Three vacations overlapped. Joe and Claudia were finishing their tour of eastern Europe with a few days on their own in Vienna. Andy had two weeks off and planned to vacation with Carmen and Amalia. We combined our vacation with theirs, joining Joe and Claudia in Vienna, and then connecting with Andy, Carmen and Amalia for a visit to the Pfalz region of Germany.
Collections of photos from each part of this vacation are linked to the pictures below.
The Das Tyrol Hotel was our home base for a visit that included palaces, churches and coffee houses. We got to know the Hapsburgs (Maria Theresa, above), enjoyed beautiful music (a performance of Mozart's Requiem), and we managed to work in a visit to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, about 40 miles by boat down the Danube.
Click on either photo to open a collection of pictures from Vienna and Bratislava.
Andy and Carmen rented a house for the five of us in the village of Göcklingen, named for the rooster (above). From here, we explored the Pfalz, a region of Germany that combines wine villages and forests. Our first destination was the Landesgartenschau, a regional garden exposition in the city of Landau. Click on the picture of flowers to open the Landesgartenschau photo collection.
Our next visit was to the Wild Animal Park near the village of Silz. We wandered among goats, geese and deer, and Amalia learned a little about animals. So did Mike. Click on the picture of the deer to open the Animal Park photo collection.
Later that day, we climbed to castle ruins at Drachenfels. But first we enjoyed lunch and playtime in the playground that was part of the facility. Click on the picture of Andy and Amalia to open the Drachenfels photo collection.