Austria in a castle

As always, we planned a little getaway, this time to the Austrian Lake region. Marcel joined us, a cousin and a nephew that we don’t get to spend any time with, as he lives in Australia! We left from the cabin in Southern Bohemia and planned on a 3-hour car ride to Mondsee. What we got was way more interesting.

The first sign should have been the fact that Waze didn’t take us on the highway but through Czech villages and into the Black Forest. Hmmm, this does not seem intuitive. It wasn’t. One hour in hail the size of golf balls that none of us have ever seen hit us. I was driving and panicking. It’s dark at 1 pm, it’s ice everywhere in July, and the kids are like, “Where are we? What’s going on?” Baba yaga stories from dark woods creep up. “Mom, this is your home country – is this normal?” No, it is not. Hour 2, we cross the border to Germany, kids utterly confused. “I thought we were going to Austria; how did we get to Germany?”. Well, children, countries are like super tiny and close to each other, you end up in a different country all the time; this is not a big deal – they speak German too.” Good job on my part keeping it calm. I was losing confidence in Waze and seriously doubting the 3 hours duration at this point. We get to Pasau, a pretty German town, and I calm them down with a trip to German McDonald’s, something they are all excited to see so they can compare it with all the other McDonalds – sigh, the unexpected surprises.

We keep going. At some point, in the middle of the countryside, we hit a Verbotten (forbidden) sign – no entry. A detour turns out to be one large circle, and we are at the Verboten sign – again. There is nowhere to go but through it. We go for it, then a barricade. I see a house with a couple in the garden and venture out-“Entschuldigen, wir müssen auf Mondsee fahren, aber das ist nicht möglich. Wie können wir fahren?” Ouch – I was digging from my long-forgotten German, and both the kids and the locals were impressed. Well, maybe too much because they started explaining something in super fast German and hands, and I was like – we are screwed.” ” I figured they were telling me to go through it and on the side road, which was very rough. I asked about police and they nodded they may be there, but my chances are good; go for it. So we did and made it. Blood pressure a bit higher, but we made it in – in 5 hours! Not a great start.

The hotel was a castle, Mondsee Schlosshotel, gorgeous. Kids impressed, Mia in heaven. Why? Because the church where Maria got married is on the premises. Aggh, if you are lost, welcome to my world. Who is Maria and who got married? So, apparently, every American has seen the movie Sound of Music – me maybe once and not the whole thing? Big mistake. This is an entire industry here as the movie took place here and every souvenir is about it. Well, score for me, unknowingly.