My version of heaven

We decided that we needed to find somewhere to just unwind and settle in a bit without all of the crazy traveling around. Unfortunately it was right in the middle of the peak tourist summer season so there wasn't much choice in the way of affordable accommodation in Germany. Actually, there was none. So after a night spent trawling the internet in search of somewhere to stay, we found an Airbnb place that was in Austria in a place called 'Maria Alm', about 1.5 hours from Salzburg. I couldn't find much on the internet about it other than a few idyllic photos on Pinterest that showed a beautiful town nestled in the Alps. It looked lovely, but we had no idea if there would be anything to do there, or what it would really be like, but at this point we were desperate and decided to just go for it. So we left Germany behind and headed for Austria. The day we drove was long. Looooooooonnnnngggggg. It rained and it was hard to find food on the road, we ended up at McDonalds for dinner because we could count on the fact that they had loos.

As we got closer to our destination, things got more and more rural. It was rainy and misty, and as we drove through the high Alps it felt as if we were leaving civilization behind us. Just where were we going?? I tried to keep the kids interested by telling them that I could just perfectly imagine dinosaurs in such a setting, and truly I could. The mountains were craggy and magnificent and they rose high above the misty lush fields. However, as beautiful and imagination fueling as this scenery was....it felt like we were driving to the end of the earth.

We arrived at night so we didn't really get any immediate sense of what our new hometown was like. Little did I know that we had landed in heaven. Well, my version of heaven anyway. Amazing mountain scenery, adorable alpine houses with bright flowers spilling out from every window, and that beautiful bright green colour that I am obsessed with was everywhere. We had a view from either end of our apartment and both were divine.

The morning after we arrived, Ross took Zahli and Rushy on a morning walk and they came across the local orchestra playing in the town square! Cutest Austrian town ever!!

Shortly after we arrived we went out to dinner at a restaurant just around the corner from us, and it was a dream.

While we waited for dinner ( which we had no idea what we were ordering, we just pointed at random things that had amusing titles, like - wiener knoodle ), we all played in the garden out back. There was play equipment, a view to die for, and even furry friends for the kids to play with. WOW!