Austria--days 1 & 2

After so many ups and downs in trying to decide if we would go or not, I can't believe that the girls and I actually made it to Austria! We left home Tuesday at noon, flew through Charlotte and Munich, and arrived in Graz (minus my suitcase, which showed up later) Wednesday morning. Grandma and Grandpa picked us up at the airport and drove us home to Omi's.

My Omi (grandmother) lives in a 200-year-old house on the outskirts of the city, compete with picturesque views, a medieval castle, no internet, and only one bathroom. The girls weren't too happy to have to share a bed (their mean mother took the single) and were flabbergasted that no one uses ice, but were very excited to start their big adventure. Our first outing was a trip to the grocery store. It was neat to look at all the different foods, and the girls thought they were in heaven when we got to the chocolate isle. (It is one of my favorite places, too.) We bought lots of goodies, and introduced the girls to two of my personal favorites Schwedenbomben and Almdudler.

Omi made schnitzel for lunch and, after a short nap, we all headed into the city to look around a bit.
We checked out the gummi bear store, had some delicious ice cream, and just wandered around for a while. After all the excitement of our first day, and 24 hours with very little sleep, you'd think we would have been exhausted. But at bedtime, our internal clocks were telling us it wasn't time to sleep, and the girls were getting very giggly. Dr. Grandpa had brought some along some sleeping pills and said the girls could each have 1/2 of one to help them relax and fall asleep. Big mistake. Emily spent the next hour walking around the house totally stoned ("Whoaaa--giggle, giggle--Why does it feel like we are on a train? giggle giggle giggle") before finally crashing. A very exciting ending to a long exciting day.