Wachau, Part 1

Day 12: Burgruine Aggstein

This was the start of our second weekend trip which was one of my favorites (I've probably already said that more than once). We took an hour and a half drive to the Wachau wine country where Marina's parents grew up. This region is a section along the Danube River with mountains on either side and has history back to at least the 12th century. Several castles were built at that time to protect the people and the Burgruine Aggstein has been restored enough to tour. We had some beautiful views and a fun picnic lunch up on in this fortress!

(Thanks again, Tim, for the great pictures!)

James had recently become fascinated with pulling weeds. He had is work cut out for him here!

Marina's parents were so welcoming and graciously allowed us to stay at the home her mom grew up in. It's now the weekend home where they come to get away from the city and have a wonderful garden. One of my favorites were the apricot trees. Marina's mom makes a wonderfully delicious apricot cake that I might have to try and make from our Austrian cookbook. What was also great was they had kept a lot of kid stuff from when Marina and her brother were growing up. The first thing we tried was this baby swing.





Then we had dinner at a local restaurant, but not your typical local American restaurant. Many families in these little villages would basically serve food (like at a restaurant) from their home. They would serve wine from their own cellers and other family specialties. It has a particular name but I don't remember it now. The families have a set few weeks that they're open and then it's another families turn. But this was the best place we could get authentic Austrian food, aside from the food we ate made by Marina and her mom!

Working on his goalie skills.

Success!

Maria's family's wine celler. It's not used anymore, though.