Day 11 - Austria

We let ourselves sleep late this morning and enjoyed the sound of rain outside. It must rain a lot here because it is very green. A severe thunderstorm rolled through last night with significant lightning that was very close. It made me thankful we were in a van and not a tent like many of our neighbors. Speaking of neighbors, this campsite is packed. Even more folks rolled in today and it seems like they’ll put a van or a tent anywhere with a little speck of space. There are children riding bikes and scooters everywhere, friend groups with several campsites next to each other having lots of fun, and retirees that have set up a temporary home with plants and lights. Camping was definitely a popular activity on this holiday weekend!

Today we felt like locals… except that we didn’t have a bike. Everyone here rides a bike everywhere. We would’ve loved having our bikes! Instead, we set out on foot since we were worried about driving our van and not getting our spot back. Our destination was only a 30 minute walk though. We learned that our visitors pass offered admission to a place with mini golf and a pool along the lake. So we headed that way with all the things we’d need for whatever might come our way. The walking and bike paths were perfectly kept for all the folks riding as their mode of transportation. When we arrived we decided to walk around and check out the place. It turned out to be a beautiful facility that was like a private country-club. We arrived at noon and almost had the whole place to ourselves! We thought we should start with the pool and water slides but quickly changed to the swimming areas in the lake. There were piers with diving boards and floating peers with slides. The boys played on the water while I read a book and relaxed. The weather turned cooler so we decided to go play mini golf. We got through with half of the course with it sprinkling and then a big storm came in. With several other families we rushed for cover and waited until it stopped raining. The storm moved on quickly and we went back out and continued our game. Josiah would want me to share that he won. After golf, we headed back to the water. The boys did a blow up obstacle course on the water and then we all headed to the pool again. It was a fun and relaxing way to spend the day! And was definitely not touristy. That seems to be the ebb and flow of our trip. Some things feel really touristy and then the next thing we know we feel like a local. It’s definitely a different way to vacation but we are enjoying it! 

On our walk back to our campsite, we stopped at a restaurant along the bike path that had live music and dancing. They served traditional Viennese food. We had “Grandma’s Recipe for Cordon Blue”, pork schnitzel, and a hamburger that was a thin beef patty rolled up with melted cheese inside. Delicious!! 

Exhausted, we made our way back to our campsite to settle down for the evening. Tomorrow we head to Germany, our fifth country!