Visting Castle Hochosterwitz

It never gets old...driving in Austria and seeing a castle!

We visited Hochosterwitz Castle about 3 hours from our home -- it's considered one of Austria's most impressive medieval castles.  

You pass through 14 gates -- a landmark of the castle -- to reach the top.  This was easy enough for us to do (well maybe a little tougher for Brian to do pushing the stroller), but was nearly impossible for enemies to do as they would have been attacked from all sides at each of the gates.  

Inside the castle, there was a museum containing part of the weapons left by Napoleon as well as helmets, spears, lances and more from various periods.  There is also now an outdoor restaurant we enjoyed eating at :)

We happened to be visiting the Castle on October 31, which didn't pose much of a problem since Halloween isn't really celebrated here.  But I'm sure we'll hear from our kids someday - why didn't we get to trick or treat?!  And we'll say, because we took you to a castle!  But they'll probably still be mad at us ;)

Amazing Austrian Views from Pyramidenkogel Tower

We loved our time in the southern part of Austria called Kärnten (Carinthia in English)!

We had amazing views from the Pyramidenkogel Tower!  

We could see the alpine mountains and Lake Wörthersee!

Instead of walking, we took the elevator to the top.  Ellie and Brian rode a huge slide in the center of the tower to get down!  The other kids and I rode the elevator back down :)  The kids enjoyed playing at the playground at the bottom.  We stayed in an Airbnb nearby and could see the tower from our window!

The next day, we went to the nearby Europapark by Lake Wörthersee and then onto visit Hochosterwitz Castle (see separate post)!

We're excitd to visit Kärnten again!

Milan & Our Last Supper in Northern Italy

A day trip to Milan was our last stop in Northern Italy!

It's crazy to think that just a few months ago devastating pictures of Milan filled the internet as COVID-19 first hit Europe.  When we visited, places were definitely still more empty than normal.  In all of the famous places we entered, we had our temperatures checked (like the other locations we visited on this trip).  But overall, it was a totally blessed, pleasant experience visiting.

Here's what we saw:

Milan Cathedral

Grand Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Sant Ambrogio

This is the Cross that was used in 1576 to save Milan from the epidemic.  The Cross was in the Basilica to help protect against COVID-19:

The crypt houses St. Ambrose's body (dressed in white pontifical robes), in the middle of two martyrs Gervasius and Protasius:

St. Ambrose's sister, St. Marcellina's remains:

Around Milan

Basilica di San Lorenzo

Relics of St. Natalia

Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie

The attached building houses Leonardo da Vinci's famous mural painting The Last Supper:

Parco Sempione

We ended our stay in Northern Italy with delicious gelato!  As Brian would say, it was a great last supper!