The Day Nothing Happened

Rachel found her twin.

Today, we slept in on purpose. On European trips like this, it is often a rare thing to just be able to sleep in, so it was really nice. We ate our scenic Venetian room breakfast again, then the three of us ladies came back and took a post-breakfast nap. Exciting, I know. Finally, around 12:30 PM, we left the hotel and took local bus #25. This took us to the Hauptbahnhoff (train station). There, we bought our pricy train tickets for our next destination, Lucerne. My Mom ran around asking questions and everything to ensure our train ride would go without a hitch, but I still don’t have much faith in the system. For lunch, we saw a local Burger King, and decided to give it a try. Mistake!! It was gross. The menus are obviously different in Europe and the chicken was weird, not to mention no free refills and pricy drinks! Rachel and I were mad that they charged you 40 eurocents for a tiny packet of ketchup. Grrr. After this, we waited for a while for bus #25 to come to the train station and take us back into the city. A boring start to the morning, but we had to do these things.

At the Hellbrunn Palace - Pre Storm.

On the bus, we decided to go to Hellbrunn Palace. It is on a large park, and was very scenic. However, the skies were cloudy and before we knew it, it started pouring rain. We waited it out in the gift shop, and then FINALLY we were on our way. We walked on a long wooden path towards the privately owned “Fronnberg Residence”. Maryann wanted us to go there because it is the house used for the front entry to the Von Trapp home in the movie. On our walk along the trail, Rachel and I were assaulted by mosquitoes. Also, my allergies began attacking me again. Despite walking past the row of the trees that the kids climbed on in the movie, it was not very exciting. In fact, I was downright miserable thanks to my sniffling.

The goat whisperer

We began reaching the end of the trail, and realized that somehow we were at a zoo, and not a palatial mansion. We talked to a local woman hiking, and she told us we had taken the wrong trail, and were on the total opposite end of the park than we thought we were… Of course. An hour of walking, all for nothing! Typical Curtin lady style! So, once we admitted we were lost, we laughed it off and walked back to the entry of the park.  At that point, it looked like rain again. We were all in a bad mood and just decided to give up on going to the Fronnberg. After petting these random goats, we took Bus #25 back into town, and then walked the 15 minutes to the Leopoldskron. My Mom was all sad about not being able to see the Fronnberg, but we reassured her that it was fine since we drove past it yesterday, and that’s all you need.

The Leopoldskron, after the rain.

Back at the hotel, we ordered pizza at our little café. We got on the internet for a bit, and then decided to take a stroll around the beautiful lake. About ten minutes into it, a downpour of rain began.  We waited it out under a patio, and then after that, the walk was surprisingly pleasant.  We had some great views of the Leopoldskron, the lake, the fortress in the distance, and the local ducks. Rachel and I had fun posing for photos with our umbrellas, and it was all topped off with a rainbow!

Back at the hotel, we ate a simple dinner in the room, and then decided to go to bed early. Nothing much happened today, but it was still fun. And how could I not have a good time being with my two favorite ladies??