Sedlec Ossuary

Sedlec Ossuary, also known as the bone church is the one thing my second oldest wanted to do on vacation. She loves all things spooky and Halloween-esq. This church did not disappoint, it was surprisingly breath takingly beautiful and not creepy at all.
The Roman Catholic church is built under the Cemetery Church of All Saints. During the crusades, a priest went to the Holy Land. While there he got some dirt from Golgatha and spread it around the grounds of the church, thus the church became holy land. Many people from all over  Central Europe including Turkey and Hungry wanted to be buried there.
After a few centuries, the cemetery became overfilled,so bones of 40,000 to 70,000 people were dug up and stacked in the chapel. The decorating of the chapel was done by a half bling monk.

The spires have skulls and cross

bones

The church is starting to tip, so the foundation

is being reinforced. As they do this, archaeologists

are digging up more bones.

Bones were cleaned and bleached before

being put into the church

Many of the bones belong to people who

died during the Black Plague.

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg, with it's beautiful hills, flowing river and  crisp air filled with harmonious voices singing the soundtrack to the Sound of Music. The Sound of Music isn't Salzburg's only musical claim to fame, the musical genius Amadeus Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg.
Salz means salt in German. Salzburg got its wealth and prestige from the salt mining done in the area and shipped down the Salzach River. Salt mining had been done since the time of the Celtic settlement. Salt is referred to as "white gold" in the area.
While in Salzburg we drove a half hour to a salt mine. This was the kids favorite part of the vacation. We rode a train into the mine, learned how salt was mined and even got to ride down slides the miners rode down to get to the bottom of the mines.
Salzburg had many beautiful cathedrals, palaces, streets and wonderful food such as cheese, sausages and pastries and we heard some beautiful street performers.

These decorations were on a wall in Salzburg.

I think they are breathtaking. 

View of Old Town Salzburg

It rained the whole time we were in Salzburg. 

I am betting the city looks even more

spectacular in the sunlight. 

The roofs get the green color from the oxidation 

of copper they are made of.

This is the fountain that the Von Trapp children

run around singing the song Do-re-Me 

This is the home used for filming the Sound of 

Music. It was not the original Von Trapp family

villa. It is not open to the public.

Bavarian Forest National Park

We love visiting the mountains, so our trip in Germany wasn't complete without a visit to the Bavarian Forest National Park. The park had 4,265 feet of walkways that were the height of the trees. The walkway  had little balance beams (with netting under) that the kids loved walking on. The crowning point of the walkway is an eighteen story egg shaped observatory.

The walkways go through

the fir tree forest.

Observatory 

Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castle

Small churches like this dot Bavaria, Germany.

A nice lady told us that the Bavarians are 

practicing Catholics. Each town has a church and 

they are closed all year round, except for during the 

month of May when they are opened Monday, Wednesday

and Fridays for people to pray to Mother Mary for 

a good harvest. The rest of the year, people attend Mass

at larger churches. 

Neuschwansten Castle means New Swan Castle in English . Swans were the symbol of the Bavarian Kings so the swan castle is his castle. This castle is recognized to many Americans and Disney fans as Sleeping Beauty's Castle. 

View from the Castle

The Castle was built between 1869 and 

1886. It was intended to be a reclusive

retreat for King Ludwig II. Once he died

in 1886 it was opened for public tours.

 It was

built using his personal fortune rather than 

public funds. 

This castle is also the location of

filming for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Hohenschwangau Castle means Upper Swan County

Palace.  This castle was built over 12th Century

castle ruins during the 1700s.

 This castle was the official hunting lodge of King

Maximilian and was the childhood home of 

Ludwig.  Surprisingly, it suffered no damage during

WWII.

Nymphenburg Palace

Nymphenburg Palace, or Castle of Nymphs was completed in 1675 and was the former summer palace for the rulers of Bavaria.  Today visitors can walk through the gardens, some living quarters and see a royal carriage and sled and porcelain museums.  

The palace was done in the Baroque style. 

 The royals played a game where two sleds

would race through an obstacle course and the 

passenger would use a sword or spear to knock

the head off a scarecrow. 

The gardens are now a 490 acre park

Royal child carriage

Coronation carriage