took pictures, and visited the animals in the Wildpark.

After playing on the mountain, we came down and walked back through town and down by the water. We had a beer and a snack at this cute little place by the water where we saw two really big dogs and made jokes about strangers kissing. Afterwards, we walked by the Seebühne, or floating stage, which is an important sight in Bregenz. 

 We found yet another awesome playground that I had been dying to take Kaiden to. Mainly because of this train.

You see, Kaiden has this rockin' train set at home that was given to him by friends of Wendy and Justin after their son had outgrown it. Everyone in the family has a train in this train set. I think Wendy's is a blue train. I know my dad's is a brown train (UPS, duh!). The thing is Kaiden has it all straight. He knows which train belongs to which person and there is NO FOOLING him. Well, my train has always been the black train. I saw this train a long time ago in Bregenz and smiled because it reminded me of my wonderful nephew. So getting a picture with him next to "Addie's train" was a highlight for me.

I really enjoyed showing them around my town. 

We had dinner that night on top of a mountain. I don't want to talk about it, but the view at sunset was nice.

You could have told me that weeks ago...

See, originally I was told that I would need to work the Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday of the week my family was here. As the days got closer and closer, I kept trying to weasel out of lessons that were of the afternoon variety so I could spend some nice quality time with everyone in my town.


Fast forward to Sunday night of that week. I had to know whether or not I HAD TO teach on Tuesday morning so we could figure out if my family needed to drop me at a train station Monday early evening with time to get home for the next morning's classes or not. Of course, some of my colleagues are not, um, the most reliable when it comes to communication and decision-making skills. So, naturally, I found out Monday morning that I could actually have off that week with basically a promise in blood that I would make up the lessons some other time. I should have been happy to finally receive an email from the last teacher to agree to let me reschedule some lessons in order to spend more precious time with my family while they were on this side of the pond...and I was...but...


"You could have told me that weeks ago" was also what I thought. Not to mention I found out last week that I am contractually allowed 7 days off at my choosing. Wish I would have known that then.


Regardless...


Surprise! I got to spend an extra day in lovely Salzburg with my dad, stepmom, Wendy, Justin and the kids.


The hills are aliiiive, with the sound of music. AhhhhAAhhhAAhAhAhhhhh!


Of course, we did a drive-by at the house from the movie where Maria arrives by running/skipping down the street with hat on head and guitar in hand.

And then naturally, we went by where they filmed the back of the house stuff...

Then we saw some of the sights in Salzburg:

If you stand in juuuuust the right spot, Mary gets crowned by the angels.

My super ambiguous comment when I entered this cathedral was "This one just looks so...so...Austrian." At least I know what I meant that to mean at the time.

I am also one of those weirdos that likes a particularly pretty cemetery from time to time (Uh, Myrtle Hill in Rome, GA, anyone?) and Salzburg doesn't disappoint.

Then it was fortress time!

 Seriously. Austria. Stop showing off.

 Just stop.

 ...and below is the same picture take by my 3 year old nephew

Then we had some fun silliness in the Mirabell Gardens!!!

Shops

 Want. Need?

We finished the evening at the Augustiner Bräustübl for some beer for Lent and some food.

 I am not as cool as these people.

Some of you know that I went to Salzburg back in 2009 and had a rough day that had absolutely nothing to do with Salzburg. So, I am glad to have completely 100% redeemed that city. I was charmed.

a not very thorough recap

The family flew home on Sunday after a little over a week's vacation here in the German-speaking world. 


We saw lots and lots of "neat things" as my nephew would say. 


I am sure I will do some posts about where we went and what we did in the near future. However, since I am in the middle of finishing up some plans for my next visitor who is arriving on Friday, I just have some random pictures of things I saw while on the trip. 

 And last but OH SO CERTAINLY not least on this list of things I have seen in the past week...